Immunosupressants vs job requiring Public Transport

Sooki

Is there a park & ride scheme in Cardiff, if so could you bike it in from the park & ride car park, thus getting free parking and avoiding transport.
Or like someone else said what about a face mask.

You came over as having issues with a colleague who has a hangover! I'm not sure how this affects your condition and won't help your argument with your employer as it just comes over like your being precious.
How do you handle things when a colleague comes in with a cold or similar?

poet123

http://www.cardiff.gov.uk/content.asp?nav=2870%2C4048%2C4195&parent_directory_id=2865&id=9163

Park and ride Cardiff.

GlasweJen

But if the OP works with other people then there is always a risk. Fair game if OP is travelling to work in a specially adapted bubble but as that's unlikely I doubt that the OPs employer is going to go to great lengths to provide a parking space that physically doesn't exist to accommodate for someone who can't use public transport as it brings them into contact with members of the public but they can then turn up and do a job with other people who funnily enough don't need a full medical every time they come into contact with the OP.

When I go back to work there will be a notice in an area obliging all colleagues who have been in contact with certain conditions to tell a manager immediately so that I can be removed. Unfortunately I work with the public and the public are a bit thick so chances are someone will bring their kid with chicken pox in for an eye test because they're off school anyway but if that happens it will be dealt with.

If the company don't already do this for the OP (no indication of wether or not something like this is in place) then I dare say they won't bend to this. Parking spaces are expensive in some areas, if you're going to play the immunosuppressed card then you'd need to play it all the way to "here's the emergency number for the hospital, here's the list of meds you give the paramedics, here's how you get everyone I come into contact with screened for MRSA" bit as well as "how do I get my parking space, I have a dodgy immune system".

Lum

@Glaswejen I can drive just fine, I drive to work every day at the moment. My issue is that this will no longer be possible once my job moves to the middle of Cardiff as I will not be able to afford to park.

As for claiming out of work for Eczema. If you'd seen me in 2010 you wouldn't be asking me that. I was off sick for about 7 weeks, of which the first 3 where my idiot GP being convinced that there was nothing wrong with me, while the skin infection was busily spreading to my bloodstream. Followed by a call to NHS direct about my having a resting heart rate of 115 only to be told to take myself to hospital right away, but it's not urgent enough to send an ambulance. I don't remember the rest so well but the end result of all this was a 4 week course of IV vancomycin.

FWIW the last 3 weeks of that, I had my partner bring my laptop into the hospital and carried on working, only to get a bollocking from my boss for doing so. I've also gone in and done a full days work when the eczema is not infected but bad enough that I can't straighten my legs without tearing my skin apart. The short walk from the car park to the office hurts like hell and probably looks like a rejected idea for the ministry of silly walks sketch but I go in.

Sorry if this sounds patronising but those of you whose experience of eczema is a bit of cracked dry skin on the elbows. You really have no idea.

@Sooki The only reason I even mentioned the colleague with a hangover is because that guy uses his sick days for his hangovers and then comes into work when he's genuinely sick and I then have to be extra careful to stay away from him else I get whatever he has. Annoying but manageable.

The current office is, luckily, quite large and sparsely populated which is why they're closing it. There are about 7 or 8 people. It's pretty easy to keep myself to myself.

I hadn't even considered what might happen if I end up in a densely populated open-plan office. That's something else to worry about.

Something else to worry about, which has only just been pointed out to me, if I use public transport, what happens if my partner needs me? for example if she is home that day and has a fall. Currently I'm 10-15 minutes drive away. During the day I believe the trains are hourly.

Edit: Just seen the suggestion to park at the park and ride and then cycle the rest of the way. Two problems with that.

1) My back is in no state for anything like that.
2) Water triggers my eczema, with rainwater and sweat being the worst.

GlasweJen

Lum are your colleagues MRSA screened or offered flu vaccines due to working with you? If not you're not regarded as severely immunocompromised and therefore are not able to claim this as a disability.

As 2010 was 2 years ago the septicaemia attack is irrelevant, I contracted sep after I got my appendix out in 2003 but that's not really relevant. What you have is a medical condition that if kept under control does not affect your ability to work.

Your employer has an obligation to adapt your work environment to help you keep your condition under control, things like allowing you to use creams instead of soap, a more relaxed dress code to stop your skin tearing or to allow you to "wrap" under your clothes etc. They do not need to provide you with a parking space as parking close to your work is not something you need as a direct result of disability. There is another way of you accessing your work which is public transport, you are physically and mentally capable of using the transport so there's no discrimination issue in asking you to do so. Indeed you can still drive, you just cant afford to park, well that's just tough but certainly not an access issue.

You can always try to negotiate a contribution towards parking for a period after your move or a wage rise to compensate for this increased work cost but you'd be hard pushed to use equality as a reason. Perhaps this is something your union rep could help with?

Sooki

My skin breaks open and splits and won't heal, and yes I know how sore it can be! Maybe not as bad as you sound but I don't see this as my employers problem! If you are finding it such an issue and it is so bad can you claim disability and get mobility benefits, to help you to work!

If I were you I'd be pressing my doctor to see what is setting the condition off, Rather than expecting everyone else to be the solution to easing your problems. I sympathise that many doctors can be pretty weak with skin issues, you might have to insist on being referred to a dermatologist and not without good cause.

GlasweJen

Surely if the OP is ripping open just by walking he's already under the care of a dermatologist?

Lum

Not really much point in screening my colleagues for MRSA as I'm already colonised (guess what bug caused the septicaemia!) and they've given up trying to do anything about it. To paraphrase the letter from infection control to my dermatologist, "If that didn't work it's probably in the gut and that's too hard to treat so we can't be bothered LOL".

My dermatologist doesn't really know what's causing it, patch testing didn't find anything, though my diagnosis is still atopic eczema. There isn't really much further I can push it with the NHS.

I guess I just need to advise them of my concerns in writing and then wait until I get sick often enough that it triggers an automatic disciplinary. If I wasn't a carer that's probably what I would have done anyway.


Edit: Just so we're clear though, the ripping open when walking is only on the bad days. It's been about nine months since I was last in that state as I've managed to keep on top of it and keep myself away from diseases. Believe it or not I actually have one of the better attendance rates in the office.

I'm currently just terrified that I'll get sick due to being unable to fight something I pick up, then the skin will flare up again as it always does when I'm ill and then I'll be back in that state one more.

Edit2: Oh, and stress is also a trigger for eczema.

GlasweJen

I'm MRSA+ but they still insisted on screening my work colleagues and also adding a note to the appointment cards to advise the optician of any illness prior to going through for a test. Unfortunately I work with kids (and some adults) so blue lights are going to happen at some point.

I can't take any immune system supplements (obviously) but I have been told to keep my vitamin C levels up and watch my iron so maybe think about taking supplements for that and hopefully they can stave off the worst of the coughs/colds going about?

Lum

Your question about screening my colleagues and so on. I can't answer that without posting something that would too easily identify who I am and where I work, but lets just say that currently I effectively do not have access to a manager or a HR department due to a mixture of political and technical issues, so it's unlikely anything has been done.

This should change after the move. The new manager seems like a genuinely decent person, though also comes across as in way over his head just dealing with the consultation process. Hence why I am trying to gather as much information and ideas as possible, while at the same time not wanting to come across as "precious". Something I've clearly failed to do when posting on this forum.