Diabetes And Employment: How Can Being Diabetic Affect A Person At Work?

Diabetes can affect all aspects of your life. Your job is no exception. While diabetics find their condition doesn't affect their job, it is still important for all patients with chronic medical conditions to be aware of their rights.

If you're in this boat, you may consider some of these questions:

• If I let everybody know that I have diabetes, can I be fired or potentially denied a promotion?
• If I have to work through lunchtime but I need to eat in order to keep my blood sugar levels stable, what do I do?
• My work requires a lot of travel, so how do I eat appropriately for my condition while traveling? How do I get enough exercise when I am always traveling?
• How can I manage my diabetes while still being an excellent employee?

Diabetes at work: Know your rights

As a diabetes patient, you may feel insecure about your job if you have to take breaks regularly to eat or check your blood glucose levels. Being aware of your rights as a person with a chronic illness — a status that can county as a disability — can help. 

Depending on your jurisdiction, you are likely to have the following rights:

• An employer cannot refuse to hire you or promote you because of your condition.
• An employer cannot fire you because of your diabetes.
• An employer has to provide you with conditions that allow you to conduct the essential components of your job.
• An employer cannot withhold employer-provided health insurance because you have diabetes.

As an employer, what can I do to ensure the safety of my workers?

Employers should also be aware of the risks employees with diabetes face and make the necessary accommodations. If you have employees with diabetes, you need to understand how diabetes works and how it can affect your workers. For example, you may have some employees that can have trouble with shift work due to the timing at which they have to take their medication and eat in order to adequately control their condition. If a diabetic person’s blood sugar levels fall quickly, they can fall into a hypoglycemic state, which can be very dangerous. In order counteract its effects, your employee will need to eat something right away and sit down for a while.

As an employer, you should conduct a risk assessment with input from your workers so you are properly prepared for such a situation. Your assessment should include answers to the following questions:

• Is your condition stable?
• What is the type of treatment you are currently receiving?
• Are you able to take regular meal breaks while at work?
• Are you able to check your blood glucose levels at work if need be?
• How active are you at work (since high levels of physical activity can cause hypoglycemia)?
• What other activities do you conduct at work that can put you at risk for hypoglycemia?
• Do you work alone or with a partner (as that can be important in case of an emergency)?

How do I cope with diabetes at work?

There are several ways to cope with diabetes at work. These are some of the strategies you can employ:

• Plan for the next day. You should get plenty of sleep, have breakfast, and drink a lot of water. This can help you manage your diabetes at work.
• Talk to your boss. Explain your condition to your boss and let them known that you may need to take breaks to snack, check your blood glucose levels, or administer insulin.
• Know your rights. Employers cannot discriminate against you for having diabetes, so know your rights in case you feel like your job is threatened.
• Find a partner at work. It is important that someone at your work knows how to recognize signs of low blood sugar and get your help in cause you experience hypoglycemia.
• Don’t eat just any available snacks at work. Workplaces are known for unhealthy snacks such as cake for birthdays or morning doughnuts. Fight the temptation and keep your own healthy snacks for when you feel hungry.
• Make time to exercise at work. You should try and exercise when you can at work. Set a timer for every hour and take a short walk around the office or go up and down stairs.
• Keep glucose-heavy snacks at work. In case you experience hypoglycemic event, keep an emergency stash of glucose-heavy snacks such as fruit juice.