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The Most Radical Act of Resistance is to Take Back Our Time
Being busy and distracted only perpetuates the status quo
A few weeks ago, my partner collapsed unexpectedly at work. He was transported via ambulance to the nearest hospital, where a doctor surmised that the collapse was probably stress-related. But no definitive cause was determined.
My partner has been dealing with a number of health challenges over the past year, resulting in 13 unexcused absences from work — “unexcused” meaning that he didn’t get approval ahead of time.
Collapsing on the job, apparently, was his most inexcusable infraction to date. The next day, his supervisor informed him that he would not be able to return to his previous position. He would be transferred to a different office (twice as far from our home) and possibly demoted.
It’s worth pausing here to note that my partner has a doctorate degree. He works in the highly specialized field of hand therapy, a field with a multi-year learning curve, a field in which demand far exceeds the number of available providers. In fact, once he passes his certification exam, he will be one of approximately 8,385 certified hand therapists in the entire world.
And yet, despite his years of education, despite the untold unpaid hours he’s poured into studying for his certification exam, despite his commitment to prioritizing work through Covid, parenting challenges, health challenges, and more, and despite the extra emotional labor he expends daily as the only Black employee at his company, he is now getting scolded and punished for “unexcused absences” like a high schooler who was caught cutting class.
And this, just after being transported from his office to a hospital in an ambulance.
My partner had been planning to return to work as soon as possible, but after being informed of his pending transfer, he said, “Fuck it.” His primary care provider proceeded to approve him for up to 14 weeks off under the FMLA.
He won’t get paid for them, of course, but he plans to use them all.
As the co-owner of a marketing agency, I understand that we need workers to reliably show up in order to make a profit. And I understand that 17…
