Hi. I recently received a tentative offer for a low risk, public trust position. In the year 2019, I was diagnosed with schizophrenia and had to leave three jobs (only worked two weeks at them) and had to leave the jobs because of the side effects of my disability. I applied for and went on disability SSDI in December of 2019 and was on it until March 2021. I entered my job history in question 12 of my OF 306 for the preliminary investigation and its been three weeks with no response. I am still waiting to start my SF 85. I have no criminal, drug, or financial trouble history. Is this good or bad?
Although they are not suppose to discriminate based on disabilities, they will. I was almost denied adjudication because i was taking an “anti-psychotic/schizophrenia” med. I don’t have either one, just depression and anxiety and they still held the med against me. The crazy part is that i was clear that i only took that med for sleep issues. The original doctor didn’t know that was an off label use but her partner did and they cleared me.
Was this for security clearance or public trust?
For neither, just to be able to get on a contract. But that was deployed with the IC
Not an adjudicator, but here are some things to think about (and you don’t have to answer any of these questions here, just think about them): are you being treated for it? If so, are you following your health care provider’s treatment plan? Have you ever intentionally stopped treatment recommendations against medical advice? How/why did the side effects interfere with your ability to keep a job? The diagnosis itself is not supposed to be a determining factor and treatment/following medical advice is generally seen as favorable. There is a whole paragraph about it on the security questionnaire, so when you do fill out the SF85, definitely take the time to read it.
That being said, three weeks is not something to worry about. These investigations move very slowly.
Thanks! Do you think they will care about my job history? I have worked at the same job since March 2021.
They only really care about it if you’ve been fired for misconduct, etc. or have a history of doing bad things at work. The SF-85 doesn’t even ask about your mental health otherwise. I had a pretty wild background when I got mine 4-5 years ago, including having been fired 4 months prior.
Thanks. I had to put my disability as the reason for leaving the job. My employer s were unwilling to accomodate my panic attacks on thr sales floor. My manager at Target was horrible
To be fair, customer service in general can potentially give mentally healthy people a panic attack, too. You left a job because they were bad for your mental health, that looks good for you, not bad. Staying and getting fired for lashing out? That would look bad.