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Not sure if im being discriminated or harassed
So i work at a salon and ive been there for a year. The company knows i have epilepsy and they said no worries your fine to work here. However, there have been multiple times where ive felt harassed about it. For instance, One time another co worker was doing my hair and she asked about my scar on top of my head. I said oh thats from my brainsurgery i have epilepsy. She then laughed and said oh i heard those people are unstable... a couple months later i had a seizure at my work. everyone was really supportive of me afterwards but then things got weird really fast. my salon manager told me that they were going to cut one of my days down to 4. I asked why and they said oh just because were in a slow time at the moment. I was like ok. However when ive looked at the schedule no one elses hours were cut and im a full timer and i only have 29 hours. the entire time ive been working for the company my manager has told me countless times that im going to be promoted to assistant manager then it was salon manager then it was business leader. Then they decided to make another girl whos only been here for two months the salon manager. I asked the girl when i was going to get my fifth day back and she replied oh well i dont know bc ive been told you can only work 4 days bc of your epilepsy. I was shocked by that answer..I dont know what to do i feel like they want to get rid of me. None of the other girls want to talk to me either:( Do i call hr?
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Companies these days have to have loads of paper documentation and a very good reason to lay someone off. If they feel they have someone they later regret hiring for whatever reasons, they are stuck with that employee because the law will most likely be on the employees side.
I worked in a small company 4 employees including me plus the married couple owners. They had need of a new employee and got a gal who did her work but was a heavy smoker and in our small office of non smokers it was disgusting to have to smell her clothing that reeked strongly of cigarettes, and even though it gave some of us headaches, that was not a good enough reason to fire her.
I would say that your employer is trying to make you miserable enough so that you will just leave and that solves their problem.
An employer can change your hours, and make promises to let you be assistant manager but don't have to come through with it. They can do the same to someone with out a disability for something as simple as they just don't like your personality. While they may be discriminating, it's not easy to prove without documentation.
Companies know they need legal documentation of employee performances good and bad. All of this is documented, signed by both manager and employee and goes into an employee file.
You can complain to officials and tell them that you have no restrictions by doctor against working full time and let them know what actual limitations if any you do have.
I used to be a caregiver and have worked with 3 people who had other issues besides epilepsy, and
none were allowed to operate machinery so they were not able to drive. So there should be legal concerns for your safety and welfare as well as the safety and welfare of others. If the safety or welfare of salon clients in your care was at stake and there was some harm that could come to them if you were to have an episode while working with one, then I could see their concern being valid. It could be that initially they were worried about you with the one episode but after they had time to think about it, wondered about traumatic impact it might have on a customer.
So here's another thought along the lines of safety: If you were using any implement of the trade on a customer at the time of an attack, would there be a possibility of injuring them? If all things fell into place timing wise for that to occur, would the customer be likely to file a lawsuit for damages or injury?
These are the kinds of thoughts someone who knows nothing about epilepsy has. They don't know how often it occurs and how severe and that could be a concern. Have they asked you for details about your epilepsy and what they can do to help when it happens. If they know nothing, they could be making decisions out of fear.
It might be better to talk first to an agency that is an advocate for the legal rights of employee's with medical issues or disabilities. They will be more up on what constitutes discrimination or not in your case and be able to tell you whether to deal with human resources at all, or how to.
If you can't find something on line for your city, ask your doctor if they could point you in the direction of an agency that could help with work related issues and unfairness due to your condition.
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