Work Attendance Problems Weren’t Primary Problem

Work Attendance Problems: Michael Part Twenty Nine

We continued to go down the checklist contained in the SSA website for mental abilities needed to sustain employment after a TBI. Work attendance problems is one on the list.

You didn’t just injure your brain, you injured other of parts of your body as well.  We talked about your back injury problems and we talked about the difficulty you have had with your left side and also pain. 

Yes.

One of the requirements that you must be to meet to keep a job, is to get to work every day.  Did you have work attendance problems?

With that part, when I would first get hired I would have a little problem but once I got into the routine of going there I was fine.

But would you get fired because of your work attendance problems before you get into the routine?

I think I got fired from one place and that was back in Kentucky.

How many of the jobs you are telling us about, did you get through DVR?

Just one and that was Best Buy up here.  The other ones I found on my own.

So you were able to adjust your routine to and handle your work attendance problems each of these jobs?

Like I said (I wasn’t on) just one.

Did you miss work because of pain related problems that you were having?

A little bit.  But my issue was my sleep issue.

Explain:

I don’t know if I would get myself hyped up or whatever but I know one incident when I first got hired at Best Buy, I ended up sleeping for three days and so the only time that I got up was to use the restroom and then go back to bed.

So the process of going to work just exhausted you?

I think the thought and being back out there (1) bothered me; and (2) scared me.

So, even though you were working with the DVR your attendance at least at the beginning was a problem.

It took about two weeks.

And they were tolerant of that because DVR was there interceding for you?

Yes.

Do you find yourself getting extraordinarily fatigued at work?

It depends on what I do.  If I have to, well depending on how I do it, when I worked at Best Buy, I used to do a lot of straightening.  I can sit.  I have a hard time walking and standing.

During the fall and winter months there is a lot of times when I use a cane because of my knees.  When I go to something to where you have to, an example would be church, where you have to stand and sit, I sit.  And it hurts me to stand and I begin to sway because I have no equilibrium.

Next in Part Thirty Getting Along with Co-Workers a TBI Challenge

By Attorney Gordon Johnson

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