darkmatterhari
11-28-2007, 10:22 AM
I work for a mid-sized company with an office in AZ. On 10/25 we went through a somewhat large layoff. Prior to this I was a Service Desk tech, with a correlating job title and job description - this was a desk position. We laid off our only desktop support tech so it was decided by the powers that be that we would all just fill in. In practice this means that I've taken on about 80% of that jobs responsibilities, including physical lifting duties. I spent the first 1-2 weeks asking my manager to please provide me with a list of new duties, sit down and discuss them, at less give me a timeline of when I could expect that. On 11/6 I injured myself performing these new duties. I advised my boss who shrugged it off, and the next day took my workers comp claim up with HR who put it through. I am still on duty restricted work release - no lifting at all per my Doctor.
After my injury I went to HR about getting a new job description since my boss still won't/can't provide one. They brought my boss in and I learned that the Service Desk position and department had been eliminated and I was Desktop Support, responsible for all that encompasses. This has yet to be made official in that no one except me, my boss, the HR director and the CIO know. The CIO advised my quite surprised boss only when I went to HR. They can't provide a description for Desktop Support either but verbally confirmed lifting of 50lbs is in there. My boss questioned why I didn't say something sooner if I didn't think I could manage the new duties, I think I'm covered there since I made repeated efforts to learn what they even were - I can't say I can't do what I don't know I'm supposed to! But my boss also told me if I couldn't do it I could stay until I found another job. The HR director seemed a bit apprehensive about that whole concept and the confirmation from my boss that no one ever advised me (or her) of the new physical requirement.
There aren't other jobs for me to take, the market is bad right now. I've been looking but it's not promising. My boyfriend does the same work and he's been unemployed since July despite all his efforts so I can't just quit and expect to find something. Besides my performance has always been exemplary and I receive compliments from the staff I support regularly. My boss and the CIO have praised my work, I shouldn't have to quit a job that was quite promising a month ago. I have a review with my Doctor on Friday and with how painful my shoulder is I doubt she'll take me off duty restriction. In the interim I'm managing to not lift much though I am still doing some because it's pretty obvious that I'm expected to work at my limit rather than my comfort zone or medical restriction.
I'm also having a really hard time with the rest of my work because I've never done a desktop support position, there is no training material available, and I'm doing the work of 3 people (we lost our other service desk rep too). This is bad given my performance history was never poor and I'll risk a performance termination if I keep slipping. My job title is still Service Desk even though supposedly it's been eliminated but my workload is definitely desktop support. I'm worried that with so much ambiguity, and in a right to work state without an employment contract, either by poor performance or refusing physical tasks when my duty restriction runs out they'll fire me and be within their rights. Someone told me they can't put me into a job with physical requirements without a physical, but my job title hasn't changed and I don't have a job description still. I'm a bit lost but I hope there's something I can do to protect myself and my health without losing my job or sustaining further injury. I appreciate any help that's available, and hope my rambling included any info needed to answer.
After my injury I went to HR about getting a new job description since my boss still won't/can't provide one. They brought my boss in and I learned that the Service Desk position and department had been eliminated and I was Desktop Support, responsible for all that encompasses. This has yet to be made official in that no one except me, my boss, the HR director and the CIO know. The CIO advised my quite surprised boss only when I went to HR. They can't provide a description for Desktop Support either but verbally confirmed lifting of 50lbs is in there. My boss questioned why I didn't say something sooner if I didn't think I could manage the new duties, I think I'm covered there since I made repeated efforts to learn what they even were - I can't say I can't do what I don't know I'm supposed to! But my boss also told me if I couldn't do it I could stay until I found another job. The HR director seemed a bit apprehensive about that whole concept and the confirmation from my boss that no one ever advised me (or her) of the new physical requirement.
There aren't other jobs for me to take, the market is bad right now. I've been looking but it's not promising. My boyfriend does the same work and he's been unemployed since July despite all his efforts so I can't just quit and expect to find something. Besides my performance has always been exemplary and I receive compliments from the staff I support regularly. My boss and the CIO have praised my work, I shouldn't have to quit a job that was quite promising a month ago. I have a review with my Doctor on Friday and with how painful my shoulder is I doubt she'll take me off duty restriction. In the interim I'm managing to not lift much though I am still doing some because it's pretty obvious that I'm expected to work at my limit rather than my comfort zone or medical restriction.
I'm also having a really hard time with the rest of my work because I've never done a desktop support position, there is no training material available, and I'm doing the work of 3 people (we lost our other service desk rep too). This is bad given my performance history was never poor and I'll risk a performance termination if I keep slipping. My job title is still Service Desk even though supposedly it's been eliminated but my workload is definitely desktop support. I'm worried that with so much ambiguity, and in a right to work state without an employment contract, either by poor performance or refusing physical tasks when my duty restriction runs out they'll fire me and be within their rights. Someone told me they can't put me into a job with physical requirements without a physical, but my job title hasn't changed and I don't have a job description still. I'm a bit lost but I hope there's something I can do to protect myself and my health without losing my job or sustaining further injury. I appreciate any help that's available, and hope my rambling included any info needed to answer.
