Posted by Charles on 11/17/06

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I work for the Federal Government as a computer programmer.
In my department there are four black females, three white
males, and one asian male. The management chain is all black
female.

There is a perception among the males that there are two
classes of employees in our group - black females and
everyone else. The black females seem to have carte blanche.
One of them has worked less than one year in the last three,
and is continuing this practice into a fourth year, yet her
job is held open for her.

I work a 4/10 schedule, that is, I work four ten hour days,
and take one day off each week. We have a union contract
that states in part:

"Prior to the beginning of a pay period, an employee who is
on 5/4-9 or 4/10 schedule may request that his/her normal
day(s) off be changed for the upcoming pay period(s). The
Employer will grant this request absent a severe workload
interruption."

Aside from the fact that the above clause is ridiculous, as
a programmer, it literally makes no difference when I do my
work, and that being the case, it should make no difference
whatever which day I take off each week, yet the above union
clause is rigidly enforced for me.

For about the past eighteen months, I have been dealing with
some serious health issues, and often need to accept medical
appointments the do not allow me to conform to the union
contract. Yet, instead of allowing me to change my day off,
I am forced to use sick leave or vacation and lose time from
work, completely unnecessarily.

I am seeking an opinion from someone who is qualified to
venture one as to whether it should be considered a
reasonable accommodation request to allow me to change my
day off for medical reasons, even though such a request
might not conform to the rigid requirements of the union
contract.

Thank you for any advice or suggestions.

Re: Health Reasonable Accommodation, 11/17/06, by Carol.

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