October 2017 Moms
Orglethorp
member
Want to leave work early - Help!
Orglethorp
member
Hi! I live in Newfoundland, Canada, and I'm due October 13th with my first, which makes me 20+5 today.
I work fulltime for Walmart in the receiving department as a morning/day shift stock picker. I used to love it, but I physically and mentally can't do it anymore, and the work environment has become quite toxic lately due to an upcoming company restructure that's due to take effect at our location in July. Basically departments are being dissolved, and we're being put on "task teams" instead. There's only one team that even remotely comes close to fitting my scheduling needs, and I haven't heard yet if I got it. It's also not ideal in terms of scheduling, and not something I'll physically be able to do in July. People who have found out which team they're on at this point are either mad about which team they got, mad about which team someone else got, or both. The lounge has become a place of gossip, speculating on who kissed who's butt to get what they got, and when the new Costco will be opening and need extra full time workers. When coworkers come to the back room at 7 & 1 to do their part for picks, they act like preschoolers, fighting over ladders and carts and smack talking about anyone who doesn't show up at precisely 7:00:00 / 1:00:00 for this task.
As mentioned, I cannot physically do this job anymore and have no business being in the back room. I hesitant to use ladders now, I can't lift half of what we carry, and pulling freight with a manual pallet jack is becoming a gamble on whether or not I'll pop my sacrum out of place. I also missed the most recent round of power equipment training because they told me the wrong dates for MONTHS and then acted like it was irresponsible of me to want to go to my 12 week ultrasound on training day 1. It's not like I have control over when the hospital can slot me in, and the dates they told me would not have conflicted anyway. So, yeah, still can't use the equipment that would make my job physically easier.
We're losing back room employees left, right and centre, which is making more work for myself and the few who are left. My shift is meant to be 3 guys and 1 other woman besides myself. The other woman is being borrowed by 2 other departments, under 2 other managers, and hasn't worked our job since Christmas. 1 of the other guys has been doing weekends only since September because of schooling, and is now looking to leave entirely because it's time for him to get his final co-op work placement. Another guy, who had 15+ years with the company, quit on the spot on Saturday when he was told which team he got put on. (Applied to 5, 5:30 and 6am starts, got 3-11pm. Relies on the bus.)
Scheduling and sick reporting has been a huge issue. We switched to a new absence reporting system involving a third party company back on February 18th, which lined up perfectly with the start of morning sickness for me. I never used to call in sick, but the new system doesn't know that. I've had a file open against me for "intermittent absences" since the first week of March. We've also had a revolving door of managers in charge of the back room since then, and they don't let the next one know at pass-off that I'm pregnant, so that file always gets advanced first, questions asked later. They always backpeddal when they find out I'm pregnant and promise to fix the problem, but never do. They also schedule me right over my appointments all the time, even though they get 4+ weeks notice of each one. Sometimes they "fix it" by changing my schedule 2-3 days before the appointment, but don't actually tell me they changed it. Others, they just tell me to report in sick. Which doesn't help with the file. It's also quasi-illegal, if I understand labour and pregnancy laws correctly, as that means I'm being required to use "sick time" for prenatal appointments...
To rub salt in the wound, as well, I'm the only full timer in the department who's had issues with my weekend schedule rotation. We're supposed to work every-other-weekend. I haven't had one off since the first weekend in April, and won't yet until June 10th.
On top of these work issues, I'm experiencing the following with my pregnancy:
- Constant back and foot pain. The back pain is not debilitating, but it's very uncomfortable. The foot pain gets bad enough to make me limp. The foot pain is also never gone. I wake up and my feet already hurt.
- Since 18 weeks, things have been loosening up in the pelvic region. Unfortunately this has allowed my sacrum to form a mind and opinions of its own, and put itself wherever it feels like going. I've managed to put it out walking. Just walking. When it goes out, I'm in so much pain I can barely move for the rest of the day and most of the following day. This has happened 3 times so far since May 19th. I told my mother about it, and she said she had sacrum and siatic nerve issuesduring both pregnancies starting around now as well. Additionally, any day I do too much upward stretching or pivoting at the waist, I aggrevate an old injury to one of my lower ribs, and that stays sore for multiple days. This wasn't a problem before my uterus got up as high as it is.
- When I'm moving around, I have cramps (tired, overused muscle type cramps) over my pubic bone. On days I work (and therefore take over 12,000 steps according to my step tracker), this pain slowly but surely spreads up around the sides of my belly / along my pelvis on both sides and starts to make walking painful. This has been going on much longer than the pevlis/sacrum issues. The only time I'm not in pain in my pubic/belly region is when I'm sitting or laying down. This is also not round ligament pain (which I do feel in short twangs when I cough, sneeze, or make a wrong sudden movement).
- I caught a cold at 15/16 weeks and haven't been able to shake it. It'll settle down and let me think I'm getting better for a week or so, and then slam me down again for 2-3 days at a time, but it doesn't go away. Right now I'm coughing up a lung all day. (Really don't think being in a retail environment is helping.)
- My usual anxiety issues from a long standing case of complex PTSD are back. The first trimester was actually the calmest, most mentally-at-ease period I've had in years, but since about 15-16 weeks I've been experiencing the opposite. I'm easily overwhelmed by everything because I'm not de-stressing with rest. I'm having panic attacks 3+ times a week and worried about potential harms this might be causing to the baby. (I strongly believe the stressful work environment has played a big part in triggering this change.)
I'm due to see my doctor on June 7th. I tried to get that bumped earlier, but she's booked, and I don't trust the other female doctor at the office. This is my GP, as OBs in my area don't follow you until roughly 28 weeks. I really want to ask her to write me off on sick leave, starting ASAP. I know the ideal thing to do would be to go on modified duties at fewer hours, but that doesn't work with my situation. My fiance and I live 20 minutes out of town and share a vehicle, which he needs all day for his job. I'm either in town all day (without a vehicle), or I'm not. We leave the house at 6:30am. If my shift starts any later than 9am, I wouldn't really want to be spending all my pre-shift time waiting in the lounge, but that would mean starting somewhere else and bussing to work. If my shift goes later than 5pm, my fiance will have to either wait in town for me, or go home and come back out again (doubling the gas usage). If I end up with a closing shift (very likely, that's mostly what I used to get before I was full time), I won't be home until 11pm. 6:30am - 11pm away from home, without a vehicle, just to work 4 hours at a little less than $12/hr is not worth it, and won't help alleviate stress or standing/walking-related physical discomforts.
Do you think I have a case for getting off on sick leave right away? Do you think I should do it?
I have absolutely no intention of returning to this job after the baby comes. I do have plans in place for a work from home situation starting when baby's about 10 months old. In Canada we're entitled to 15 weeks sick leave pay (55%) on E.I. before maternity (also 55%), and we're allowed to take maternity up to 8 weeks before EDD. Going off on sick leave from 21 weeks should be fine. I would be on sick leave until 36 weeks, and that's well within the 8 weeks prior to EDD to start maternity.
I work fulltime for Walmart in the receiving department as a morning/day shift stock picker. I used to love it, but I physically and mentally can't do it anymore, and the work environment has become quite toxic lately due to an upcoming company restructure that's due to take effect at our location in July. Basically departments are being dissolved, and we're being put on "task teams" instead. There's only one team that even remotely comes close to fitting my scheduling needs, and I haven't heard yet if I got it. It's also not ideal in terms of scheduling, and not something I'll physically be able to do in July. People who have found out which team they're on at this point are either mad about which team they got, mad about which team someone else got, or both. The lounge has become a place of gossip, speculating on who kissed who's butt to get what they got, and when the new Costco will be opening and need extra full time workers. When coworkers come to the back room at 7 & 1 to do their part for picks, they act like preschoolers, fighting over ladders and carts and smack talking about anyone who doesn't show up at precisely 7:00:00 / 1:00:00 for this task.
As mentioned, I cannot physically do this job anymore and have no business being in the back room. I hesitant to use ladders now, I can't lift half of what we carry, and pulling freight with a manual pallet jack is becoming a gamble on whether or not I'll pop my sacrum out of place. I also missed the most recent round of power equipment training because they told me the wrong dates for MONTHS and then acted like it was irresponsible of me to want to go to my 12 week ultrasound on training day 1. It's not like I have control over when the hospital can slot me in, and the dates they told me would not have conflicted anyway. So, yeah, still can't use the equipment that would make my job physically easier.
We're losing back room employees left, right and centre, which is making more work for myself and the few who are left. My shift is meant to be 3 guys and 1 other woman besides myself. The other woman is being borrowed by 2 other departments, under 2 other managers, and hasn't worked our job since Christmas. 1 of the other guys has been doing weekends only since September because of schooling, and is now looking to leave entirely because it's time for him to get his final co-op work placement. Another guy, who had 15+ years with the company, quit on the spot on Saturday when he was told which team he got put on. (Applied to 5, 5:30 and 6am starts, got 3-11pm. Relies on the bus.)
Scheduling and sick reporting has been a huge issue. We switched to a new absence reporting system involving a third party company back on February 18th, which lined up perfectly with the start of morning sickness for me. I never used to call in sick, but the new system doesn't know that. I've had a file open against me for "intermittent absences" since the first week of March. We've also had a revolving door of managers in charge of the back room since then, and they don't let the next one know at pass-off that I'm pregnant, so that file always gets advanced first, questions asked later. They always backpeddal when they find out I'm pregnant and promise to fix the problem, but never do. They also schedule me right over my appointments all the time, even though they get 4+ weeks notice of each one. Sometimes they "fix it" by changing my schedule 2-3 days before the appointment, but don't actually tell me they changed it. Others, they just tell me to report in sick. Which doesn't help with the file. It's also quasi-illegal, if I understand labour and pregnancy laws correctly, as that means I'm being required to use "sick time" for prenatal appointments...
To rub salt in the wound, as well, I'm the only full timer in the department who's had issues with my weekend schedule rotation. We're supposed to work every-other-weekend. I haven't had one off since the first weekend in April, and won't yet until June 10th.
On top of these work issues, I'm experiencing the following with my pregnancy:
- Constant back and foot pain. The back pain is not debilitating, but it's very uncomfortable. The foot pain gets bad enough to make me limp. The foot pain is also never gone. I wake up and my feet already hurt.
- Since 18 weeks, things have been loosening up in the pelvic region. Unfortunately this has allowed my sacrum to form a mind and opinions of its own, and put itself wherever it feels like going. I've managed to put it out walking. Just walking. When it goes out, I'm in so much pain I can barely move for the rest of the day and most of the following day. This has happened 3 times so far since May 19th. I told my mother about it, and she said she had sacrum and siatic nerve issuesduring both pregnancies starting around now as well. Additionally, any day I do too much upward stretching or pivoting at the waist, I aggrevate an old injury to one of my lower ribs, and that stays sore for multiple days. This wasn't a problem before my uterus got up as high as it is.
- When I'm moving around, I have cramps (tired, overused muscle type cramps) over my pubic bone. On days I work (and therefore take over 12,000 steps according to my step tracker), this pain slowly but surely spreads up around the sides of my belly / along my pelvis on both sides and starts to make walking painful. This has been going on much longer than the pevlis/sacrum issues. The only time I'm not in pain in my pubic/belly region is when I'm sitting or laying down. This is also not round ligament pain (which I do feel in short twangs when I cough, sneeze, or make a wrong sudden movement).
- I caught a cold at 15/16 weeks and haven't been able to shake it. It'll settle down and let me think I'm getting better for a week or so, and then slam me down again for 2-3 days at a time, but it doesn't go away. Right now I'm coughing up a lung all day. (Really don't think being in a retail environment is helping.)
- My usual anxiety issues from a long standing case of complex PTSD are back. The first trimester was actually the calmest, most mentally-at-ease period I've had in years, but since about 15-16 weeks I've been experiencing the opposite. I'm easily overwhelmed by everything because I'm not de-stressing with rest. I'm having panic attacks 3+ times a week and worried about potential harms this might be causing to the baby. (I strongly believe the stressful work environment has played a big part in triggering this change.)
I'm due to see my doctor on June 7th. I tried to get that bumped earlier, but she's booked, and I don't trust the other female doctor at the office. This is my GP, as OBs in my area don't follow you until roughly 28 weeks. I really want to ask her to write me off on sick leave, starting ASAP. I know the ideal thing to do would be to go on modified duties at fewer hours, but that doesn't work with my situation. My fiance and I live 20 minutes out of town and share a vehicle, which he needs all day for his job. I'm either in town all day (without a vehicle), or I'm not. We leave the house at 6:30am. If my shift starts any later than 9am, I wouldn't really want to be spending all my pre-shift time waiting in the lounge, but that would mean starting somewhere else and bussing to work. If my shift goes later than 5pm, my fiance will have to either wait in town for me, or go home and come back out again (doubling the gas usage). If I end up with a closing shift (very likely, that's mostly what I used to get before I was full time), I won't be home until 11pm. 6:30am - 11pm away from home, without a vehicle, just to work 4 hours at a little less than $12/hr is not worth it, and won't help alleviate stress or standing/walking-related physical discomforts.
Do you think I have a case for getting off on sick leave right away? Do you think I should do it?
I have absolutely no intention of returning to this job after the baby comes. I do have plans in place for a work from home situation starting when baby's about 10 months old. In Canada we're entitled to 15 weeks sick leave pay (55%) on E.I. before maternity (also 55%), and we're allowed to take maternity up to 8 weeks before EDD. Going off on sick leave from 21 weeks should be fine. I would be on sick leave until 36 weeks, and that's well within the 8 weeks prior to EDD to start maternity.
Re: Want to leave work early - Help!
Do you need the job? Would you not qualify for maternity benefits if you are not put on medical leave? I don't know how Canadian benefits work so I really have no idea.
Also, hi. Nice to meet you.
I heart YNAB
---------
“Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times,
if one only remembers to turn on the light."
- Albus Dumbledore
If you could manage to get off of work at all, i'm almost positive you'll need a doctors note. I recommend you start there, and talk to them about your pains too.
My docs were great about putting me off early with my son. Granted, it was only 3 weeks, but they didn't even bat an eyelash. I think the only thing you can do is talk to your doc and hope they'll write you the note.