1st, let me apoligize for the length of this, but there are many factors involved.
I have been working in San Francisco CA for the same employer for 5 years. For that 5 years it has just been the two of us, mostly. From the begining employer was aware of my HIV Disease (currently in AIDS status) and that I took Anti-Depressants. During that time I was able to discontine the anti-depressants and did very well for about 2 years.
As a small business we have been struggling since the dot.com crash. Now that business is picking up again, my workload is more than any one or more persons could bear in a normal work week. Employer, rather than recognize the increase in work load and taking proper measure to normalize the workload, has instead only complained that I do not get enough done. I rarely get any thanks for all that I do, but I really hear about how badly I do, when I have done something wrong.
Let me explain that I run the company from an adminstrative standpoint; AR and AP, Business Taxes, Payroll, Benefits, Office Management, Fix the computers, decide to buy what and when, and also serve clients, Production Standpoint: Estimate customer requests, often requiring extensive research, produce orders for them, attend press checks at varoius locations throughout the Bay Area, bill those and other jobs, of course, the other stuff, answer emails, take phone calls, work out Deals and details. I build websites for customers to place custom orders online, (we are print brokers) and try to keep the office some type of clean.
Finally, employer decided to hire part time help to take the A/R off my shoulders, to allow me to focus on the estimates and production, mind you only the A/R was being taken off my workload. I placed the ad, screened all the resumes 72 of them! We hired a person, some 4 weeks after the ad. I instructed the new employee of what he needed to do.
Shortly after this hiring, I had to take time off for an outpatient surgery, I initially thought it would only be a week off, instead it was 3 weeks due to severe pain resulting from the surgery.
Upon my eagerly awaited return, (and still on heavy pain medication) I discovered that the person we hired had totally screwed up the corporate books. Vendors had stopped shipping to us, credit card companies cut us off due to not being paid. And many invoices and Statements (both checking and credit cards) and payroll records were missing, and we assumed they were in his possesion (in direct oppistion of my directive that no Corporate documents of any kind leave the office) we had to let him go. I bugged employer to contact former employee to return everything taken, was told many times that FE did not return any calls. Finally employer instructed ME to contact Corporate Attorney to mediate the situation, i.e. get the ball rolling. The return finally happend some 4-5 weeks after we had "let him go".
Now, I have to clean up the mess (been working on it since in mostly on the weekends) he created, still do all my other numerous duties, (I still have not physically closed the books for 2 years now, and this must be done to obtain accurate data, NOW, and I esimate this alone will take 10 - 20 hours) I haven't even had time to think about the customer websites with all the things I have to do. I have city/county taxes to pay. Secretary of State filing, my list goes on and on....
During my absence during those 3 or 4 weeks, I found out that he was making inquiries about hireing "someone" most of the people could handle the production end of things. Finally a former colleage decided to leave his employment, and employer offered him a job, he took it.
Over a year ago, we both agreed to take a 50% pay cut to help even out the payables. I was making $77,000 a year, employer salary was $132,000. We are now at 60% of those figures.
Needless to say all this has taken a grave toll on my mind, and my personal finances. I decided 4 weeks ago to resume my Psychological Therapy, and my Psychirist, one that I was seeing previously for over 2 years, immediately put me back on Anti-Depressants and diagnosed me as having Severe Depression and Job Burnout.
I am angry most of the time, and this has created problems at work, both with employer and customers.
We had "another blowout" today, involving me "just leaving" and hanging up the phone on both the new employee (he insulted my intelligence and professional expertise), then the employer called (the two of them were out on a sales call, that employer told me they were going to blow off, while I had to do a press check cause one of them coundn't), asked what was wrong, I told him I am sick and tired of everything, he responded likewise, he was sick and tired of me.... I hung up at that point. I am now at crossroads; I still want to work for this employer, maybe I'm stupid, but I still want to work things out, but cannot ever, repeat ever get employer to sit down and talk about everything that is going on.
I just got off the phone with my Pchy M.D. who has "ordered" me to not go to work tomorrow. But to also agree to "meet" ouside the office, and that I should focus on working out the bigger picture, that he doesn't even run his own company.....

If this fails, I AM eligible for CA disability for either of my conditions.
How long can I take off to "get it back together" without losing my job/Position tempered with the fact that I do all the office functions. Can I do partial disability/partial work?
Are there other legal issues that I am not aware of?
Sorry this was so long, but wanted to give you a full picture of what is going on.
Thanks,
Able but Disabled now due to working conditions....

Unfortunately, because of the size of your employer, you don't have any legal options to protect your job while on leave. You could claim discrimination on the basis of your health status but it doesn't sound like that is the issue. Based on your description, your employer hasn't discriminated against you because of your HIV status. Instead, he/she is taking action because of your absence away from work.

If you were with a larger employer, you may be able to apply for leave under the federal or the state leave laws. But your employer is too small to be required to comply.

My suggestion is that you talk with your employer as soon as possible, hat in hand, and see if you can patch things up with him/her.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

What if I were to take days off anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks based on medical need. Can he replace me during that period?

Could a case be made that he is purposly overworking me, so that I might quit? Can his yelling at me be considered harrassment?

Thanks

He has the authority to establish your work schedule. Could it be seen as discriminatory or harassing because he is having you work too much? Certainly, it can. You can file a complaint of discrimination with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). However, if I were the employer, I would defend my actions with a couple of arguments: 1) that I hired you and retained you for quite a while after your illness was brought to my attention; 2) your absenteeism is affecting my business' profitability and ability to conduct its work; 3) I have not treated you differently than other employees (which is a consideration of determining discrimination); and 4) I have accommodated your illnesses for quite awhile.

You may be able to claim workers compensation - with your depression, etc., caused by stress on the job. Chances are that the state will rule in your favor. However, workers compensation won't protect your job, it will just give you pay to cover some of your absences and to recover your medical costs associated with the depression. This will possibly be limited because of the delay in filing the claim.

I have a suggestion for you...it sounds like your employer has been accommodating in the past. Many employers are willing to accommodate special situations for their employees IF they know the extent of which accommodation is needed. Perhaps you can work out an agreement with your employer, negotiating a part-time schedule that is supplemented by a longer-term temporary employee. You can agree to make yourself available to answer questions/provide direction, etc., to the temporary and even supervise him/her from a distance. You may need to reduce your pay to offset the additional costs to him. However, perhaps part of it can be made up by workers compensation. Then, give him a date by which both you and he will agree to review the situation to ensure its working for you and him. Offer to look at the situation on a periodic basis moving forward...say, every month, etc. As I said earlier, you can file a complaint of discrimination. However, it will definitely strain the relationship, it will cause him a lot of money to defend himself, it is going to cause you additional stress and perhaps your health will suffer and, though he won't be able to retaliate against you for filing a complaint, he won't want to negotiate an arrangement with you such as I discussed above. Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions.