'Put on Your Seat Belt Before Anyone Else'
- Brian Goldner, CEO of Hasbro, is taking a medical leave of absence, effective immediately. In August 2020, Goldner announced that he’s been undergoing continued treatment for cancer since 2014.
- Goldner's decision to prioritize his health should serve as an example to all of us that there's nothing more important than your health.
- When faced with an illness that impacts your work life or the life of a loved one, Dr. Marianna Strongin says, it's absolutely critical to communicate this to your workplace.
Goldner isn't alone in his decision to take a medical leave of absence from his job; there are many other career-oriented individuals who have sensibly stepped back from their work to focus on their health. Fellow cancer warrior Steve Jobs, the former CEO of Apple, took a medical leave of absence in early 2011 to focus on his health. Apple didn't disclose at the time the reason for his absence, but it was widely known that Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He died from cancer on Oct. 5, 2011.
Read More'Put on Your Seat Belt Before Anyone Else'
"The analogy of putting on your seat belt before anyone else rings true when deciding how to prioritize your physical health in the workplace," Dr. Marianna Strongin, a licensed clinical psychologist and founder of Strong In Therapy Psychology, tells SurvivorNet. "We must attend to our physical body in order to have room for our career and work. Since work will not heal us, our time and energy should be focused on ways to heal."Strongin's message is one we often forget; we tend to get wrapped up in the day-to-day operations of our jobs. "It's OK to skip that routine doctor's appointment because I have a meeting later," you might think to yourself, "I'll just go next week." But this can turn into a damaging mindset; putting your work before health won't create a sustainable lifestyle for your future.
"In order to have a fulfilling and successful career, we must feel healthy and sturdy both physically and mentally," Strongin says. These two go hand-in-hand.
It's Your Right
If you or a loved one has ever had a medical reason, such as cancer treatment, for taking a leave of absence, the question, "Can I get fired for health-related reasons?" has probably crossed your mind. And the answer is mostly no. Here's the scoop:
Most employers in the United States are considered "at-will" companies. This means that the company can terminate your employment at any time. But there has to be a legal reason; there’s legislation in place to protect workers from being fired, as well as give employees the right to take needed time off of work, such as taking a medical leave of absence. This law is called The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.
FMLA, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons for his or her own medical treatment or that of a close family member.
As you can see, there's a bit of a catch. FMLA doesn't apply to all workers, according to HG Legal Resources. In order for an employee to qualify for FMLA, the company must have 50 or more regular employees who work within 75 miles of each other. And, employees must have worked for at least one year for a total of at least 1,250 work hours in the previous year. There are additional restrictions related to the type of job the employee has as well.
If you qualify for FMLA, you can receive 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for the following medical-related reasons:
- The birth of a child and to care for the newborn child within one year of his or her birth
- The placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care and to care for the newly placed child within one year of placement
- To care for the employee's spouse, child or parent who has a serious health condition
- A serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job
- Any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee's spouse, son, daughter or parent is a covered military member on "covered active duty"
Marshall Gold, a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner at Johns Hopkins Medicine, talks about how cancer patients can prioritize their mental health.
Or, you'll receive 26 workweeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness if the eligible employee is the servicemember's spouse, son, daughter, parent or next of kin (military caregiver leave).
How to Have That Hard Conversation With Your Workplace
When faced with an illness that impacts your work life or the life of a loved one, Strongin says, it's absolutely critical to communicate this to your workplace.
"I suggest communicating your worries, and also facts about your illness, so that the proper assistance is created to support you. In order to give your physical health the attention it needs and deserves, one must take the pressures of work off their plate so that they can attend to their health without worrying about the repercussions."
"Most importantly, I suggest you create space and room to heal," Strongin adds. "If you find that you have the motivation and energy to incorporate work into your healing journey, it will be important to keep a healthy balance always checking in on your needs and wants."
For some, working has the power to keep their mind sharp and allows them to have "normalcy" in their life. For instance, two high-powered female executives one at Facebook and the other at Google battled cancer, and they say the fight helped inspire their work. (Nicola Mendelsohn of Facebook and Ruth Porat of Google are two of the most powerful women in the tech field.) But not everyone is like this.
However, Strongin adds, "it will be up to you to decide on what feels most helpful for you. Just remember, there's no right way to balance an illness and your career. It feels hard because it is hard."
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