Disability and Job Search: How not to disclose?

In My Humble Opinion
1

TLDR; How can I avoid letting prospective employers know I have a chronic and possibly debilitating (in the future) disease when it is a major contributing factor to why I left my last job?
My job search seems to have run into a wall. I can’t help but wonder if it has to do with the reason I left my last job - or what I say the reason is.

For a little background, last May I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. It took me out of work for about six weeks, but I later returned to work until October First. Several events took place in the meantime which reinforced my belief that I was not in the right line of work.

The most egregious being the fact that when I was in the hospital experiencing my first flare up and being diagnosed, my employment was terminated. My managers knew where I was, I updated them daily - but a different manager was not in the loop and terminated me for no call/no show without talking to anyone or attempting to call me. When I returned I had to be rehired, and this caused me all sorts of problems, including removing all chance of having insurance for the next 365 days. I actually have an EEOC lawsuit in process, for this and other reasons. I’ll explain more about that joy if you guys want in another post or thread.

So there was the termination, the ‘become a delivery driver or nothing’ ultimatum upon my return (I had been a shift leader, and my job had been given away in my absence. I didn’t expect them to hold it, but there are 15ish other area stores, etc.), the unwillingness to accommodate my simple health-related requests, and the fact that I routinely worked within 5 feet of a 500 degree oven. Heat is a well known trigger to MS relapse symptoms, and always made me feel ew.

Long story short, not the best job for me, and there was a final incident that was the proverbial straw, and I resigned.

Employers always want to know why you left your last job, and my short answer is typically “Health related reasons”. I am ALWAYS asked to elaborate, and I then explain that the heat of the ovens and warming racks was affecting my health.

The last thing I want to do is tell a prospective employer that I am actually suing my former employer because they are total shitheads. I also don’t think I should disclose that I have MS, because it’s a) none of their business and b) it’s illegal to discriminate but it’s easy enough to say a healthy applicant was more qualified than I was. Even so I feel I am walking a very fine line between disclosing too much information and being completely dishonest about my reasons for leaving my last job.

Does anyone have any similar experience? Any ideas on how to phrase my reason for leaving? I think this may well be part of my difficulty in finding new employment, as I am otherwise well qualified for the fields to which I am applying and have 100% open availability, am presentable, well spoken, etc.

2

Brief answer is to apply for jobs where this is not going to be an issue.
Let’s be honest - we have a form of MS that runs in the family - there are many jobs you should not be applying for. Maybe you are OK now, but there will come a time where you should not be performing certain work with this illness.

I know this is easier to say than do - and I don’t know what other skills you have - but it might be time to do some additional schooling, taking a few courses to improve your chances in a new (related?) field where this will be less of an issue in the years to come.

Regarding putting something on your resume, you can simply phrase it that “I want to pursue other job opportunities with more room for advancement in this field.”
This simply implies your last job was a dead-end position (which it was), and you want a job that will accept you for who you are and give you a chance to grow in the position.

3

That’s the real sticker. No matter what field I pursue or job I land, it’s pretty well inevitable that at some point I will be out of work suddenly for a possibly extended period of time. At that point disclosure is over and done with, and I can only hope that I can both handle things better on my end with the knowledge of what’s actually going on and that my employer will be understanding.

My 16 years of work experience are in food service (probably not such a great idea anymore) and clerical work, with the crossover being customer service and management in both areas. I have been beating the tar out of the want ads for clerical positions of almost any sort, and running around applying to staffing services and temp agencies to pad my chances.

I definitely want to work for as long as I can, and I can certainly handle near any clerical or office task, if with slightly less acuity than before. I can fake it! :stuck_out_tongue: I like that idea though, making it a lot less specific but still 100% true.

I am definitely navigating uncharted waters here, and I really am afraid that there is no job where it won’t eventually be an issue, as I seem to be relapsing/remitting for now.

4

If you were eligible for FMLA at your old employer, then they were required to hold your job while you were out for 6 weeks (it actually goes up to 12). Were you eligible for FMLA? Because if so, the simple fact that they gave away your position as shift lead would open them up to a lawsuit (not even taking into account that they fired you).

5

I am not sure. Thank you for reminding me I need to do that research. That said, my absence was very sudden and unpredictable, I had no idea at the time if or when I would be able to return, and things like FMLA and short term disability were the last things on my mind. Actually wasn’t a lot on my mind then at all. :slight_smile:

6

You were keeping in contact with the company, you did what you were supposed to. It was a failure on their part to inform ALL the managers (and HR) of your condition. With the EEOC lawsuit your lawyer should be doing all the footwork for what’s already happened, though. Focus more on moving forward.

As far as finding new jobs, the call center I work at has a fair number of disabled employees. Have you tried looking for entry-level call center work? It’s stressful sometimes, but the environment is nice, cool, and comfortable.

7

It does suck. My wife has rheumatoid arthritis and its very visible in her hands. We are always fearful that the disability may be why someone gets chosen over her. No way to prove it but its paranoia inducing. She works right now in manufacturing. Every time she gets laid off I’m always concerned about her getting another job. Good luck to you

8

I have worked in a call center briefly, a few years back at a major one in Chattanooga. I do think that would be an ideal kind of situation for me now, even if it is stressful. That’s the kind of stress I am well trained to handle.

Thank you, diggerwam. It’s tricky enough with the invisible sorts of disability, I can imagine more noticeable ones can easily make someone more nervous when hoping to land a job.

9

Sorry to hear about your condition, but you must be honest with prospective employers about your health issues. One tactic is to do the opposite of what you’ve been doing… be upfront and tell them about your condition at the beginning of the interview; this will demonstrate confidence on your part. This is *much *better than them asking you the question later in the interview, and you answering it in a meager and apologetic fashion.

10

Well, no. It’s not about anything I must do, because it’s quite illegal for any employer to discriminate against me based on my disability status. Provided I am ambulatory and able to perform the job duties as advertised, there’s no real reason they ever need to know. They cannot even ask me about my medical history in any sort of official capacity, which it would most definitely be if it was part of the interview process.

Imagine how that conversation would go:
“Hi, I’m Sarah. I am very well qualified for this job and I would like to have it. I have Multiple Sclerosis and that means that at any time I may be absent from work long or short term. It also means that I will have moments of ‘DURP’ from time to time, but if you just give me a couple minutes to collect myself, I should usually be just fine. Also if I remain at your company for many years I may start to raise a fuss about its accessibility by handicapped people. Basically I have no idea what my future holds regarding my health but if you hire me I promise I will try to be here most of the time! :D”

Employer: “Er, NEXT!”

11

You know this, yet you still answer when they ask you for details about your health problems?

What I’ve been taught is that when an interviewer asks an illegal question (“What health issues?”), you respond by asking “Why do you want to know?” Most of the time the interviewer just blundered, and what they really want to know is if you’re capable of performing X duty required of the job. This gives them a chance to ask for what they really want, and you shouldn’t have to discuss your health issues at all, just address their concern.

And if they were asking for any other reason (i.e. to find a reason to discriminate against you), you’ve just caught them out and they should move on to the next question quickly.

Or you can handle it like I did when I was fired for getting sick; my response to “why’d you leave your last job?” was “Family emergency.” No more, no less. (Hey, I’m a part of my family.) No one ever dared pry farther.

12

i had a disabling brain injury 10 years ago and have been employed various places the whole time. find something you can do, hopefully something you like, and pursue it as if there’s nothing wrong with you. you are under no ethical compulsion to tell a potential employer you’re disabled, the guy in there before you didn’t feel compelled to admit he was actually a lazy thieving bum enjoying excellent health… a job i lost because i couldn’t do the work i just describe as a layoff in the bad economy. all a previous employer is likely to tell anybody is, yes, you worked there. i’ve worked for a guy the last three years who loves to teach and is a good hearted man and i finally told him i was disabled is why i don’t always know left from right. you’ll be surprised how many people will want to take care of you after you’ve demonstrated your worth as a human. don’t be afraid to fail, success is out there if you go looking for it.