Hello all,

(TLDR at the bottom of the post.)

(I am based in England but my employer is an internationally company.)

I am writing this post to seek your advice and support regarding an issue I am having with my current employer. I have been diagnosed with renal cancer and am currently undergoing treatment. I have been fully open and honest with my employer since starting working with them about my cancer. I have worked in a client face role since starting my job until August last year. I have been at the company since March 2021.

Last August, my health deteriorated, and I had to take time off work to start on haemodialysis. I returned to work in November on a part-time basis in a non-client facing role and took further leave in December for an operation to remove my kidney, returning in January. The time I took off for this operation was annual leave. It was suggested to me in November that I was being put in a non client facing role as part of a supported phased return to work and when I was well enough I can go back to my old client facing role.

Occupational health has signed me off as 'fit to work' with the reasonable adjustment of taking 'micro breaks' if needed. I am now well enough to return to client face role and am seeking to do so while working around my dialysis schedule. I have also requested that I be allowed to take time off for my cancer treatment every other Tuesday and work compressed hours to accommodate this.

However, my employer appears to be unwilling to implement the reasonable adjustments suggested by occupational health. I feel that their resistance may be due to my cancer diagnosis, which I believe would be discriminatory. I am due to meet with my manager next Wednesday to receive their final decision on my return to old client facing job.

I am writing to seek any advice or support that you can offer in this situation. If anyone has gone through a similar situation, I would be grateful for any insights or recommendations on how to handle this.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post.

-TLDR: I'm seeking advice and support regarding my employer's reluctance to accommodate my cancer treatment. I've been diagnosed with renal cancer and currently undergoing treatment. My employer appears to be unwilling to implement the reasonable adjustments suggested by occupational health, which I believe would be discriminatory. I'm due to meet with my manager next Wednesday to receive their final decision on my return to clinical practice. Any advice or support would be appreciated.

UPDATE 20/4/23 - I took advice from my union and MacMillan they recommended writing an email to my HR department and line mangers explain that my reasonable adjustments where covered under the Equality act and it would be illegal not to implement them without significant reason. Fortunately that did the trick and I’m on track to go back my old job in a couple weeks. I think the take away is from all of this it’s hard to have difficult conversations with employers about health but the law is on your side and you have every right to work and be supported by your employer.