mold at work - my thoughts

[Guest guest]

I had a similar situation back in 2005 and by trying to work with the college, I

ended up REALLY sick and won a worker's comp case, but I don't have my health.

If i could go back, I " d have walked out of that sick bldg

My suggestions are very different:

1) Call in sick and get a note from your dr to support that you feel unwell in

that environment. Don't take any of your personal belongings home - if there is

mold there you will spread the spores into your car, home, etc.

2) Do not enter that building ever again. Don't take the chance. I did all the

politically correct things - wrote letters (certified), etc - NOTHING was done

until I filed a worker's comp case after getting REALLY ill and had to resign bc

I was so sick. If I could do it all again, I'd do ANYTHING to have just walked

out of that deadly building and have my health back. Anything! I'm talking

sleeping at a friends house and giving up mine to save $, working a variety of

part time jobs to make enough money to survive while I looked for another full

time position, etc. WORK IS NOT WORTH LOSING YOUR HEALTH in my humble opinion.

3) If you don't feel that you can call in sick, go to HR with a dr's note

stating that you're reacting to something in the bldg and must be moved

immediately - state that you are not permitted, Dr's orders, to enter that space

again. The Dr should be an MD (worker's comp cases require letters from MDs

only) and should ideally be from an environmental dr.

4) If you feel unwell, file WC paperwork, immediately, with your employer.

There is a time limit from " date of incident " that you can file, but you can be

creative about when you started not to feel well.

Please, please, please - do anything you can to get out of that space NOW. No

job is worth the classification of permanently disabled that I earned by being a

good employee and staying. No money is worth it, no career moves are worth it.

Here is video from the news - I finally had to go to the press about this

situation - it was on CBS and NBC in NYC and the local station....and made the

front page of the news several times.

http://www.mefeedia.com/news/11506925

Please know, before this happened to me, I never heard of mold or planned to

advocate for those who get ill from it. Life is funny - takes you on a very

strange journey! All I can say is that while people who see me say " you don't

look sick " , they don't live with me daily - there are days I can't get out of

bed bc my body is in such pain. I have spent thousands on treatment. I work

full time now, but still suffer enough to be eligible for Family Med Leave and

have to stay home, on average once every two weeks if not more.

Worker's comp attorneys are FREE - you do not pay out of pocket for them. So

please get to an environmental Dr in your area, see a WC attorney and most

importantly, DO NOT GO BACK TO THAT OFFICE.

Be well....

Missy