I'm the expendable one.

Got some bad news today -- I am being laid off at the end of the month.

The law firm I work for is a small partnership. When I was hired there five and a half years ago, there were just two attorneys and I was the only employee. The firm took on a third partner a couple of years later, and he hired his own staff and several associate attorneys, while I remained the sole employee of the two senior partners. The way the partnership works, each attorney pays his own expenses, including the salaries of his staff, so the two attorneys I work for each pay half of my salary.

Well. The senior partner, who is in his seventies, is retiring at the end of the month. My other boss informed me of this today and told me that he cannot afford to pay my entire salary on his own, so I am out of a job at the end of the month. This didn't come as a total shock, because we'd talked about this before and he had warned me that he did not know if he'd be able to keep me on after my other boss retired. Still, it was a bit of a surprise when he gave me the official word today.

I've spent the evening considering my options. I could try to talk the third partner into giving me some work (his practice is constantly expanding) and paying half of my salary, but I'm not sure I want to do that. He practices criminal defense, mainly DWI defense, and it's not something I'm very interested in doing. Plus, while I like him as a person (he's really a very nice guy), he can be difficult to work for.

I could try to convince my remaining boss to keep me on part time and just continue paying me what he's already contributing to my salary. I don't think I could afford to live on a part-time salary; however it might be an option, if he's willing to do it, until I can find another full-time position.

I do have some pretty good contacts in the local legal community, so I am going to start putting out the word that I'm in the market for a new position. I've never had a problem finding a new job when I've wanted one. Both legal assistant positions I've had, I found in the newspaper classifieds, faxed a resume over, and had a job offer within days. However, that was before the onset of my RA. My current bosses, thank goodness, liked me enough by the time I started having health issues that they were willing to put up with giving me time off for doctor appointments, surgeries, etc., and they were also willing to put up with me when I started coming in later in the mornings because I just can't get up and moving early enough to get to the office by eight a.m. any more. Going into a new job with these issues won't be so easy, since they won't know me and won't know that even with my health problems, I am damn good at what I do and I make up time lost by skipping lunch, staying late, etc. Even though I have about two surgeries per year, I think I miss less time from work than most healthy people -- I almost never call in sick (less than once per year), and I always return to work after having surgery in less than a week.

I don't know how much to disclose while I'm interviewing -- if I tell them "Hey, I've got some health problems" right up front, I doubt anyone is going to hire me, but if I don't disclose that and then start needing time off to go to the doctor and have surgery, my ass might get fired in short order.

This really blows.

Well, at least I have a little bit of warning, so after Glenn's funeral on Wednesday, I'm going to start combing through the classifieds and sending out my resume. Wish me luck.