Woman With Type 1 Diabetes Claims She Was Fired Over Medical Emergency

Losing a job feels terrible, but it is even worse when it happens due to a health issue. Recently, a woman experienced this after taking leave from work when her blood sugar levels spiked to 506, far above the normal range of 70-100 for non-diabetic people.

Shockingly, her employer fired her, leading her to share her story on Reddit. The post infuriated many users, who overwhelmingly supported her. She included screenshots of her conversation with her boss, who claimed they didn’t think training would work out for her. The boss also mentioned that her remaining belongings from the salon had been packed and sent to her home.

Feeling frustrated and hurt, the woman decided to express her feelings to the manager. As per the woman, her boss wrote, “Sorry to hear you weren’t able to work your shift today. It doesn’t sound like training is going to work out for you. I noticed you left your things at the salon so I packed them up and dropped them off at your front door.”

To this, she replied, “I didn’t really realise that a dangerous night of blood sugars so high they could’ve put me in a hospital bed would be an end of working there, so yeah I guess training is a no go but I won’t pretend to appreciate the gesture dropping off my things as I think it’s quite likely that you simply can’t face the gross decision of firing somebody over a medical emergency, let alone look me in the eye afterwards. While I was in bed with a blood sugar of 506, I was intensely worried about not just going to the hospital, but of actively communicating and trying not to disappoint you guys, which appears to have been a waste of energy because you are the disappointment in this scenario.”

The woman claimed she would have provided a doctor’s note or photos of her glucose readings to prove her health condition. She felt disappointed that the kindness shown by her employer didn’t last long. The woman mentioned that she wasn’t even scheduled to work that day but volunteered to join them before having a medical emergency.

Reacting to the post, a user wrote, “I’ve been fired for disclosing my epilepsy to my boss to protect myself if I ever have a seizure at work and I’ve been fired just for missing a couple days in the year for having seizures, and being too sick to go to work for the day.”

Another suggested, “Look into your legal options ASAP before they try and plug any holes.”

“I recently settled a lawsuit against a company on similar grounds, under ADA (Americans with disabilities act) guidelines. Can’t say much about the suit, because I signed an NDA, but I was pleased with the agreement,” a comment read.

An individual shared, “That behaviour sounds about right for a salon owner. I got fired from my first salon because I let her know 3 weeks in advance I would miss one day because my uncle was cancer free and we wanted to celebrate after almost a year of him on Chemo. I got back the next day after that one day off and she fired me.”

One more added, “I work in HR and we have people out on sick leave for MONTHS, a lot of the times fully paid. I have been having health issues for a while and the only thing my manager says is ‘I am sorry you are feeling unwell, let me know if I can support you in any way,’ that’s it. People get sick. We are not robots. This is so awful.”

Since the woman shared her frustrating experience on Reddit, it has gone viral and garnered over 4000 upvotes.