I had to quit my job recently because of a health condition. It was a side hustle job (I was waitressing to pay rent – I’m a PhD student studying music, and music is fully what I expect my career to be in) and it caused me to develop tendinitis in both my wrists. Last month it became so severe that I had to take two weeks off (one week elected by me, and another upon the advise of my GP). At the end of my two week rest, I was immediately put on a 10 hour shift and rota’d to work 5 days that week – seemingly no thought given to the fact that I may still be recovering and might want to ease back in.
I quit on that Monday. I said I didn’t want to interrupt the healing process (my tendinitis was so bad that I had to take breaks while folding laundry due to pain), and that my full recovery and that job were incompatible. I explained to him that in any other situation, I wouldn’t quit just before Christmas, and I would give a two-week notice, etc. But these circumstances were unprecedented, and I couldn’t risk damaging my hands any further because of my commitment to music. He was super understanding, said I should prioritise my health, said he appreciated my honesty, gave me a hug, and said that if my circumstances changed in the future and I wanted to come back I could just send a text. I left feeling really positive about the situation.
Anyway, earlier this week a couple of my ex-colleagues I’m still in touch with bumped into him. A few people have left this month, so they were chatting to him about it – and inevitably I came up. Apparently he said he “sacked” me, and then kind of corrected himself to say “well – I had to let her go because she couldn’t work much.” Both of them knew I had quit, but they didn’t bring it up in the moment. They called me later to tell me what happened.
Needless to say I am livid – and confused. I cannot believe he would go behind my back and chat such shit. I quit – that was my decision and my right. Is he not aware that sacking someone because of a health condition is illegal in this country? The mixed messages are unbelievable – saying to my face that I could work there again in the future to saying behind my back that he “let me go”? I was open to coming back in the future to pick up a little extra cash, but now I never want to see his face again. I thought he was a brilliant manager, but I guess it took leaving to see who he actually is. I am meant to have a leaving-gathering tomorrow and I feel sick just thinking about it.