leaving Job - Dole Question.

Graceland

A friend of mine is going to leave her job because she is constantly using a computer and gets headaches. She works a 40 hour week and she keeps getting these headaches. She only started the job 4 months ago and has stuck it till now thinking that the headaches might go away, but they didn't. She has been to the doctor and the opticians but nothing can be done - they just said it was because she uses the computer too much.
Now the question she wants me to ask here is this - it's a dole question - they say that if you leave a job without reasonable cause, you will lose 9 weeks dole money. Surely what my friend has is reasonable cause. Do you think the dole would see it this way, or will she still lose the 9 weeks. What exactly does the dole call reasonable cause.
Hope someone can help.

Jaysoose

Your friend should speak to HR she could just need something a simple as an anti-glare screen for her machine or possibly she is sitting to close to her screen.

She should definitely speak to her boss before making a potentially foolish decision.

Feelgood

As Jay said, it sounds like an ergonomic issue. She should look into correct postures when sitting at the computer, make sure the screen is at eye level etc etc.

A few simple adjustments might make all the difference and possibly an antiglare screen.

It could also be due to her office environment such as air con. I would speak to her manager first before thinking of quieting a job in the current climate.

the_syco

Graceland wrote: »

She works a 40 hour week and she keeps getting these headaches. She only started the job 4 months ago and has stuck it till now thinking that the headaches might go away, but they didn't.

The headaches are usually due to one of two things: bad lighting, or light bouncing off the screen. Ensure the top of the monitor is level with her eyes, and that the monitor is not tilted in a way which would cause any above lights to bounce off it.

Secondly, get her to look into anti glare radiation screen. She either combats this now, or she'll be dole-4-life.

leeroybrown

Is the monitor an LCD or a CRT?

If it's a CRT get her to make sure that it's set to 85Hz or more. A lot of people won't visibly notice the flicker of a monitor at 60Hz but they'll start getting headaches eventually due to the effects on their eyes. I can't use a CRT at all due to the effects on my eyes.

If it's an LCD get her to turn down the brightness of her screen. They are much brighter than CRT screens and are typically at far too bright a setting out of the box.

Graceland

Thanks for all the help. My friend has an anti glare screen already but it isn't any help. She also works at the right level for the computer and she also turned down the brightness on the screen as well, but none of it made any difference.
She actually worked in a place before where she used a computer but she wasn't constantly at the computer, not like this job. In her other job, she never had a problem. It is this job, because they expect her to be at the computer from when she comes in to work in the morning, till she leaves at night (except lunch hour).
She has tried everything possible but it is getting too much now. But the main question is what will happen at the dole. Would they consider this ok to leave a job.

goodcitizen

According to health and safety law, she's entitled to a 15 minute break for every 2 hours she works using a computer.

lods

goodcitizen wrote: »

According to health and safety law, she's entitled to a 15 minute break for every 2 hours she works using a computer.

Shes lucky to have a job. Foolish leaving one in these times.

jaffa20

lods wrote: »

Shes lucky to have a job. Foolish leaving one in these times.

Health is more important than money. I work with a computer all day long too and i know what the OP means. I feel my eysight has deteriorated in the last 4 months a lot.

lods

jaffa20 wrote: »

Health is more important than money. I work with a computer all day long too and i know what the OP means. I feel my eysight has deteriorated in the last 4 months a lot.

Think she needs to speak to her boss's and try out some of the ideas suggested here, before leaving a job in this day & age. Her health won't be great with no money either. She's not the first person to have issues with working a computer, she shouldn't rush into anything.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

moved to state benefits from work&jobs

Graceland

lods wrote: »

Shes lucky to have a job. Foolish leaving one in these times.

With all due respect, it is very easy to say this when you aren't the one with the problem. I've seen my friend at the end of the day and her head is really sore. Surely you wouldn't stay in a job if it was causing you this much pain!

Graceland

jaffa20 wrote: »

Health is more important than money. I work with a computer all day long too and i know what the OP means. I feel my eysight has deteriorated in the last 4 months a lot.

I definetly agree with you here about health.
I know you are supposed to get a break every so often when using a computer all day, but this isn't an option in my friends job. I know if it were me, I certainly wouldn't like coming home every night with a headache - and a bad one at that!

Jaysoose

Graceland wrote: »

I definetly agree with you here about health.
I know you are supposed to get a break every so often when using a computer all day, but this isn't an option in my friends job. I know if it were me, I certainly wouldn't like coming home every night with a headache - and a bad one at that!

I find it hard to believe that your friend is not allowed to take her eyes off her screen for a few minutes, is she allowed toilet breaks? Starting to sound like she may have an allergy to work.

Graceland

Jaysoose wrote: »

I find it hard to believe that your friend is not allowed to take her eyes off her screen for a few minutes, is she allowed toilet breaks? Starting to sound like she may have an allergy to work.

How dare you!!!!!
You don't know my friend at all so don't go presuming she has an allergy to work. In her previous job she was there for 21 years constantly. She was made redundant!
I find your post very insulting to her.

Jaysoose

Graceland wrote: »

How dare you!!!!!
You don't know my friend at all so don't go presuming she has an allergy to work. In her previous job she was there for 21 years constantly. She was made redundant!
I find your post very insulting to her.

To be honest i think you should relax, If you only want positive responses then a forum isnt the place to ask questions.

There is obviously more to this than is being said on here. There could well be other reasons why she feels that she cannot leave her desk maybe she is under pressure with workloads or is stressed out which may be contributing to the headaches. Any number of medical reasons could be responsile for example its not uncommon to get headaches etc if the body is dehydrated.

Graceland

Jaysoose wrote: »

To be honest i think you should relax, If you only want positive responses then a forum isnt the place to ask questions.

There is obviously more to this than is being said on here. There could well be other reasons why she feels that she cannot leave her desk maybe she is under pressure with workloads or is stressed out which may be contributing to the headaches. Any number of medical reasons could be responsile for example its not uncommon to get headaches etc if the body is dehydrated.

I do expect people to give responses that aren't positive, but the bit where you said she was starting to sound like she had an allergy to work wasn't fair, especially as I know the kind of person she is.
She isn't taking this lightly by any means. She even asked her employers could she cut down some of her hours, that this might help, but this wasn't an option for them. She doesn't want to be unemployed but at this stage she feels like she has no choice, as the headaches are just too much.
The point you made about that it could be a medical reason. I understand why you would say this, but she is in perfect health. Her doctor told her that it is just something that affects certain people more using a computer. It is just a form of eye strain and the only solution is to not use the computer as much, but as I said this isn't an option in her job.

leeroybrown

You never answered my question about whether it was an LCD or CRT monitor. It is very important and can make a huge difference to some people. The fact that there is an anti-glare filter on it suggests that it's a CRT and if it is she *needs* to check what the refresh rate is. A lot of office computers end up set at 60Hz, while the legal health & safety minimum is 72Hz and the practical minimum for regular users is 85Hz. The best anti glare filter in the world won't save her from eye strain due to flicker. I've worked with loads of people who've ended up with eye-strain and headaches due to this minor problem and don't realise until someone tells them.

As someone who has suffered from monitor related eye-strain I'll say that it takes a while to build up and it takes a while to go away after the problem is fixed.

Also, while doctors and opticians are great people for health advice, in my experience they know very little about the technical issues with computer monitors.

Graceland

leeroybrown wrote: »

You never answered my question about whether it was an LCD or CRT monitor. It is very important and can make a huge difference to some people. The fact that there is an anti-glare filter on it suggests that it's a CRT and if it is she *needs* to check what the refresh rate is. A lot of office computers end up set at 60Hz, while the legal health & safety minimum is 72Hz and the practical minimum for regular users is 85Hz. The best anti glare filter in the world won't save her from eye strain due to flicker. I've worked with loads of people who've ended up with eye-strain and headaches due to this minor problem and don't realise until someone tells them.

As someone who has suffered from monitor related eye-strain I'll say that it takes a while to build up and it takes a while to go away after the problem is fixed.

Also, while doctors and opticians are great people for health advice, in my experience they know very little about the technical issues with computer monitors.

I'll ask her to find out about the screen. If it is a CRT, I'll get her to check the refresh rate - how do you actually check this bit?

leeroybrown

Graceland wrote: »

I'll ask her to find out about the screen. If it is a CRT, I'll get her to check the refresh rate - how do you actually check this bit?

I'm not a Windows user but offhand she should probably be able to right-click on the desktop, click 'Properties' option in the context menu, click on the 'Settings' tab, then click the 'Advanced' button. It should be on one of the tabs on the dialog that opens. Almost all CRT monitors should be capable of 85Hz which is fine for most people. LCD monitors don't suffer from any flicker problems.

Ginger83

In response to your original question- if your friend speaks to her local social welfare officer and states she had to leave her jobs as it was having serious effects on her health she should not have to wait the 9 week period.

She would of course have to prove this so maybe her doctor would write a letter stating such. But a chat with her employer would be the first move I would make. Not many jobs out there, if she gives it up she may be out of work for a while.

Graceland

Ginger83 wrote: »

In response to your original question- if your friend speaks to her local social welfare officer and states she had to leave her jobs as it was having serious effects on her health she should not have to wait the 9 week period.

She would of course have to prove this so maybe her doctor would write a letter stating such. But a chat with her employer would be the first move I would make. Not many jobs out there, if she gives it up she may be out of work for a while.

Thank you for your reply. She is hoping the dole wouldn't stop 9 weeks money on her because of the circumstances of why she is leaving her job.
She already had a chat with her employer but they can't help her, but they do have full understanding why she can't work there any longer.

I know there aren't many jobs out there, and it is hard for her to leave because of this, but the situation is getting really bad with the headaches, so she doesn't have any choice at this stage. It's just affecting her health too much.

the_syco

Graceland wrote: »

I know there aren't many jobs out there, and it is hard for her to leave because of this, but the situation is getting really bad with the headaches, so she doesn't have any choice at this stage. It's just affecting her health too much.

When things get tight, she may have no choice but to go back working, and may be forced to take a job that involves computers, thus is why getting the problem sorted now would be beneficial to her.

There are 3 "default" refresh rates that I've seen: 60Hz, 75Hz and 85Hz. 60mhz will cause headaches usually. The higher Hz seem to be okay, though.

I threw monitor computer headaches into google, and got results, all blaming low refresh rates for headaches.

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2004/06/25/165762.aspx
http://www.ehow.com/how_2088173_stop-computer-headaches.html

BUT, some people find it's already at 75Hz, and find that after a while, the screen becomes blurred, and they then got a headache. If this is the problem, it seems lowering the resolution to 60Hz helps the person. This one looks rare enough, though.

givyjoe81

Graceland wrote: »

Thank you for your reply. She is hoping the dole wouldn't stop 9 weeks money on her because of the circumstances of why she is leaving her job.
She already had a chat with her employer but they can't help her, but they do have full understanding why she can't work there any longer.

I know there aren't many jobs out there, and it is hard for her to leave because of this, but the situation is getting really bad with the headaches, so she doesn't have any choice at this stage. It's just affecting her health too much.

While i do appreciate your friend is in pain and obviously needs a solution, it is odd that your friend is so hell bent on using the dole as a solution? Particularly as she had been working for 21 years straight as you mentioned, why is she willing to give up the job so easily? Im sure the emplpoyer would be at least willing to listen to her health concerns and move her to a different position, if possible. And even then, you mentioned she had worked with computers before without problem, so im sure there is a potential solution if she really wants it. You yourself a number of times seem to have ignored the advice been given and persistantly referred back to the dole question.

This begs the question has she been to a doctor which is the obvious first stop, is he willing to write her a letter saying that she can no longer work on a computer? If he is then the employer would be obliged to look at the situation and see if it can move her, but it seems that your friend or you does not want to consider that option.

Christ im blind, only seen there the note regarding the employer, in the quote no less! Well why cant they help her? There has to be a medical reason for the illness and therefore a likely simple solution considering the nature of the problem.

the_syco

givyjoe81 wrote: »

Christ im blind, only seen there the note regarding the employer, in the quote no less! Well why cant they help her? There has to be a medical reason for the illness and therefore a likely simple solution considering the nature of the problem.

A lot of non-techies will not see how the refresh rate can make such a difference. The doctor & optician will look at the patient, see there's nothing wrong with them, and send them back saying that they can't help. The employer will see the letter, may not know how to fix it, and may even change the monitor. BUT, as the refresh rate is set by settings on the monitor, this won't do anything.

Thus, unless you knew this simple fix, you may think it's you who is at fault, and stay away from computers for the rest of your life, as looking at them causes headaches. The OP's friend mayhave only recently (in the last year or so) gotten this problem, after changing some settings. Perhaps she changed the resolution to a smaller figure, to increase the size of the objects on the screen, and lowed the refresh rate by accident. Who knows? But, if she was to change the refresh rate, she may solve this problem.

Graceland

givyjoe81 wrote: »

This begs the question has she been to a doctor which is the obvious first stop, is he willing to write her a letter saying that she can no longer work on a computer? If he is then the employer would be obliged to look at the situation and see if it can move her, but it seems that your friend or you does not want to consider that option.

Christ im blind, only seen there the note regarding the employer, in the quote no less! Well why cant they help her? There has to be a medical reason for the illness and therefore a likely simple solution considering the nature of the problem.

Thanks for your reply. First of all she did go to the doctor and there was nothing she could do for her, she said it was eye strain from using the computer too much. The computer was even checked for the refresh rate and it was actually at the top, so that didn't change anything for her.

She did approach her employers and asked if a solution could be worked out as regards her job, even cutting down the amount of time on the computer, or even cutting out some hours, but they weren't interested at all.

Her last job involved computer work but this wasn't a problem to her as she wasn't on it all the time. In this job, they expect you to be on it all the time.

It's not that she wants to go on the dole. If this is the way I've made it sound, it isn't the way I meant it. She would rather have a job than go on the dole and she has been applying to other places that don't use computers all the time

janullrich

Folks. It is not very foolish to leave a job in these times if your health is being affected. I have worked in debt collecting before and enjoyed it. I have just started in my new role last week and it is one of the most tedious, unrewarding roles I have had. It is dealing with people in Britian who can't get credit anywhere else and get a loan from our company for a short term basis. There is no credit check and more and more it is impossible to catch them after they receive their first loan. I am sorry I did not stay on the dole and persued other interviews I had last week. I am lucky in that I have savings and understand if u don't but my health is more important then my wealth and sometimes it is better having peace of mind then banging your head against a wall when going nowhere. Just my twopense.

Graceland

janullrich wrote: »

Folks. It is not very foolish to leave a job in these times if your health is being affected. I have worked in debt collecting before and enjoyed it. I have just started in my new role last week and it is one of the most tedious, unrewarding roles I have had. It is dealing with people in Britian who can't get credit anywhere else and get a loan from our company for a short term basis. There is no credit check and more and more it is impossible to catch them after they receive their first loan. I am sorry I did not stay on the dole and persued other interviews I had last week. I am lucky in that I have savings and understand if u don't but my health is more important then my wealth and sometimes it is better having peace of mind then banging your head against a wall when going nowhere. Just my twopense.

I agree, health is more important.
My friend had an interview last week for another job and it went very well. They said they would let her know either Monday or Tuesday but she is very hopeful.