Quote Originally Posted by Lady's Human View Post
First off, welcome back, even if under rather inauspicious conditions.

Second, as to your employment situation, I'd be calling the labor board and filing charges against your Union for failure to provide proper representation, failure of your employer to provide reasonable accommodation under FMLA, and talking through everything with a nice, scummy ambulance chaser.
I wasn't really eligible for FMLA.... well, I didn't want it cause it's unpaid. I took IPI, which has a little something. AND my union PRESIDENT was by my side the whole time saying "They really are being very tolerant with you, you've missed a lot of work." ?????? I broke my freaking leg, ankle and both feet!!! Then tore my meniscus in 2 places. How understanding of her. I have such hatred for the school district right now, I"m just relieved I'm out of there. I know the money was really good, but I was also burned out teaching K-5, after they eliminated my middle school position, and then when I was healing, they reinstated the positions (we lost 2), and they gave my position to another librarian, even though I requested it back because it was mine to begin with. UGH! I've applied at 2 local universities where they have librarian openings, and hopefully I'll hear something back from one of them. They are both top notch universities, and I'd rather work where there are no screaming children anymore anyway.

As for the union president, she wants to be in Administration. So, she rubs elbows with them all the time. Even when our Uniserv rep came to speak to me (he's from PSEA, the state organization), he said if I went before the school board, and everything played out the way he thought it would, and I would lose, I'd lose my teaching certificate. My only other choice was to resign. So that is what I did, and I kept my certificate.

Right now I'm going to Career Fairs, filling out job openings on line, but no bites at all. I know they look at my past salary and just say "Oh my, we can't offer anything close to that." and pass me by. I have to make at least $15 to $18 an hour to get more than unemployment, and I have my taxes taken out of there before I get it, to cover my butt come next January. I don't want to owe. But I also don't want to lose my house. It's just a crappy situation right now. My parents are being terrific and helping with my bills, but they are in their 70's and I don't want to rob them of their savings either.

I spend most of the day and half the night online job hunting. I even solicited my one old employer to see if they needed any help and explained the situation, just a bit, and said I needed something lighter duty rather than being on my feet all day because of the fall and the surgery on my knee. I still remember medical billing like it was yesterday. The coding is much like the dewey decimal system, lol.