This post is going to be relatively long, but I’d like to provide as much context as I can.
I found out in March that I’m pregnant. My fiancé and I weren’t planning to have kids, at least not this soon, but it ended up being a welcome surprise.
The first trimester was rough, I was constantly sick and vomiting. Due to this I requested a short term disability leave from my job as a Customer Service Representative for a pretty prestigious bank. (I don’t qualify for FMLA since that requires 1 year of tenure with the company and I’ve only been with them since September).
For those who may not be familiar, short term disability leave requires medical supporting evidence that you’re unable to work. My OB/GYN wasn’t comfortable labeling me as disabled due to the fact that, even though I was very sick, I didn’t require hospitalization. Understandable.
Because of this I was called back to work on April 13th. I knew I wasn’t ready. I was still barely functioning. And at this point I was beginning to have some side effects from medication withdrawal. Before I became pregnant I was regularly taking Zoloft, Abilify and Trazodone. My psychiatrist removed Abilify and Trazodone from my regimen due to them not being entirely safe for a developing embryo/fetus. Over the course of that month I started showing symptoms of severe depression again. (I am diagnosed with PTSD and Major Depressive Disorder).
The day I went back to work (I work from home), I took three calls and promptly had one of, if not the most, sever breakdown I’ve had this year. I was crying and hyperventilating for almost an hour before my manger realized my status was still in After Call Work. I called his cell phone a sobbing mess and he advised me to sign out and he’ll deal with the back office teams.
Now the plan has shifted to getting the medical supporting evidence from my Psychiatric care team. There was a lot of back and forth. I had to play scapegoat in between the Short Term Disability company and my doctors. My psychiatrist referred me to a Partial Hospitalization Program, which is just a fancy way of saying Medically Supervised Group Therapy. I completed the course as a way to show the leave company I’m working toward getting better. Ultimately, all attempts to get my leave approved were denied.
I received a letter in the mail. They’re saying if I don’t come back they’ll mark it as job abandonment and fire me. I spoke with my contact in HR, and she gave me the option of requesting a Job Accommodation instead. I will still need medical supporting evidence, but I’ll have a week, starting from the 31st, to get that information together.
Fellow redditors, I’m tired. I don’t want to return to this job because customer service sometimes puts me in situations that will cause me to flashback and relapse. I want to find a new job, something that exposes me less to the general public. The Partial Hospitalization Program referred me to a Vocational Rehab specialist, hopefully they can help me. And I hope it’s soon, because we’re running out of money and time.
I didn’t mention that my fiancé is currently suspended from his job for reasons I’d like to keep private. But with both of us not working this has been tough.
Any advice is welcomed.