Hi, I have been diagnosed with DCIS for the second time and am facing a mastectomy and immediate reconstruction next week.
i have been working for my current employers for the past 10 months. They have always been less than caring but they have really been a disappointment since I told them my diagnosis. They are a small privately owned company but they employ about 100 employees so they’re not insignificant.
out of courtesy I mentioned to them that I needed to take and make a quite a few personal calls with hospital appointments and care support network and next thing I knew there was a memo come round saying they were going to make it a disciplinary offence to have a personal phone out other than designated break times. I work in a small office doing the accounts so its easy to make up any time but their attiitude has been totally inflexible. They have refused to let me work from home around my appointments so I have had to loads the time off as sick leave which is unpaid and the leave I need to take after the operation will also be unpaid. Not once have they asked if there is any way they can help but instead have tried to increase my workload.
i got so upset last week that I broke down and told them I was going home and I haven’t returned since.
am I just unlucky or have others found that employers leave a lot to be desired?
Oh crap, I added an emoticon, and my post disappeared!!
Your employers sound horrible. I have read here that cancer is covered under the disability discrimination laws, so you might like to have a chat to somebody about how you are being treated. You could try the helpline here maybe, or the folks at Macmillan??
I guess its not always easy to bring in the big guns, especially when you are feeling vulnerable, but by the same token, you have enough on your plate without having to deal with this bullying, and maybe some bigger boys being involved would make them play nice!!! 
Duffer, there is a thread on here about employers. Sadly it would seem many employers are ill informed. I have been off for 10 months as Ive had various treatments including chemo. You are indeed covered by the disability act and your employer should make reasonable adjustments. However since my issues at work Ive been reasearching this and many employers are not aware of this. MacMillan do a good pack about your rights. Do you belong to a union?
I had to involve them after my initial informal meeting as hr mentioned ill health retirement and capability thrkugh ill health in the same senrence as phased return. I too broke down, my most recent meeting was good and we agreed a sensible return to work. However the hr lady kept on about tge policy that they had to follow. In effect if I dont cope and go off sick again its goodbye fob. ( not said but again implied!)
Have you gone to your gp to get signed off? Also the dwp can help suppirt you financially. Cyber hugs heading your way. Buffy xxx
Was trying to put in the link but my phone wont let me. Its called BC and returning to work, lots of stories, some positive some not.
Here’s the link for Duffy Buffy`;
http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/comment/2100235#comment-2100235
Best wishes
Lucy
So sorry to hear that your employers are so unsympathetic. You do not need to be fighting this battle as well as the BC. You may find these links helpful:
cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/about-cancer/cancer-questions/the-disability-discrimination-act-and-cancer Includes advice on rights at work and what to do if you have faced discrimination.
gov.uk/equality-act-2010-guidance
Hope it all works out. Take care
NB x
I have just returned to work after being off since November 2012 following on from chemo and radiotherapy. I asked the nurses at the hospital how long should I take until returning to work they said at a minimum 2 weeks, so I rang work and said it was suggested I had 2 weeks after the end of my radiotherapy and I was kind of railroaded into going back after a week. It was agreed I would do 4 half days for the first week (the monday was a bank holiday) then the second week to do half days and a couple of full days then the third week back full time.
I was surprised at this, but felt I couldnt say no as I had been off for so long already, I did the first week of 4 half days and felt fine but at the weekend I was shattered and could hardly move. I went back on the Monday, did a half day, on the Tuesday I did a full day and felt exhausted. Weds I did half a day and again felt exhausted. I had a phone call that night from my local Maggies Cancer care centre and the lady was shocked I was back at work and doing so much, I broke down and said I had felt guilty and didnt feel I could ask for time off, she said they were wrong for pushing me back so quickly and to speak to my dr. I did and broke down at the Drs and she has signed me off on a more gradual return to work. I am doing 3 half days this week, 4 half days next week and then two weeks of 5 half days. I have to go back and see her before she will let me do a full day.
When I took my sick note from the doctors, there was only one director in, so I saw him and he reacted really badly to reading my sicknote, he got stroppy and stormed out on me and I was reduced to tears. I have been asked to see the Managing Director this week as apparantly he is cross with how I was dealt with so will know more when I see him, but it certainly does not help with the pressure or guilt that I feel.
I am going to read up on the disability laws so I know my rights so thank you for posting that.
Many thanks
Amanda x
This is an interesting post as I am newly diagnosed and expecting crapfrom my workplace, not my colleagues who are all being wonderful but the top guns with their bit of power!
I could not brlieve thier attitude! There are only two people with power in the company - the owner (MD) who makes all the decisions And the General Manager who carries them out. The MD hides behind the GM and pretends t’s not him calling the shots and the GM hides behind the MDretending that he as nothing to do with the decisions but he obviously enjoys carrying thm out. The staff ave nobody to stand their corner and are all afraid of loosing their jobs!
i am not going to let them bully me into going back too early or full time Or make me feel guily every time i need time off for medical appointments! it’s not a if they pay me so we are actually talking unpaid leave anyway!
I have done some research and from what i have discovered they are ‘duty bound’ to make reasonable adjustments to help me return to work and that includes allowing me to work from home, work partime or reduced hours. If they dont agree thn they have to justify why they wont agree - the onus is on them to justify thier decision not me to justify my request. If they dont then they are discriminating against me under the Equal Opportunities Act (formerly the Disability Descrimination Act). once there is a diagnosis of cancer we are automatically classed as disabled in employment law.
I could do without the grief but i am nit going to be bullied by them!
I am in the same position my treatment finished Jan 2012. I went through a bacterial virus infection, spent a week in hospital and then operation for implant replacement. Now my general manager said he can dismiss on medical ground. I took my annual leave to cover my operation and have been doing half days. not happy going for meetin this week and i am very stressed and anxious.
My managers been bullying me throughout last year and theis year. I complained several hundred times.
I am so not happy
I am disgusted with these people! Please bear in mind that you are covered by the Equality Act (was Disibilty Descrimination Act) ad as I understand it an employer is duty bound to make reasonable adjustments to your working conditions (shorter hours, work from home etc.) if they don’t then the onus is on them to justify why they can’t make the adjustment rather than for you to justify why you need them to do it.
maybe have a word with ACAS or CAB - also chevk out if you have home contents cover with legal expenses - you might be able to be represented in a disability descrimination tribunal.
let me know how you get on
carol
I have made the decision to resign from the job. I need to work but I don’t need to work for bullies! I have seen a solicitor to see if I had a case for constructive dismissal and he believes I have so I am taking them to a tribunal. I told the solicitor that if he felt I didn’t have a case then I would walk away and put it down to experience but if I did have a case then I wanted the bullies to have to justify their behaviour to a tribunal. They made me feel so anxious worrying whether I was allowed to use my phone to keep in touch with the cancer support network that they made a horrible situation even worse - just so they could show who was boss. I feel so much better now that I know I don’t have to go back. The prospect of not finding alternative employment is less daunting than working for bullying control freaks!
Sorry to hear that you are having a bad time with your employer I had the same in 2009 , 2 years after i was diagnosed ,when i went back people had changed and like you the bullies arrived .
Dont do what I did and settle for the lesser ,if you have a definate case go for it . But just bear in mind I was “made redundant” ??? but I have found it hard too get work since , so please also think long and hard about things , I worked for 27 years and things are tougher than they have ever been .
Good luck ,sorry if i went on about me , but your strength will get you through 
Penny
The solicitor thinks i have a case so i am definately going for it. I am fortunate that I still had critical illness cover in place and they have paid out so I jave been able to clear my mortgage so I don’t need to earn as much as I did before.
I felt as if they almost enjoyed making my life a misery so not they can sample what it feels like!