Another Shoe Dropped - May need to start working in the office

Marp

Hello Again.

Thanks to everyone who offered support and assistance on my recent transportation conundrum.

Today, another shoe dropped as we were informed that, starting in September, anyone living within 50 miles of one of our corporate offices must start working in the office 3 days/week. This is after being told many times, and recently, that we are doing wonderfully working at home and there were no plans to force anyone to work in the office. We were all free to stay working at home.

Out of the blue, we get the notice today that that is no longer the case.

This is going to make caring for my sister and getting her to her day care program much tougher. I am so upset.

My sister is only 57 and only has enough $ to pay for maybe 20 months of care in a facility then we're screwed.

loveskitties

If you haven't already you need to consult an elder care attorney regarding options you have for get her qualified for Medicaid.

Have you filed for Social Security Disability? If not that is another thing to discuss with attorney.

In the mean time, you might want to contact your local Counsel on Aging to see what services (both care and transport) to help you with the work issue if you have not been able to place her in a care facility by then.

Wishing you the best with getting this worked out.

Shan

I’m sorry, you definitely don’t need this news right now. Is there any hope of talking to your boss to explain your situation and see if any exceptions could be worked out so you can continue to work from home and maybe zoom in on meetings as needed? Never hurts to ask.

Marp

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/171967#Comment_171967

Thank you for the reply,

I have a one on one meeting with my manager on Tuesday (we have these every other Tuesday) and plan to discuss it. She has been very supportive of my efforts to take care of my sister, but I don't know how much discretion she'll have in this one. Upper management said they will be tracking in office presence (we each have an electronic key to the office that we have to scan when we go in so they know when we're in and when we're not).

Marigold Starcrown

Big Brother is watching you. 🙄

Shan

Sending hugs and prayers. Let us know how the meeting goes.

M1

Marp I think this is going to happen a lot now that the covid state of emergency has ended. ditto with coverage for telemedicine--it's probably going to go back out the window. not a good thing.

harshedbuzz

I am so sorry. You don't need more stresses in your life.

I suspect you'll need to consult with a CELA to started Medicaid planning asap. In some states, Medicaid will fund a semi-private bed in a MCF and have 20 month's rent upfront may help you get your sister into a nicer place faster than if she came in without it. Unfortunately, some states don't use Medicaid funds for a MCF, only SNFs and it doesn't seem as if that level of care would be appropriate at this point.

The alternative would be to hire a caregiver to come into the home while you work but that gets expensive very quickly.

HB

CatsWithHandsAreTrouble

Going off of HB's post, your state might have an assistance program for medical care that could cover the costs of in-home caregivers and even reduce or completely cover prescriptions too. My mom qualified for that and it's a huge relief as budget is tight right now.

If you do get in touch with a CELA, ask them about programs like that too. Good luck! This definitely frustrating isn't it?

Marp

Update:

As is often the case in these situations, the senior managers have gone dark, leaving it up to middle managers, such as mine, to press for information and deal with questions.

We did learn today that, for my area of the company, we must be in the office during the core hours of 9-3 on our in office days. Other than that, we are free to structure the rest of our day and week as we sit fit. As long as we get our work done and work our usual number of scheduled hours (in my case, 40), we are set.

It's still going to be a bit awkward for me, but knowing I don't have to come in until 9 and I can leave at 3 on those days is a HUGE help.

Of course, this doesn't start until September so things could change, but we are being told we have four months to prepare and it's expected we'll be ready when they give us the exact date. We can't prepare if the company keeps moving the goal posts so, hopefully, the direction won't change.