Question About In Remission and Changing Jobs

Lauren S. on March 21, 2018

Career Change, Career Management

I was just hired at a new day care for a teachers aid job. All organic, LEED certified place. What would you advise in terms of explaining why I had to take time off? I was diagnosed at the end of 2015 with Appendix Cancer (LAMN PMP) and had CytoReductive Surgery with HIPEC. In English? I was cut sternum to pelvis and given 10 rounds of heated chemo all at once. Since then I worked the summer of 2016 and then have been looking for a job and working on physical and mental recovery. All of my scans after have showed No Evidence of Disease. I was between jobs at the time of diagnosis. What kind of self disclosure do you advise for new hires? I'm afraid of being discriminated against, even with 16 years of experience. I know I have the ADA in my favor. They need to know what surgeries I've had in the past few years for insurance, what medication I'm on, etc. I'm not on any medication for that now. My chance of reoccurance is basically zero. My only risk factor for that 10 in 1 million cancer was the fact I am female. For some reason, females are diagnosed more. I don't want them saying I am too expensive in terms of insurance. Thanks.

1 Comment

Image of Nicole Franklin, MPH

Nicole Franklin, MPH

Mar 27, 2018

Cancer and Careers Staff Comment:

Hi Lauren,


Thanks for writing to us. Congratulations on being in remission and on the new job! You’re asking some very important questions about disclosure as you start this new role. In general you are under no legal obligation to disclose your medical condition to your prospective or current employer although people may choose to share this information for any number of reasons. (I recommend watching this CAC webinar to get a better understanding of the various, often personal issues around disclosure: http://www.cancerandcareers.org/en/community/videos/bwc/2016-webinar-online.)


In this case, however, your employer has asked for medical history for insurance purposes so that adds more complexity to the situation.  This could be a standard hiring procedure for them, but that’s difficult to determine without more information on how and why they’re asking for it. Since health insurance is not our area of expertise, I would recommend that you reach out to a legal organization to discuss all the specifics of your situation and determine a course of action.  A good place to start is the National Cancer Legal Services Network – which provides listings of pro-bono legal services by state.  You can find more information at http://www.nclsn.org/.   


Reaching out to a patient advocacy organization, like the Patient Advocate Foundation, might be another option: https://www.cancerandcareers.org/resources/patient-advocate-foundation. Also, if you have a union representative that you can contact, they might be able to provide some guidance as well.


If we can help in any other way or if you’d like to speak with one of our social workers, please don’t hesitate to contact us at cancerandcareers@cew.org or 646-929-8032.


Kind regards,


Nicole Franklin


Manager of Programs


Cancer and Careers


 


 

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