How do i get my employer to understand?

[KittahNY]

I was diagnosed with MS in November 2011. I told my boss right away so that he knew there was something major going on.

Since then I have tried to continue life as normal. I am a massage Therapist and I am definitely having more and more trouble doing my job. I have tried to explain to the staff that books my appointments that i HAVE to have a lunch break. sometimes I work 8 hour days with not even a pee break and I go home beyond exhausted. i dont know if it the MS the fact that I wake up very early every day for no reason, or the pure physicality of the job.

How do i get them to understand my exhaustion? Worst part is one of the girls that books my appts HAS MS and another has lupus and yet they STILL book me back to back.

Its a catch-22. If i am not booked, i dont make any money. If I am too booked, I cant function. Is it all in my head? (beyond the obevious lesions in my head...lol)

[Redwings]

Hi Kittah:
The situation might be tough for you no matter what you do.

The first step is to clarify your employment status. You made reference to your "employer" and your "boss." That implies that you're an employee. However, you aren't getting lunch or regular breaks, which leaves open the possibility that you're an independent contractor.

Have you spoken only to the booking staff, or have you spoken directly to (the person we'll call) your boss? Does your boss know you aren't getting breaks and has refused to instruct the staff to schedule breaks for you? If that's the case, if you're truly an employee, it sounds like your employer is violating labor laws by not allowing you breaks for lunch and rest periods. Violating labor laws is very different than you being tired and asking for breaks between clients. If your boss is brazen enough to knowingly violate labor laws, I doubt there's anything you can do to persuade him to give you breaks out of kindness.

If your boss doesn't know you aren't getting breaks, then your next step is to tell him directly that his staff isn't allowing you breaks, in violation of labor laws, and ask him to remedy that immediately. He can't fix a problem he doesn't know about.

If the boss does know about the situation and hasn't fixed it, your next choice is whether to file a complaint with your state department of labor. (You might also want to look for pro bono advice from an employment law attorney.) They'll make sure you get a lunch break and possibly fine your employer for the violations. If you do that, your working environment may become very unpleasant.

The situation is different if you're an independent contractor. Independent contractors aren't employees and aren't covered by protective labor laws. If you're an independent contractor, your "boss" is actually your client. Breaks are determined by the terms of your contract. If breaks weren't mentioned in your contract, you're on your own in trying to negotiate them now. If you've already asked your client/boss for breaks and he hasn't agreed to them, there isn't much you can do to "make" him understand that you need them.

If you're an independent contractor, there's one more possibility, and that is that your client/boss has misclassified you to try to skirt labor laws. In that case, your state department of labor is again the entity that can help you. It's possible that you might be performing as an employee, which might make you an employee in the eyes of the law and entitled to breaks.

Even though you're looking at the situation as something personal that you want someone to "understand," the bigger picture is whether you're getting what you're entitled to under any labor laws that apply to you. If you're an employee, the government can make your boss "understand" the situation in ways you can't on your own. You'll just have to be ready to accept the consequences of whatever you decide to do. Good luck!