This is in Alabama.
I have really bad anxiety. Usually it's managed by meds and therapy, but sometimes I'll have a flair up where just nothing helps (usually during high-stress periods). Doses of Xanax that would usually knock me on my ass don't even make me blink. I go to the doctor, get my meds adjusted, and within a few weeks I'm back to normal.
I've been having one of those periods recently. In the past week I've maybe gotten 1-2 hours sleep per night. I lay there awake worrying about the fact I can't fall asleep and I'll be exhausted at work, and it creates this awful spiral where of course since I'm worrying, I'm more anxious, I don't sleep.
I reached out to my supervisor to request that, until I'm able to get it under control, that I'm able to have a fully flexible schedule, provided I'm able to work my full 40 hours per week and attend any meetings and things that are scheduled. I work remotely and my role is not customer-facing; very rarely will a call be routed to me but most interactions I have with clients is via email and our guideline is that we respond within 72 hours. This way I could work at night when my anxiety is the worst and keeps me awake anyways, at least until my meds kick in (saw my psychiatrist yesterday and my meds should be ready to pick up tomorrow).
But my supervisor's supervisor refused the request, citing the “needs of the business” and the best they offered was to allow me to start at 9 (30 minutes later than usual). If my job were more customer-facing then I could understand but I don't feel like this request would cause undue hardship.
I'm not sure what to do from here because that alternative really isn't going to help me. I'm not eligible for FMLA leave through them yet or I'd go that route. I'm open to alternatives, such as working 4 hours during working hours and then my other 4 whenever I'm able to maybe. I'm just not sure what to do now, what alternatives I could offer or how to politely say “sorry, that's not really gonna work for me.” I just don't wanna push back so hard I end up losing this job because they say I can't perform the essential functions — I can, 99% of the time. I haven't had a flare up this bad in almost 4 years. But when they're bad, they're bad.