Work troubles after treatment

Hi again StevieP sorry to hear about your dad and your continued post treatment challenges….. long term post treatment cognitive and fatigue problems can indeed last a lot longer than you would like.

I had a different type of Lymphoma and treatment journey (I had 2 Allo (donor) SCTs) and it took a good few years to say I was completely out the other side.

I was retired before I had my full on treatment but I can appreciate the challenges this would bring to the work environment.

Having g had a cancer diagnosis you are automatically covered by the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). This Act was made to stop discrimination against disabled people. It aimed to make sure people were not treated differently or less well because they have a disability and his includes at work.

So if your post treatment side effects are having an effect on your ability to work or complete your job fully your employer needs to make suitable adjustments until such times you are fully fit.

The Macmillan Support Line is open between 8am-8pm (timings may differ across services) 7 days a week on 0808 808 00 00…… this service provides work guidance.

Hi thanks for your reply. I have heard about this DDA but was unsure if I am being discriminated or not. I’ll have to look into it more

thanks again for your advice 

Hi there StevieP. Just to add to the excellent advice from Thehighlander - I’m an employment lawyer (though here I’m just the daughter of a parent with FL). The DDA was replaced with the Equality Act 2010 (except in Northern Ireland where the DDA remains in force). Under EqA, cancer is automatically a disability. If mistakes are being made at work because of treatment side effects your employer must take the disability into account when deciding what to do. Failure to do so will be unlawful discrimination arising from disability. Your employer must also make reasonable adjustments to help accommodate the impact of treatment. This may mean they have to put additional measures in place to help you avoid mistakes (assistive software, for example) and to help you balance the impact of treatment with the demands of work. If they fail to make reasonable adjustments this is also a problem for them under EqA. You can bring legal claims while still remaining an employee, but if at all possible, it’s best to try to work things through amicably. Making a claim is a very stressful process and one that can take a year or more to resolve. You can get free advice from ACAS, university law centres and from Citizens Advice. There are also disability advocacy groups who can help facilitate discussions with your employer - this is less adversarial than going down a claims route. Depending on what sector you work in, trade unions are also really helpful in requesting reasonable adjustments are put into place and helping you state your case if challenged by your employer about mistakes.

I had non Hopkins lymphoma I've not gone back to work because my hands shaking and left of my body

I am tired and can't focus I hope you're dad is doing better