Apologies for the long rant
20 plus year with the same company and have always gotten great reviews. In 2019, I took an 8 weeks mental health leave to change up my meds knowing I would be mentally and physically impaired from the withdrawal of my previous meds. My manager at the time asked me if I’d work from home and, feeling like I should, I did. Obviously, I was not in the best shape cognitively so I’m sure I made mistakes and didn’t do my best work.
Upon review time, which was just before Covid, I received a very negative review for the last quarter in which I was supposed to be on leave stating that I was making mistakes and that my head wasn’t in the game. Well, yeah, I was supposed to be on medical leave for that reason. I was transitioning to a new role so the manager that wrote the review didn’t meet with me so I had no rebuttal for the comments
Fast forward a few weeks and I’m in the new role. The coworker that has been doing this job and her job for the past few months is supposed to train me. From the beginning, I could not get her to show me the work. She was busy, it was easier to do it herself, etc. Covid hits and we’re now on a WTF schedule. This makes getting trained even more challenging. She gives me the crap work here and there but still continues to do the work. If I make a decision to work on something other than what she tells me because I feel it’s more important, then she reports that I haven’t done any work. My manager is not helping at all when I bring up my issues.
Next review comes and I get below expectations and put on a PIP, which is literally a listing of the tasks that I should be trained on.
I start an unlucky period in my personal life for the next few months. I was open with my employer about my challenges, which was a mistake because they decided that because my work was not up to par – because my coworker wouldn’t let me do it – that maybe my mental health was the issue and I should go on leave.
After I come back from leave, the issues with my coworker are even worse. She’s working mega overtime to get way ahead in my job duties. I literally come in on a Monday and the work for the next couple weeks is done
So, I try another meeting. This time with HR and my manager. My manager is silent the entire time and HR is telling me that my coworker is simply helping me because there’s no telling of I’ll go on leave again. Obviously, I can see the writing on the wall.
Sure enough, 2 months later, I get the termination. 20 plus years and they were so certain that mental health was the issue and not the problems I tried to tell them.
PSA: Keep your health issues to yourself or they’ll be used against you