This happened in my room at a center I worked at a few years ago. I think you're looking at it wrong, or at least it sounds one-sided. In our case, the woman had Lupus, and it had affected her in certain ways (she did not have this when hired or for the first 2 years working with us). Then things changed. She was told to limit her outdoor time for length and temperatures. It was upsetting to us, as it is to you, because of
schedules. While it was easy to get upset and frustrated, we needed to stop and think of her. Was she someone who shirked her duties? No. Was she someone who tried to get out of things? No. So, we worked around the situation. She went out earlier in the day, for 30 minutes, with a group within ratio. When she came in, the other teacher took the rest of the children out. During the afternoon outside time, if the weather was too hot, she switched with another staff in the building who knew the children, and outside time continued. It showed the children how to care about a friend who has a health issue, how to work around a stumbling block. Teaching care, love, empathy, it's part of our job. Punishing someone for an illness is not the message we want to send to our children or their parents, or our co-workers. If someone gets the flu, do you show them concern or do you give them a hard time for having to call out of work? How would you want to be treated? The teacher was able to keep her dignity and while inside, she worked on things that needed to be done for room or children for the rest of the day. No punishment.
I do agree that it could also be considered a discrimination issue:
Disability
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, employers may not turn away qualified professionals due to a serious disability. In fact, many employers may be required to provide reasonable accommodations for a disabled hire. The document covers businesses with more than 15 employees.
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Julie Davenport
<g class="gr_ gr_304 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="304" data-gr-id="304">UPK</g> Teacher Assistant
YMCA Pre-K
Harrisville, NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-27-2018 11:42 AM
From: Pam Zornick
Subject: Employee's Medical Concerns and Job Description
I have a teacher assistant who worked for 1 1/2 years without comment on the 1 hour we are outside with the children each day weather permitting following state guidelines. But this year she went out on her own and made a complaint accompanied by a doctor's note stating due to medical reasons she <g class="gr_ gr_283 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del" id="283" data-gr-id="283">can not</g> be outside below 55 degrees and may not be able to be outside for the total time if her medical condition is affecting her that day regardless of the temperature. We trade off during the outside time already to allow for bathroom breaks and room set up for the next center time.
There has been much discussion and upset that she is now able to make the choice to stay in with a doctor's note. This is a permanent medical condition <g class="gr_ gr_417 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="417" data-gr-id="417">not</g> a temporary issue.
Since outside time is stated as part of the job description I was wondering if anyone has had experience dealing with a case such as this.
In my experience in Early Childhood <g class="gr_ gr_412 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Punctuation only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="412" data-gr-id="412">settings</g> we all share equally in all of the care and needs of the children if we are to be employed in this field.
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Early Childhood Classroom
North Carolina
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