New job not making disability adjustments

codemonkey

I'm hoping someone can offer some advice here.

I started a new job very recently. I have a chronic and acute pain condition but I work very hard to prevent it being an obstacle in the workplace and I am really good at what I do. I made a point of telling HR about the condition and advised that I can't be seated under an air conditioning vent as it causes extreme pain. I know this was passed on to my manager as he mentioned it on my first day. The trouble is, despite this, my new desk is under an air vent. I've tried to deal with it, but it's causing a lot of pain.

I mentioned it to my manager and he told me to go and sit somewhere else, but all the desks are under vents, except 3 or 4 which are all occupied by the higher ups. There is provision to work from home but while I'm finding my feet, I kind of need to be in the building and near my team and I can't work from home all the time.

Honestly, I don't want to be *that* guy and I don't want my colleagues to think I'm going for the special snowflake treatment, but this is a real problem for me and if it continues I'll end up having to go off sick.

Any suggestions on handling this diplomatically?

SillyOne

Go back to HR in person. Are they approachable?

sangie595

Is there a reason that the "higher up desks" are different from the others. In other words - could they move or can any of the desks be reconfigured? Is it possible to block off a vent? Is there another office you could work in? Providing solutions is generally better than waiting for them to be found. Because if there is no solution, then it isn't a reasonable adjustment, and therefore they would not be expected to "fix" it. They cannot simply turn off air conditioning for everyone for one person. At which point, you will have to decide whether to find another job, resign, or wait until they dismiss because the adjustment you need can't be accommodated. So - can you find a solution?

codemonkey

They're I'm a different building. Ideally, I'd like to give my manager a chance to fix it before I take it to HR . I don't really want to get off on the wrong foot with my new team.

codemonkey

sangie595 wrote: »

Is there a reason that the "higher up desks" are different from the others. In other words - could they move or can any of the desks be reconfigured? Is it possible to block off a vent? Is there another office you could work in? Providing solutions is generally better than waiting for them to be found. Because if there is no solution, then it isn't a reasonable adjustment, and therefore they would not be expected to "fix" it. They cannot simply turn off air conditioning for everyone for one person. At which point, you will have to decide whether to find another job, resign, or wait until they dismiss because the adjustment you need can't be accommodated. So - can you find a solution?

I don't want them to turn the air con off just for me, but if they'd told me in advance that they couldn't find a desk that didn't have air conditioning directly over it, then knowing it would cause problems, I wouldn't have taken the job. The vent can't be turned off or blocked. I'm hoping they'll be able to move me, but if they can't... I don't know.

Like I said, I don't want to be *that* guy but I won't be offering value for money if I'm on morphine to get through the day, and/or on sick leave.

sangie595

I do understand what you are saying. I'm on morphine right now and it isn't fun at all. But unfortunately there are sometimes situations that cant be changed. So if you can think of a change that will work - suggest it. Nobody wants to be "that" guy, but sometimes situations just are impossible. I would lay bets that until you came along, nobody even thought about how many vents there are or that nowhere didn't have them! Since losing most of my mobility (very hopefully only temporary although I won't ever get it back 100%) I have become very short tempered about things that I never used to notice - and I thought I was actually quite "good at disability". But if the bin men leave the pavements littered with bins blocking the whole way in front of my scooter tomorrow again, the local councillor will be getting a rocket. As did the place down the road where people park on the "big wide pavement" - which is no longer big and wide when there are six cars on it! Lived here six years and never noticed any of this. This is all stuff that nobody even looked at until you came along, and so didn't think of as a problem!

sangie595

PS - there should be a space between codigo and Pombo. It isn't one word but two.

codemonkey

sangie595 wrote: »

PS - there should be a space between codigo and Pombo. It isn't one word but two.

I know. Codigopombo is kind of a joke, in the same way that codemonkey should also be two words.

I know what you mean about pavement blocking. One of my neighbours has several 4x4s. They built a garage recently and I was so happy, until they filled it with gym equipment and now they don't even use the driveway. They park all the cars on the pavement, almost blocking it. I've never been so tempted to key a car in my life! It's so selfish.

I'd probably not have paid too much attention to the vents beyond the fact it's freezing in there, so I get it's a weird problem to be facing. I guess when I told them, I thought they might have asked one of the people on the non vented desks to swap, not just done nothing. They had 6 weeks so plenty of time to organise a desk swap.

Sambella

Don't worry about being 'that' guy. Your manager was aware of it and it was very inconsiderate of him to place you under an air vent knowing what he did.

Seemingly nobody was willing to move to facilitate you. Most likely they are NOT understanding that this causes you pain and why.

You should speak to or email your manager explaining exactly what sitting under an air vent does to you and why/how this happens. He does need to be careful in how he handles this.

Takeaway_Addict

Your manager may be aware of it but probably doesn't understand the implications.

Could you go back to them armed with more information on the issue? Could you ask them to speak to HR (ideally with solutions you've thought of?

If its a vent in a ceiling could you not move the actual ducting to another square?

Just some thoughts

TELLIT01

It will probably be possible to cover the part of the air con vent which is blowing directly on you. We had a similar problem at one of my previous employments which didn't just affect people with disabilities. Sitting directly in the draught from an aircon unit could be a concern for H&S reps anyway.
Physically relocating the aircon outlet is generally not a simple job. Covering part of the outlet should be.