When Is It Time To Tell Your Boss You Have Cancer?

Actor Patrick Swayze isn’t going to let cancer keep him from his daily routine. The Dirty Dancing heart throb was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer earlier in the year but his representatives say that he is “continuing his normal schedule during this time, which includes working on upcoming projects.”

The actor is reportedly undergoing chemotherapy, not radiation, to treat the disease. And while pancreatic cancer can be very serious, often spreading rapidly, Swayze and his doctors are optimistic. “Patrick has a very limited amount of disease and he appears to be responding well to treatment thus far,” one of his doctors has said.

Swayze undoubtedly faces a tough time but like many others dealing with disease, he has chosen to live his life as normally as possible. Cancer and other illnesses bring about many difficulties, but one of the most trying may be the decision to remain at work. Some people find working, in addition to the emotional and physical wear and tear of cancer, is too much to handle. But other patients find that work can be a healthy distraction from their illness. Whatever the case, when informing an employer of your health status, it is important to take the appropriate steps.

Before you approach your boss with information regarding your health, it is most important to have all the facts. “If you don’t know all the details of your diagnosis and how it will affect you and your work, it is premature to tell your boss,” says Julie Jansen, a career coach and author of I Don’t Know What I Want But I Know It’s Not This. The best time to tell an employer is after the patient and doctor have determined a course of treatment. That should give a good indication of how the illness will impact job performance. According to Kate Sweeney, the executive director of Cancer and Careers, a cancer victim support group, it is a good idea to find out everything about your company’s policies on time off and sick leave before speaking with an employer. “It is important to go to your boss as prepared as possible.”