I have been sick, very sick (terrible cough that continues to worsen, body fatigue, swollen throat and chest pains) for over a month but have been having to work as other staff have been out and I work at a small private child care facility that needs at least 4 staff to open. My job is incredibly active and unpredictable. After being sick for 3 weeks my boss asked me to go to the doctor and make sure everything is okay.
My doctor has been unable to do much buddies rule out a few things and give me a few rx's for symptom management – think prescription grade ibuprofen and cough suppressants, etc. She has encouraged me to try to take time off work and rest, like really rest, for 3-5 days straight. I had her create a note to fax to my employer.
My employer gave me two of the days but by the third i was called in because two other staff members were sick with communicable illnesses (a cold and COVID) and my illness has been ruled no contagious. I have continued to work near-full days since, that was about two weeks ago, and there is no sign of change any time soon. I'm genuinely worried about my increasing fatigue and chest pains – my doctor considers one of my lungs partially collapsed.
Can my employer keep making me work? If my condition worsens because i haven't been allowed time off to recover, are they liable at all?
I'm really not trying to make trouble for my employer but I need her to understand that this is legitimate risking my health.
For the record, my team have been begging her to hire more support staff for months because we only have 6 people on staff, meaning if even one person is sick/can't come in it's all hands on deck just to cover that, and two or god forbid three people out at once is a literal trainwreck.