I Need Your Advice · 10:28pm Jul 15th, 2020
I'm making a significant life decision and need some unbiased opinions.
Time to ask random strangers on the internet!
For the last six years, I've been working at a food microbiology laboratory. It's an interesting job.
Unfortunately, for almost as long, it's also been in a constant state of massive turnover and unreasonable overtime.
I got used to working 10+ hours. It was inconvenient, and the management left a lot to be desired. I've hunted for a new job on-and-off for years, but never usually ended up giving up and dealing with it for a while longer.
So what's the problem?
This job is no longer inconvenient. It's inhumane.
Nowadays, I don't leave at less than 12 hours per day. Sometimes it's 13-14. I've been "asked" (read: basically forced) to work six days for three of the last five weeks. Our sample volumes are higher than ever, we're losing trained staff at a rate of at least one person a week... basically we're a flaming wreck and everyone's trying to jump ship before they die. Naturally, I'm trying to quit too.
For the last couple months, I've actually actively been working on getting a new job. Sending out applications consistently, every week, not just a few here and there every few months. But obviously, because of Covid-19, everyone under the sun is in the market for a job right now, and I haven't succeeded.
Now, the good news is, I have enough savings to support me for potentially a couple years even if I didn't have a job. What worries me is that I'm an American, and I don't know much about what kind of health insurance would properly protect me if I had to buy my own rather than use the kind supplied by an employer. As I'm sure you all know, here in the good old USA, if you wind up in the hospital for an extended time (like, for instance, if Covid-19 hits you especially hard) and you don't have good insurance... you're basically bankrupt, and probably in debt for the rest of your life.
So now, I have to make a choice:
Option 1: Stay in this job that's gotten SO stressful and hopeless and demands SO many hours that it's impacting my physical and mental health, until I find a new job, which could be months off or more.
Option 2: Quit the toxic job, and buy my own insurance until I find a new job, and hope that I manage to get an insurance plan that prevents me from falling into utter financial ruin if I need surgery or a hospital stay for any reason. I'm not worried about having the money to temporarily survive without a job, I'm only worried about potential medical expenses.
Which of these sounds less insane to you guys? (And also if anyone has been unemployed in America in the past and has any tips about dealing with the health insurance process, that'd be useful info).
~PRB
Definitely get off the job. I had a friend recently leave a similar awful position, and she's been much happier for it. Can't give you any advice about health insurance, but Medicaid works as a stopgap for baseline stuff. :B
Stress is probably one of the strongest factors affecting health so loss the high stress job and keep hunting for a new one while you get assisstance as others probably offer good suggestions for the second part.
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Depending on the state, even if you have no income you may still not qualify. They look at available assets, not just income.
I suggest using your states insurance exchange or the federal one, they may have some income based options or at the very least some cheap catastrophic only plans.
Speaking from experience as somebody who has spent a large portion of time either self-employed or between jobs in the US before?
Option 2 by a longshot: With a bit of research and maybe some consultation (which can be easily found by phone with a local broker or your current doctor's office), it shouldn't be too hard to find a personal buy-in plan to cover your ass on the off chance something goes awry before you can get back under an employer's umbrella. Unless you're expecting a sudden major health issue, or have an anticipated surgery coming up, most plans should be fine and the main concern would be needlessly overpaying.
Getting out of the toxic job, even if it's just to take a sabbatical for six months or whatever, is going to be far better for your health in the long run, even accounting for the (relatively minor and unlikely) short-term risk.
Call your insurance company and ask what it would take to continue your current plan if you are laid off. This is usually possible. It may not be the cheapest option, but it may take the worry out of the way forward.
I’m still jobless and have my medical expenses taken care of by the Kaiser a Permanente via Medical Assistance however with two years worth of savings I’m not sure if you would apply (I’m not sure if they check your bank accounts if you try to apply for it). I’d call them however and see what they have to say.
Since you are in the States, check out the Family and Medical Leave Act
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fmla
https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/retrieveECFR?gp=&SID=0ead1b06e9ea78621a1e3ad2c10ef73f&mc=true&n=pt29.3.825&r=PART&ty=HTML#se29.3.825_1202
and according to the rules of that bill itself
You've probably looked into it already, but in the event that you haven't it may be worth a quick read.
If conditions are that bad where you work and you have the income to support yourself, you need to get out! Healthcare will be more expensive, but you'll probably put a nice hole in your income when work related stress inevitably gets to you.
We're approaching multiple SHTF situations simultaneously. The odds of you being unemployed for a sustained period over the next year(s) are non-trivial regardless of what you do. Consider your financial situation and decide whether you need to stockpile money now or can wait until you (hopefully) have a new job.
Stop working 4 hours of overtime a day. What are they gonna do, fire you? You're already at the verge of quitting. You're at least getting overtime pay, right?
Look into your state's unemployment insurance laws before you take action. Quitting may prevent you from getting unemployment insurance, where getting fired by refusing to work 60 hours a week might be fine.
And honestly, if they're so short that they're working you 12 hours a day, firing you for working 8 hours a day would be counterproductive for them.
Cobra lets you keep your current insurance for a while after you leave, but state/medicaid coverage may be better. Depends on your state.
If
you’rethey're so desperate for people because staff are jumping ship, how do they force you to keep working inhumane hours? What’s stopping you from doing a Peter Gibbons and walking out at the end of the week when Bill Lumbergh tries to pin down? Are they going to threaten to fire you? If they did that, wouldn't they have to offer severance?5309657
Stress is a killer, that can compromise the immune system. Between these two options you've presented, take #2.
It's fairly obvious that your current employer doesn't care about you. They would likely lay you off or terminate you if you protest the overtime (which I'm hoping they are paying you). I would ask for a meeting, tell them you can't work the overtime any longer and let them lay you off. They will have to pay the unemployment and you should be able to retain your current insurance for a few months. I would contact your provider and see how much it would be to continue your coverage after that time. And if you check around, there are some policies that can be had for self or employed situations that might not be too expensive, depending on deductibles and types of coverage.
Bottom line, though you should leave this job. Your physical and mental health are more important.
Option 2.
As a Canadian, your health system absolutely terrifies me... But even then, I'd say absolutely go for option 2... If you think it will help, I would suggest figuring out the details of insurance before you leave your current workplace
But, most importantly, just take care of yourself and make sure you get out of that job once you can. You deserve better than that!
I work for a unionized grocery store. They are all still hiring. I have several otherwise financially independent coworkers who work just enough hours for very reasonable medical benefits. Retail will still suck your soul, but only for 24hrs a week. Plenty of time left over to job hunt.
I would say it depends entirely on whether or not you're getting paid salary or if you're getting some sweet, sweet overtime hours. If you're not getting overtime, then quit the hell out of that shit-ass job.
If you are, then the question is a little harder. I'd go shopping for insurance before I would make any sort of decision on that.
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Since multiple people mentioned this, I wanna clarify that I DO get paid overtime (1.5x my normal rate) which is why I have a reasonable cushion of savings in the first place. This job is making me fall apart... but the pay is pretty nice, and it's very secure, even during Covid.
I've been without insurance for about 18 months now and out of work for most of that. Depending on where you are, personal insurance is not a good value proposition unless you can apply for ACA help, which considering you have more than $1 in savings, you likely can't get. For me, in my backwards state as of last year, I would need to incur $14,000 in expenses before the premiums and co-pay would break even. Finding a catastrophic plan could be a way to assuage your fears. All this is assuming you don't have any expensive prescriptions, obviously you'd need to factor that in.
I'm with the "what are they going to do, fire you?" crowd here. If the job's that desperate, it might be worth trying to emphasize the "or I quit" clause liberally. Lodge a formal complain with HR so there's a paper trail, for what good that'll do you, then do a slowdown. Figure out what's safe and sane for you to do and commit to only doing that much.
If that forces them to meet some of your demands for more acceptable conditions, yay. If it means they fire you, then I believe - might need to be corrected on this though - that's still more to your benefit than quitting. At least in Australia, there's more stuff going for you if you get laid off right now than there usually is.
And if their response to you doing that is to bully you, make the environment more hostile, try to force you into either continuing the death march or leaving... then you're incredibly lucky that you have that option, and I wish you the best possible luck if you take it.
God, I'm so sorry.
Sounds like the only thing holding you to your current job is health insurance. Depending on your state, a lot of states have set up insurance marketplaces for people who want insurance outside their employer, often you can get fairly decent insurance for a couple hundred a month. I'd take a look for your prices at https://www.healthcare.gov/ or your states' version before talking to your current provider. That can help you factor in the costs of living off your savings.