Sam's situation.

Sam is in his mid-forties and has worked for the same company for twelve years. He works in the warehouse of a unionized company that produces a variety of auto parts. His major job is operating a forklift, but he also must lift boxes weighing between ten and forty pounds, due to not having enough staff. His major job is operating a forklift, but he also must lift boxes weighing between ten and forty pounds, due to not having enough staff in the warehouse to do his part of the job.

At times he must climb ladders to check on boxes of inventory that are ranged on high platform shelves. Sam has been feeling tired for months, he has occasionally experienced feelings of weakness in his arms and legs that he attributed to simply being out of shape. When he felt tired or weak, and there was heavy lifting to be done, he would try to find an errand that needed to be done or take a bathroom break. Sam has had on and off absences for the past year, and his co-workers and manager are very frustrated. Sam has been diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). He was approved for short-term disability (for 4 months). Sam has now been given medical clearance to return to a gradual/modified work program over 6 weeks.

There is a manager's job coming up that requires knowledge of a computer-based warehouse inventory and scheduling program, and Sam would like to be retrained for that position. His financial goals are to continue working so he can build up an RRSP and get his mortgage paid off, as he has 2 school-age children, and his partner is currently on lay-off. Sam feels the pressure to do overtime to provide for the family.

Unfortunately, Sam's co-workers have labelled Sam as lazy and as a shirker who disappears every time there is a hard job to be done. Sam's co-workers have started to leave him out of conversations and don't invite him to eat lunch with the group anymore. Even though they know that Sam is not feeling well and understand at some level that what appeared to be laziness was simply a coping behaviour, that label has stuck. Two of them have privately gone to the warehouse manager and indicated that they would not feel motivated about their work if Sam receives what in fact would be a promotion. Somehow Sam has found out that his co-workers have been talking about him and think he is lazy which has left him feeling anxious and unsure of his relationship with the team. The Human Resource department could transfer Sam to a position in the customer service center where his knowledge of the inventory and inventory system would be useful. However, the pay and benefits package are substantially lower, and he suspects that Sam would not accept this.

Please answer the following questions.

• What factors (consider the 13 psychosocial factors) from the scenario do you think may be contributing to the way Sam is currently feeling, please explain why?
• If you were Sam's Manager, what steps would you take to address the current situation?
• Does the workplace have a "duty to accommodate"?