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Hello,

I have a very bad medical diagnosis and realistically, i'm risking my life everyday and not able to receive the medical treatment that I need while still being a summer associate. How should I go about resigning? This situation does not seem to have come up often if at all.

Happyto3L wrote:Hello,

I have a very bad medical diagnosis and realistically, i'm risking my life everyday and not able to receive the medical treatment that I need while still being a summer associate. How should I go about resigning? This situation does not seem to have come up often if at all.

You should definitely stop being a summer associate ASAP. That said, I wouldn’t refer to it as resigning (informally or administratively). I heard about somebody who took 5 weeks of paternity leave at a vault firm during the summer and still got an offer. I see your situation as more legitimate than that.

Go to your home portal and explore emergency medical leave policies. Goes without saying that they likely won’t mention summer associates expressly, but there seems a good argument that you could get the regular associate leave policy applied to you.

This way, you could probably leave it on your resume but I’d consult somebody else about that last point.

Immediately get in contact with HR and Career services.

Does anyone think it’s possible they will permit a reduced schedule to accommodate treatment?

Happyto3L wrote:Does anyone think it’s possible they will permit a reduced schedule to accommodate treatment?

I had a medical situation come-up during my summer. HR was very happy to accommodate whatever I needed and was even willing to look into me getting on the firm's health insurance. Remember, they are humans first and foremost AND the firm wants a good reputation, not something on ATL saying they fired the sick summer.

Happyto3L wrote:Does anyone think it’s possible they will permit a reduced schedule to accommodate treatment?

If that's what you need, I would be surprised if they wouldn't accommodate you this way. When I was a summer, one of the other summers had an old injury flare up and had to like, lay down on the floor for half the day in order to be able to sit in a chair, and the firm bent over backwards (haha) to help him out. Like, gave him a few weeks off to get it under control, got him a special desk, etc. If you have a diagnosis from your doctor, go to HR and talk to them about what is going on, and then talk to whoever is in charge of the summer program and ask them to help you work something out - I promise this isn't the first time something like this has happened at your firm. And don't push yourself to work more than you need - your health needs to come first. Just because you *can* work 30 hours a week doesn't mean you should.

And I'm sorry to hear about your medical diagnosis - good luck, and I hope you are able to get it resolved quickly.

edit: fixed a typo

Happyto3L wrote:Hello,

I have a very bad medical diagnosis and realistically, i'm risking my life everyday and not able to receive the medical treatment that I need while still being a summer associate. How should I go about resigning? This situation does not seem to have come up often if at all.

Just contact HR right away and tell them your status. They will work with you. Most importantly they don’t want you endangering your health by working.

There are many things in life that is more important than being an attorney--this is one of them. Any good employer (law firm or not) would be understanding and accommodating to your situation. If not, it's not worth your time sticking around with them.