You Can Get Fired for Having Cancer. I Did.

So, apparently, asking to work a normal 40-hour week can be a career-limiting move. Who knew?

I'd been working for the same company for nearly four years. My performance reviews? “Meets Expectations.” Year after year. We also had quarterly peer recognition awards, and I held the record for the most awards in a single quarter.

Still do, actually. I'd put that on my résumé, but I'm not sure how to explain that the record holder is also the person who got fired.

Three weeks after my latest “Meets Expectations” review, I asked for an ADA accommodation.

Why? Oh, just a little thing called cancer.

I was working 60 hours a week, and my body had apparently decided that was enough of that shit. I asked to reduce my hours to 40 a week. I could even manage 40–45 hours. I wasn't asking to work two hours on Tuesdays and spend the rest of the week communing with my houseplants. I wanted a reasonable workweek.

And then things got interesting.

Within two weeks of making that request, there were suddenly concerns about my performance. Complaints. Issues. Apparently, after nearly four years of meeting expectations, I'd developed performance problems practically overnight.

What a coincidence.

A few weeks later, I was placed on a PIP. That's a Performance Improvement Plan, otherwise known as the corporate version of “We need to talk.”

I did what they asked. I addressed the feedback. I complied with the requirements. I attended all three touchpoints.

And the day after the last one? Fired.

Not given another week. Not given a few days to make any final adjustments. Not even one extra day.

Four months from asking for an accommodation to being unemployed. That's the timeline.

Now, I can't tell you what was happening behind the scenes. I'm not a mind reader, and apparently my job description didn't include corporate fortune-telling.

But I can tell you this: I asked to reduce my hours because I have cancer. Shortly afterward, my previously acceptable performance became a problem. Then came the PIP. Then came the firing.

You can draw your own conclusions.

As for me, I was left wondering how asking to work a reasonable number of hours turned into this whole production.

I wasn't asking for a participation trophy. I already had the peer awards. I wasn't asking to be excused from doing my job. I wanted to keep doing it without working 60 hours a week while dealing with cancer.

Turns out, the hardest part wasn't figuring out how to work with cancer.

It was figuring out what happens when your employer decides you're suddenly a problem.

Anyway, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that cancer apparently doesn't get to be your only unexpected life event. Sometimes it comes with bonus content.

You can get fired for having cancer. I did.

By Kelly Jenkins