Terminated during Cancer Treatments
Monica B. on May 11, 2020
I was diagnosed with b-cell lymphoma in January and informed my principal of my school. My treatments would be weekly for two days; therefore, I would only be able to work three days out of the week. Well....once the treatments began, they made me really sick. Not once did he call or email me to check on me. I had to be sure to contact him about when I would be able to come in. So, when I finally come back, he didn't ask if I needed accommodations or anything. When I was walking around he may ask how I was doing and I would say I'm hanging in there. Well... when I needed help with the students he responded that I needed to look at my classroom management. When I was observed and I was sitting down instead of walking around, I was ostracized for that. Students were walking around (which I had already told to sit down). I wasn't going to scream and holler at the kids and make myself sicker. I couldn't call for help. So, I was at a loss. Now, knowing my condition and the fact that I am depending on my insurance and my income I get terminated. What are my rights as a cancer patient?
1 Comment
Nicole Franklin, MPH
May 13, 2020
Cancer and Careers Staff Comment:
Hi Monica,
Thanks for reaching out. I’m sorry to hear that your employer was not supportive while you were working during treatment, which is a huge burden on top of dealing with a life-changing diagnosis. Being terminated is an especially hard hit when having health insurance and a reliable income is more important than ever. While Cancer and Careers can’t provide legal advice, our immediate recommendation would be to reach out to a legal organization to discuss all the specifics of your situation and determine a course of action. A good place to start is the National Cancer Legal Services Network – which provides listings of pro-bono legal services by state. You can find more information at http://www.nclsn.org/.
You might also want to check out http://apps.americanbar.org/legalservices/lris/directory and www.lawhelp.org .
I’d also recommend checking out the following information as well:
Our partner, Triage Cancer, also has several legal resources that might provide additional guidance: https://triagecancer.org/cancer-related-legal-issues
I hope this is helpful. You can also reach us at cancerandcareers@cew.org or 646-929-8032 if you have any additional questions.
Kind regards,
Nicole Franklin, MPH
Senior Manager of Programs
Cancer and Careers
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