Published on 12, July, 2020
So it turns out the stress and anxiety induced by commuting into London for work is a major contributing factor to my Crohn's disease which I've had for over 10 years.
Since the pandemic started I've been working from home and my Crohn's has healed, drug free, for the most part. It's been quite incredible.
Now, as a freelancer, the 2 companies I work with predominantly, have decided that everyone must work on site again. They don't care if you are disabled or not, everyone must return to the office.
I've been a loyal and very hardworking freelancer for them for about 9/10 years, but this doesn't seem to impact on the situation.
For the first time in years I had a panic attack today and am continuing to feel hyper anxious at the idea of commuting back into London again. A round trip of 4+ hours.
I don't understand why, given the climate crisis we are in, plus the pivot to home working that was so successful, that companies are requiring staff to commute 100s of miles a week again?
Is it just me or is this irresponsible and ignorant? Especially to those with disabilities??
So update; I've been sent. Formal email stating I have to travel to London again or they won't hire me again.
I requested they make appropriate adjustments but their HR team came back and said they don't need to because I'm not a perm member of staff. I've been working there for over 8 years
I'm in shock of how firms are willing to treat people who are loyal and hardworking.
I'm thinking about an article to confront this discrimination
yeah you get the same rights as perm members of staff after 3 months or so... so they actually do have to make adjustments, they sound like any company who are banking on breaking the laws without you knowing the law or challenging them.
Caelus said:you get the same rights as perm members of staff after 3 months or so..
All they need to do is not renew JTs contract on its next renewal date (typically every 3 to 6 months if he is a freelancer / contractor. There is no need to justify it legally
Unfortunately this type of role means he is considerd a service or a resource, not a person so he will be dropped if he becomes difficult or inconvenient in spite of his value to them. I've seen it happen on quite a few occassions.
Unless JT as a unique skill set then the chances are there are hundreds of other contractors with his skill set in the market place who won't have his demands so the employer has no duty to renew his contract - they just go through a recruitment process (the agents supplying the contract candidates filter the applicants to a manageable batch), the employer has to spend a day or so doing interviews and then there will be a period while the new hire gets up to speed.
JT said:I'm thinking about an article to confront this discrimination
As a contractor you have signed away most of your expectation to be given the same protections as an employee and certainly the industry attitude is that they don't want to deal with this sort of headache (of your needs) with contractors.
Legally I very much doubt you will have a leg to stand on and the industry doesn't care about you as you will be seen as well paid for the hassle, even if that has been less of a differential in recent years.
In practical terms I think contractors are treated like a prostitute - we sell out services, get used to do a job and make the customer happy and don't expect to be asked to stay the night and have breakfast made for us.
If that is your expectation then you should be looking to be a permie.
Nothing personal JT, I'm just highlighting what it means to be a contractor from both the employers and contractors side of things.