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No disclosures required about family life

By Roni F. Noland, Globe Correspondent, 4/11/04

Six years ago I resigned my position as a government lawyer. At the time of my resignation, I was on maternity leave after the birth of my third child. While on leave, my second child was diagnosed with autism. I decided it was best for me not to return to work. My employer understood the difficult situation we were facing as a family and I left on good terms. Close to seven years have passed and I have decided to return to the workforce working part time as an attorney. My husband travels extensively. How candid can I be about my family situation without scaring off every potential employer who interviews me? Legally, I do not know of any duty to disclose my son's autism or my husband's career demands. I am not in a position to work long hours. I have devoted myself to autism advocacy work and am on the board of trustees of my son's school for autistic children. It is pretty clear from looking at my résumé that I have more than a passing interest in autism. How do I make the leap from parent volunteer to part-time attorney?

You are under no obligation, legal or otherwise, to disclose anything about your family situation, including your husband's career demands and your child's autism.

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Before you interview for any position, you need to inquire carefully about the hours and the workload, assess the employer's flexibility, and make a reasoned judgment as to your ability to meet -- or exceed -- the demands of the position. An employer assumes that you have your support systems in place to perform your work responsibilities well.

It would be illegal for an employer to discriminate against hiring you based on his or her inference from the information about autism on your résumé. Were you to suspect that a prospective employer was discriminating against you for reasons related to your child's autism, it would be virtually impossible to prove that this was the sole deciding factor for not hiring you.

Let us instead look at some options for making the transition from parent volunteer to part-time attorney that enable you to focus on your strengths rather than worrying about possible discrimination.

Consider doing paid work for a nonprofit organization involved with helping, researching, or advocating for autism. A nonprofit autism advocacy organization would be privileged to have someone with your legal skills, first-hand knowledge of autism, and passion as a senior staff member.

I have worked with several ''parent volunteers" who have been able to make the transition to paid staff in similar types of nonprofit organizations. Networking in the field should be easy for you, as you probably already know many of the key players and would have minimal research to do in terms of identifying possible employers.

Contract legal work would be a great way to make the transition back to the paid workforce. You could sharpen your legal skills again, make fresh contacts in the field, and benefit from maximum flexibility. Contract work would allow you to regulate your workload depending on your situation. Small- and medium-size law firms as well as in-house legal departments often find contract work attractive, because it allows them to get the work done without paying benefits and adding to their head count.

Try a part-time legal position in the public sector. Although the job market is tight in the public sector, you might find more flexibility in a government job than you would encounter in the private sector. A part-time government position would likely have more regular hours than one in a law firm or corporation.

If you have kept in touch with your former employer, contact him or her and arrange to meet to explore part-time opportunities. This would have the added comfort for you of talking with your former supervisor or colleagues, who already know about your home situation.

The need for an excellent support system, reliable childcare, and backup coverage are essential for any working parent, and even more so for you as your husband's frequent traveling prevents him from sharing parenting responsibilities while he is away.

The balancing act that many of us perform requires extraordinary organizational skills, maximum flexibility and resiliency, supportive friends and family, a terrific sense of humor, and luck. An excellent book that explores the demands and stresses on working families is ''Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work," by Arlie Russell Hochschild.

Regain control over bad work situtation

I have worked for almost two years as a medical biller at my current employer.Two weeks ago, I had a meeting with my supervisor. He said that he was very unhappy with my work performance and asked me if I would start looking for a new job. At the same time, he indicated that he would like me to stay until he finds a replacement. If I quit my job, will I be able to collect unemployment? If so, what should I do? If not, what are my options?

Your employer claims that he is ''very unhappy" with your performance, but he is still eager to have you stay on the job until he can find a replacement. This leaves you in limbo, as you have no idea how long it will take your employer to find a new medical billing clerk. Let's look at some steps you can take to regain a measure of control over your work situation so that you will not feel desperate enough to quit immediately.

You are eligible for unemployment insurance benefits. Your situation fits the criterion of eligibility because you are being terminated due to dissatisfaction on the part of the employer with your performance. The exception to this entitlement would be if ''poor performance" were attributable to some type of misconduct. Obviously, this is not the case, as your employer not only is not dismissing you immediately, he has asked you to stay on until he finds a replacement.

If you decide to quit now, you would probably be ineligible for unemployment benefits. This is because your employer has not told you when you will be terminated but only that you will be terminated. If your employer had notified you that your employment would end on a specific date, your status regarding unemployment would be different, according to the Division of Unemployment Assistance (formerly the Division of Employment and Training). In that case, if you chose to leave before that specific date, you would be ineligible to receive benefits only for the period of time that work would have continued to be available. You would, however be eligible to receive unemployment compensation from that date forward.

If you start actively job hunting now and find another suitable position before your employer has found a replacement for you, you could give your notice without concern about collecting unemployment benefits. Alternately, you could negotiate with your employer so that the end date of your employment coincides with both the employer finding a new employee and with you securing a new position. Perhaps you can even garner your employer's support for your job search, including time off for the job search as needed and a decent evaluation.

You also need to spend some time evaluating your own performance on the job. Ask yourself: Am I deficient in skills that are needed in the field, or is this particular position simply not a good fit? Was there a problem getting along with my supervisor and/or coworkers? Are there areas that I need to improve? Would a refresher course make sense, or do I need to work with a career professional to develop better work habits, like punctuality and attendance?

You have nothing to lose by requesting a frank discussion with your supervisor to detail the on-the-job issues that led to your firing. Perhaps you could even ask him to outline steps you could take to improve performance. If you approach this interim period with a positive attitude and an eagerness to improve your work, you might even improve your performance so much that your employer decides to rescind your firing. At the very least, you will feel more confident in your abilities and be able to face the prospect of interviewing for a new position with renewed energy.

Antidiscrimination help available in R.I.

Does the state of Rhode Island have the equivalent of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination? If so, what is it called and how can it be contacted?

The Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights is the agency that enforces antidiscrimination laws in employment, housing, credit, and public accommodations. According to its website, www.richr.state.ri.us, the commission's mission is to prohibit discrimination based on ''race, color, sex, physical or mental disability."

If you believe that you have been discriminated against, you can fill out an information questionnaire online, or you can call the office between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays to talk with an information officer about your situation at 401-222-2661. The commission's offices are located at 180 Westminster St., 3rd Floor, Providence.

Any charges that you would file with the commission are automatically filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission if they meet federal guidelines. Be sure to file your complaint in a timely manner, as the filing deadlines differ from state to federal jurisdiction.

For Massachusetts readers, I am also including contact information for the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination has two offices: One Ashburton Place, Room 601, Boston, and 436 Dwight St., Room 220, Springfield. The Boston office is open from 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and can be reached by calling 617-994-6000. The phone number for the Springfield office is 413-739-2145.

Although this Massachusetts agency shares a mission with its Rhode Island counterpart, the procedure for filing a complaint in Massachusetts is different from that in Rhode Island.The MCAD requires an in-person meeting in order for an individual to file a complaint. The only exception to this policy is if you have retained an attorney, which is not necessary in order to file a complaint. In that case the lawyer can mail a complaint in to the office on your behalf. For more information, check the MCAD website at www.mass.gov/mcad.

Need advice about managing your career or your workplace? The Job Doc can help. Our specialists can answer your questions on topics ranging from career transitions to management issues. E-mail queries to , or send letters to Job Doc, c/o the Boston Globe, P.O. Box 55819, Boston MA 02205-5819. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.

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