reducing working hours because of arthritis

Starrystarrynight

Hello OP. I feel your pain and quandary.

If you haven't already, you must ask for an Occupational Health assessment. The OH nurse/adviser's recommendations can count for a lot.

I have arthritis and several other disabling conditions, and submitted my request to reduce my hours citing disability reasons and a wish to improve my attendance. I asked to not work on Mondays, so I'd have a longer weekend to recover, and hopefully my attendance would improve from there. My employer accepted I needed to reduce my hours, but tried to dictate the days. I rejected this as i didn't feel it would help me. I involved my union, and on my eventual return to work after surgery, the OH nurse backed up my reasons, and my employer conceded.

I don't care how it affects my pension or redundancy rights. Disabled workers don't take the decision to reduce working hours lightly. They do it so they can have hope for the future, to keep independence as long as possible, for quality of life and balancing health with work.

I hope you can find the right balance for you. It's so hard to work when fighting constant pain, the worry of disciplinary procedures due to absence, and the awful side effects of medication. I feel like a different person, and not in a good way, since my last surgery, and while I have to work, I just can't let it rule me anymore.

Ozzuk

I was going to mention Occ health - ours is fantastic. They may even be able to recommend shortening hours to manage your condition. Our occ health team has done that many times for various conditions at our place including permanent changes.

Good luck!