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    ADA/Reasonable Accommodation questions

    Hello all,

    I am newly dx with CIS while in the middle of a flare/exacerbation which I believe has been pretty mild (numbness on skin, no feeling in fingertips, MS hug/tonic spasms, L'Hermittes). My immediate chain of command is aware of the dx, as it came out with my direct supervisor during the testing phase (and he disseminated up the chain, against my wishes but that is a different story). He came to me yesterday basically telling me that they all think I need to go to HR and start the process for reasonable accommodations, so basically I am being forced into it but upon reflection, it's actually not a bad idea to protect me down the line. At this point, the only things I have needed were time off without much, if any, advanced notice for doctors appointments, and I had some medication-change related fatigue and headache a few weeks ago which seems to have resolved. I start on Gilenya in a couple of weeks, and am curious as to how it will affect me, particularly in the first couple of weeks taking it. So basically at this point, the only "accommodations" I have needed is flexible leave (leaving the office early due to fatigue and headache, time off for appointments, that sort of thing). My office already has a pretty flexible attendance policy and I am on a flexible schedule that already allows for such things.

    I work for the federal government, so HR policies are very by the book, OPM guided, which is all good. I work as an attorney with a lot of time sensitive and stressful assignments. Getting accommodations in place helps to protect my and them when it comes to assigning work, etc. So my question is this:

    When I go to HR to discuss this, what sort of things should I discuss as possible accommodations? Other than setting in place even more flexible leave and expanded medical telework (in the case of fatigue coming back, working from home takes less out of me than coming into the office for a full day, and I already so some limited telework). At this point, my symptoms are minor, and well managed. I do wonder what the Gilenya will do initially, and unfortunately with the unpredictability of MS, who knows what may come down the line. I DO know that stess exacterbates is, and my current exacerbation came on just on the heels of me coming off a very stressful trial, so having accommodations in place could assist as far as future stressful trial assignments (maybe assigning me the less stressful ones?).

    Anyway, thoughts on things to discuss with HR?

    #2
    I worked in the private sector, not the gov't, so not sure if what I did applies.I worked in a tech department, so they were pretty flexible due to time constraints of the job in general.

    But even with flexibility, I had to go more formal thru HR. Part of it was to protect them from any perceived favortism due to the extra flexibility. It became harder for them to discipline someone else without this in place, leaving them open to potential lawsuit by another terminated employee.

    The important thing to remember is that with any accommodation, you still have to be able to do your job. If all of your peers are required to work on stressful trials, I am not sure how that would play. I would make sure you discuss with an ERISA law specialist. If you have different locations for trial, maybe request when feasible, the location closest to you?

    For the flexible time off, I requested intermittent FMLA. This would allow unscheduled time off at last minute without impacting attendance and time off policies. I had to have my neuro fill out a form.

    For accommodations, initially it was work from home 1-2 days a week as needed. When that wasn't enough, I discussed with my boss, and we requested work from home as needed, could be all 5 days, as well as flexibility to take longer midday break, so I could nap for a little, then work later into the day.

    Another option: recording of meetings and pictures of white boards, strictly to be able to transcribe minutes, document processes and systems. Between fatigue and cognitive challenges, I had lost the ability to listen and try to document as well, let alone react and formulate next questions. I didnt use this though, as I left my job. But someone else did. After documented, the recordings and images were deleted. She assured attendees that not to be used for "he said/she said" arguments or blame. Just to capture the key points and next steps. The users became comfortable once they saw the evidence on how it was used and never misused.

    If I think of anything else, will let you know.

    Good luck.
    Kathy
    DX 01/06, currently on Tysabri

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      #3
      Thank you for your reply. As far as trials go, they are all local, so travel isn't an issue. And the way it works, is we have a bunch of trial attorneys, all with varying levels of competence, seniority and just scheduling availability (due to other assignments) so they assign trials based on a variety of factors. Some are bigger, more complex (and therefore more stressful) than others. Having something in place with HR can help them steer less stressful trials to be, despite my senior trial specialist status.

      Ideally, I would like to get out of litigation all together, and there are options for that within my agency (one is an area I have been trying to transfer to for a while, way before the MS stuff), so ideally I would like to leverage my need to accommodations to get into that division, which as I said is no litigation and is overall, less stressful work. But that is a conversation for another day. :lol: For now, I will talk with them about flexibility with scheduling. I know for a fact I am not the first one with MS here (I personally know of at least 2 others, and who knows how many others whom I don't know) so I am sure they will have some ideas as well.

      Thank you!

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