Never posted on here before, but I don't have many people to talk to about this.
Some context – I started working for this company in 2010. A few years in, my health started to decline. Shingles, influenza, parvovirus among many other contagious viruses. I had to take unpaid sick leave for a month or so at a time, with each illness taking me a little longer to recover. As a way to manage this I was allowed to change from full time to part time.
After catching Parvovirus though, I didn't really recover. It became cfs/fibromyalgia, like what a lot of long covid people are dealing with. My doctor of over a decade recommended working from home as a way to minimise my exposure to viruses. Lots of people come in to work sick because of management pressure, and I would pay the price for it. After a long fight in which my manager at the time tried to illegally gain access to my medical records, I was allowed to work from home.
Then covid happened and everyone was working from home. My last major flare up was after my second covid jab – I had a severe reaction and was not allowed any more shots. After this, the business decided that they didn't want me on the books anymore. They forced me to see their own 'independent' doctor who did a report gaslighting me saying that I was just mentally ill. This is against my doctor's diagnosis as well as the diagnosis of a rheumatologist.
So they tell me now that I must return to the office full time, going against my doctor's recommendations of part time hours from home while I continue to recover/deal with this long term illness. This is when no one else is being required to return to the office full time, including my own sister who works part time from home because she has kids.
I am so tired of fighting them. I refuse to quit, and that is kind of to my detriment. Partly because I feel like no one is going to hire someone with my health requirements, and partly because I want them to have to deal with me and the consequences of what they have done. But it is more likely that they will continue to make me miserable until I breakdown and my doctor steps in to make me quit.
I'm good at my job. I want to work. But holy shit this whole thing has messed with me mentally. Between my chronic pain, which always flares up under stress, and this ever growing feeling of worthlessness, I couldn't get myself out of bed on Friday. There is nothing I can do but post my story anonymously on reddit.