Getting Job Accommodations when I have a Sleep disorder

Question

I am in a bit of a quandary and would really appreciate any support from anyone here who is working on salary and preferably who also has sleep disorders. I am working from home at present from Oregon. My employer may have me work in a physical building located in Washington.

My employer has recently offered to give me a full-time salary, as I currently work on an hour-by-hour basis and have to clock in periodically, so it is part-time. It would be nice to be earning more money, especially since it'll help me get out of debt sooner and increase my savings. However, I have recently been seeing my primary doctor who referred me to a sleep doctor for an evaluation of a circadian rhythm disturbance, which is linked to the fact that I am completely blind and have no light perception. So, like my friends suspect, my doctors confirmed that I most likely have a free-running sleep schedule or non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder. Even though I have done everything I could behaviourally to adjust my sleep cycle to a 24-hour cycle, I can never stay asleep for longer than four hours, even with help from taking melatonin. I was very fortunate to get and keep this job thanks to the Vocational Rehabilitation Programme, which is a federally-funded service that helps people with disabilities get support to retain employment.

Anyhow, since my question has to do with ways to accommodate this, I'm wondering if anyone here can recommend some ways for me to work something out for my employer. For instance, if I were to work on salary, would it be realistically possible for me to work two to four hours if I wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep, and hopefully that makes me feel tired again, so that I can get a few more hours of sleep, and then I can finish the rest of the four hours in the afternoon to complete eight hours. I know that salaried employees are not expected to work 40 hours a week or clock their hours, but that is something I am considering.

Answer 1

My employer may have me work in a physical building located in Washington.

It would be difficult to sleep during work at a normal workplace unless you can get your day split up. But working from home depending on what the job is you can make your own hours.

A lot depends on the sort of work. If you're doing a shift where you need to liaise with others or be on call then obviously it's a problem. But if you can find the sort of work where you're just expected to do a certain amount over a week then it's fine. Just discipline yourself to get everything accomplished. You're an adult so you must already know what strategies work for you in terms of time management.

In your particular situation I think your best option is to talk to your work (they already know you're blind) and try and negotiate a full work from home job. Going to a physical location creates multiple issues and will soak up some of your revenue.