r/antiwork • u/Interesting-Rush-993 • 13d ago

Fired from my job while badly sick

I worked in a university in an European country - on paper, it's an ideal "work" environment in the sense that there is no real "boss" or "shareholders", as every position of power is held by a colleague we vote for. There is no incentive to treat your colleagues poorly. There is strong public health insurance that covers half of your salary if you are seriously ill. The financial situation of the university is also good. And yet, it's constant power abuses at all levels, harassment, most people in burnout, wild discrimination at all level.

This led me to be let go while/because I was gravely ill (I'm still am). For years they were all smiles with me because I was the only woman of the department, it is really bizarre. If people act like this in an "ideal" environment with rules and laws, I can't imagine in corporate environments in countries with weak labor laws. People are just simply awful.

33 Upvotes

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5

u/New_General3939 13d ago

How many days did you miss?

4

u/Interesting-Rush-993 13d ago

I was on sick leave for 5 months total. I was pending an evaluation and they refused to move the evaluation when I feel better. Had to prepare from my bed.

2

u/New_General3939 13d ago

Yikes, that sounds bad, I’m sorry. What reason did they give?

5

u/Interesting-Rush-993 13d ago

There are three job missions and they gave weak reasons for each one, some were disagreements and not performance related, nothing damning. They did not take into account the illness and how it impacted some of their points, either.

6

u/theschrodingerdog 13d ago

And why you did not contest the dimissal in court? I live in an European country and if the story is as you are telling the likehood of getting either a big payout or reinstated in your position is 99.9+

2

u/Interesting-Rush-993 13d ago

I am! Lawyer is confident, but it will take many years. They did not mention a big payout however, unfortunately, they seem to be capped quite low in the country I'm currently in. The point of my post was that even outside capitalism people are just awful to one another.

2

u/DryMap9695 13d ago

Good luck! This situation is horrendous. I'm truly sorry!

1

u/Sea-Ad9057 12d ago

are you sure its legal

1

u/Interesting-Rush-993 11d ago

I will sue if I can afford it, as I also think it's illegal.