Circumstances beyond my control have put me in a place where I have to make a very difficult decision and I desperately need advice.
I’ve been struggling to find the words to type this out for over an hour. I mean, where do I even begin?
I guess I’ll start by saying that I have worked as an appliance repair technician (in the US) for the better part of a decade. There are some serious problems with how this industry treats their employees. I’m not going to be doing a deep dive into that mess here, but certain aspects of it are very relevant to my situation. Namely, the part where I’m classified as an independent contractor.
Now, for a little backstory…
My current employer is someone I have known and been friends with for years. For clarity’s sake, I’ll refer to him as Mr F (cue the little jingle from Arrested Development). We both started at the same company and, when that company went under due to mismanagement in 2019, Mr F started his own business and I went off to work for someone who ended up exploiting me and making promises they didn’t intend to keep (the phrase “I guess you should have got that in writing” was the straw that broke the camel’s back). Mr F, who had been begging me to come work for him for about 2 years at this point, was my savior. His offer was for more pay and less responsibility, which I happily accepted.
Around the time all this was going on, I ended up in the ER (because insurance is one of those benefits I don’t get as an independent contractor) with a very painful case of epididymitis and prostatitis. Per the doctor, the symptoms of prostatitis can persist beyond the disease and I could be dealing with them for years to come (yay!). I was told to expect chronic pain and that’s exactly what I got, so I ignored it because no insurance.
Fast forward to the beginning of this year. I now go to work every day hoping that my workday will be over before the pain becomes unbearable. Each day is a challenge to see how far I can push myself through the pain until I can’t bear it any longer and I end up in the ER once more. Turns out I have a stone in my left kidney that is too large to pass. The doctor tells me that the average kidney stone has a diameter of 0.5cm and that once a stone gets above 0.7cm, it can no longer be passed. The stone inside me is at 1.5cm (~0.6 inches). The ER gives me a 30 day supply of an anti inflammatory to help with the pain and a referral to a urologist I can’t afford.
In addition to that, I’m living paycheck to paycheck in this capitalist hellscape working in an industry that largely does not offer PTO because of my classification as an independent contractor. I literally cannot afford to miss work, so I continue to push myself through the agony.
At the end of April, I find myself working a 2 man job with another technician than ends with me trembling, drenched in sweat, and painfully dry heaving into a sink. Word gets back to Mr F and he forces me to take a week off to address my health. Turns out that the size of the stone will necessitate a surgical procedure.
My surgery is scheduled for next Wednesday and I have not worked since the end of April. Thankfully, my status as an independent contractor meant that I was effectively unemployed without work being provided to me, so I was eligible for a reduced cost medical plan and I can have the surgery without any downpayment. My wife has been struggling to support us on just her income. My mother has been buying us what groceries she can. I have borrowed, begged, and scraped by for weeks.
And so I did what you’re supposed to do at these times and applied for unemployment. Turns out appliance repair companies don’t pay unemployment taxes because of how they classify their employees. My claim for unemployment was denied, but I was given a chance to appeal, which will open a wage investigation to verify whether or not I am properly classified as an employee.
If I appeal, I could open up Mr F to fines and potentially destroy his small business. I would be burning a bridge and losing a friend in an act that would do absolutely nothing to address the problems at the core of this industry.
I feel like I owe it to Mr F to talk to him about it, but I don’t know whether to approach him as a boss or a friend… is it possible to do both? I guess that will ultimately be determined by whether he reacts as a boss or a friend. And also, to what end? It is not my intent to threaten or blackmail my boss, but the fact remains that I am in desperate need of money and it will unavoidably be central to the conversation.
My surgery is 4 days away and once my recovery period is done, I will be ready to run service calls again. The end is in sight, but in 3 days my electricity gets cut off. Rent is coming up.
Just… what do I do?