Worker With Headaches Forced to Stay and Work

A worker, S, in Building A, who has been suffering from headaches the past four or six months told me that when he has asked to go home due to the severity of his headaches he has been told no by some of his supervisors because his doctor had “cleared him to 100% full duty.”

Some back-story on this guy.  S had been suffering headaches since (I believe) a package fell on his head (or some sort of related work injury) around four months or so ago.  He originally went to the UPS snakes doctors at US Health Works (who should be avoided at all costs!) and they gave him some medication but then released him for full duty.  The medication ended up making him drowsy (he said he felt a little drunk when taking the pills) which is really bad when you are around heavy machinery with moving parts and gears all day.

When he came to me I pointed him toward the union who pointed him to another doctor who he could trust.  Not surprisingly the doctor had S take two weeks off and gave him different medication, which didn’t fully get rid of his head aches but didn’t make him feel drowsy.

So now because he is back at work and is back from paid leave management is forcing him to stay on the job despite him still having severe (but not crippling like before) headaches.

Lessons

1. If you are feeling sick or cannot complete your job you must tell management that you would like to go home right away.
2. If they refuse then tell them you won’t go back to work until you have a shop steward present.  They can’t fire you for refusing to work until they give you a warning in front of a shop steward.  Once your shop steward is there she or he should be able to convince management to send you home.
3. If they threaten your job and really push you then your shop steward should be able to work out some type of compromise until the end of the night.  Immediately, the next day, go to your union and file a grievance.