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Workers with chronic illnesses fear for their jobs
New York Times
It started with an odd sensation in her right hand and a feeling of exhaustion so profound she could hardly get through an hour of work, let alone a full day.
After numerous tests and countless doctors’ visits, Natasha Frechette, then 27, learned she had multiple sclerosis, a disease that attacks the central nervous system and can cause numbness, blindness and eventual paralysis.
In addition to grappling with the diagnosis, Frechette was concerned about keeping her job as a data manager for a small research organization in Brooklyn Park, MN. “I didn’t want to have to depend on someone to take care of me,” she said. “But I know that I could wake up tomorrow and not be able to walk.”
Workers with chronic illnesses face chronic uncertainty, forced to worry not only about their health but about their jobs as well. The protections afforded chronically ill workers in the United States are thin and somewhat vague. To protect their health and their jobs, workers must navigate employers’ policies, which may include short- and long-term disability plans, as well as a patchwork of federal laws and regulations.
