[faustus27]

I work in an agency that has a helpdesk staffed by 6 people. One of these is a large woman with claimed medical issues. In the last 2 years she has missed over half of the time and used up all of her fml leave. Her claims are that her knees are bad and she is clinically depressed.
I believe she does have these issues but the problem is she does nothing about it. She will miss for most of 4 weeks claiming her knees are hurting her but only get to the doctor in the 4th week to get cortisone shots. And the doctor will prescribe 8 weeks of PT for her but she won't go to that. She is always off her medication si I am sure the depression effects her as well. She will not accept any help as far as getting her house cleaned so she can feel better. The only time she will ask for help is if she's trying to borrow money or calling 3 floors away to see if someone will come down and get her ice water or snack food. She sits in a wheelchair and could roll the 20 feet to the breakroom.
Though it doesn't really sound like it, I have been her friend in the past but her complete lack of caring for herself till it's an emergency is frustrating.
And the more selfish part for me... her tech support area is supposed to handle an increasingly larger share of the most mundane calls that come in. they have to get traing for most of this. She's never here to get any of the training and her section is forced to pass more and more of the tickets to , guess where, my section. As it is, her team is not allowed to schedule leave unless it can be determined she 'might' make it in for a couple of days.
I know we have the 'disabilities' act but can 1 individual use that act to hold 50 other people hostage. I've talked to her supervisors who are equally frustrated but won't go to HR because they worry it is attached to a medical situation. I say they should have HR force her to document that she is doing something about her issues or let her go.
To further complicate things, she often urinates on herself and the area she works in smells horrible to the point that other workers stay out somedays. She recently had an accident with her bowels in the restroom but left without reporting it, and returned to her seat to finish the last hour of work. That was her only day in that week. The chair was thrown away.
Her chain of command has once told hr she's have to go home if she smelled bad, until she could clean up. In general, they let her do as she wishes.
This is a state agency and not private sector.
Any thoughts on this

Thanks

[smoothy]

What State is this in... and is there a Union involved?

The medical area is definitely touchy... but from the personal Hygiene end its fairly cut and dry. The fact she has incontinence issues would be remedied with products such as depends. So there is no excuse for subjecting coworkers to the smell (or other excessive body odors), or to leaving body liquids where she should not, that is a biohazzard technically. Some places there are workplace rules about strong scents or perfumes causing problems on the other end but there are products available that are unscented.

If there is a Union involved, you want to get the representatives involved.

I am assuming there are some sort of rules pertaining to hygiene and as to attire standards you can issue warning to her about. Every place I have worked had them.

As to the medical leave aspects... I will leave that to members more knowledgeable on that topic.

[Fr_Chuck]

As for as the time off, if she qualifies, and properly requests it, yes the company has no choice but to give it, if all of her time runs out then there is options they have