Not sure if this would even be the right sub to ask but I trust everyone here and we all have the same views on work.
I’m supposed to go to Switzerland for work in September for work meetings. I have 2 issues with this:
1) I have a massive fear of flying. It usually takes me days to recover from a flight. My company is wanting us to fly there on a Sunday and back on a Friday. We can’t plan our own vacation to piggyback off the flight (even if everything is out of pocket). This means I’ll have to take two 9+ hour flights in the span of 5 or so days. I’ve already had several panic attacks just thinking about this.
2) I’m high risk for Covid. I have several autoimmune diseases. I avoided Covid until March 2022, and now I’ve had it FOUR TIMES since then. I’m lucky I’ve been ok each time, but my concern is that going to Europe I’ll be exposed to newer variants sooner (since we seem to get a lot of what’s circulating in Europe after). What if I catch a newer variant in Switzerland and it’s one that really does a number to me, or even kills me? I don’t think my company has a policy for paying for someone to stay in the country they’ve traveled to for work if they catch Covid and have to isolate.
My job is pretty much remote. This meeting is pointless IMO because we’ve been working remote for 2 years with no problems. Don’t get me wrong, if we didn’t have a pandemic I’d be shitting my pants of excitement to be going and figuring out with my drs on which meds can knock me out on a flight.
How to I approach my boss about this? I’m afraid of retaliation. I’m pretty sure I got let go from my previous job for using my ADA accommodations (even though they were temporary requests when I was struggling with my health). I did all the right things and had my drs submit stuff to HR at that job and 3 months later I was put on a PIP, and 3 months after that I was let go. Is there anything I can do because now we’re (still) in a pandemic I can submit something to my current HR? I don’t want to provide any info about my health to my work if I can help it. Do I have a verbal discussion with my boss, or should I email her so everything is in writing?
TIA