Hardworker but do to lateness could lose job/ trying turn things around but will lose job if late again need help

[maghierosun]

So basically to keep this short as possibly, today i got suspended from work for being late this last saturday by 11 minutes.  Since I've been working at my job for just over a year I have regularly been late usually more so when I'm cycling really low or a lot.  I also have been told not to be late and been overlooked quite a few times so to be fair to them they have given me a lot of idk how to say it lee way? Haven't cracked down on me, and this is because I'm a really hard worker and  thats how its always been.  I was considered the best stocker and so moved over to the health market department since they needed someone and also to the floral department.  I have been working on not being as late as often and in the past 2 months I generally am within 10 min of when I work, though late most days by atleast a few minutes.  The thing is I've been like this at most my jobs and do to my work ethics it hasn't been an issue.

But now they've decided to make it an issue so about a week ago they had a meeting with me were they stated they didn't want to lose me as a worker, that they know i work really hard but they can't keep given me a break with being late, so i got like 3 write ups, and then also had to sign a thing saying that if I'm late at all I will get suspended for a week.  

Well I was on time all the past 6 days I've worked but one which is amazing considering last month I was on time only once, and they just suspended me for it.  I was 11 minutes late.  I understand they can't have people being late but I just can't help it and I'm really trying to be on time but always I can't find something i need for work, or I oversleep, etc.  Alot of the times ive been late in the past couple months was due to me sleeping and then getting woke up by a phone call from my manager.  I have days were i don't sleep at all and days were I sleep excessively like those days which has been more so the case lately.  My moods been rapidly cycling though  in the past 3 weeks and before that it was cycling but more so deppressive and its still more deppressive and excessive sleeping and lack of energy now to but how quickly it changes for me has definately picked up.  

Either way they now said if I'm late at all when I come back that i will be terminated, and they don't want to do once again because I'm a great worker, so i got my final notice and i have serious serious doubts that I will be able to not be even a minute late for probably 2 months atleast before they will give me a break.  I was also really proud of the fact i had made it on time so much the past week considering my history of being late, I was also always late at my previous job though they overlooked it cause I was a valuable employee. I really don't know what to do, I'm having trouble enough just trying to keep going with life right now, and my job which helps me take my mind of things and keeps me busy is now gone for the next week, so I'm even more broke then normal, I dropped 4 of my 5 classes in college because I was just so on the downside this semester, and now I'm probably going to lose my job.  

I understand they need you to be on time, but if your a really hard worker they value thats really cycling, has changed medications atleast 8 times in the past year, having trouble not feeling hopeless, was going to school takin 15 credits still paying for them even though all but 3 got dropped which now I have even less money for, and I'm just not doing good.  
Also its only been a week that they had that meeting although they've been telling me to be on time for a long time and I have gotten better and closed the gap to below 15 min normally within 6 min before this talk suspending me for one day late by 11 minutes, seems unfair and I know what i'm capable of and I've always been that person thats late, and I really can try and turn this around and be on time but its like quitting smoking you can't just do it cold turkey, and now if i am late terminations going to occur leaving me without a job till spring unless I find another one, and I have very few friends that i used to have, very lonely, and without a job everythings going to keep going downhill.

I was wondering if there is anything out there to specifically protect me from this, I understand that being late every day is a bit ridicolous but threatening me with what they are and expecting such a drastic change, seems a bit unfair given the fact that I've been being late for years with everything in my life, still not on medication that helps, cycling a ton, and I know theres the disability protection laws but I just wondered if there were any good links you could provide me with that have information bout how its hard to maintain a job with bipolar disorder, and being late is common for bipolar people and
especially if you could link me to something that could legally make them not able to terminate me, and even if i could get this suspension lifted cause I need the money and  they need me I'm a good worker,
otherwise I fear i will lose my job which other then the late thing they have nothing else to have an issue with me about
Ive had several good write ups about how helpful an employee I am and how I really went out of my way to answer there questions like about orchids in the floral department and just in general,

I really need help, I want to be on time, and I want to get there, but zero tolerance after years of tolerance I just don't think I can pull it off, and only 1/6 days is so much better then the month before major improvement

so please help, links to quality information on workplace, and legal protection for bi polar or even something that will relay to them what exactly bi polar is and how it can really effect someone at work,
I find sites but nothing given me something substantial enough and backed up by someone with a degree that i can use to either fight this or sway they way they think, otherwise i will lose my job

and sorry if that was long and some of it redundant , and if i said anything more then once all that I'm terrible writing up things,  I also have a huge drug history which Ive gotten way better then before as well, and only got diagnosed with Bipolar 1 about a year ago maybe a little less and been going to pyschologist for 2 years for social anxiety although now im just seeing my doctor so ive been on tons of meds, and switcehd alot, and trying to stay away from drugs but the more deppressed I get the more I want to just dose it up,
I have very few friends that I can hang out with anymore, just lonely, now prob gonna lose my job, really need help

thanks appreciate your time,
Cody

[Athena_M]

I tend to run late wherever I go.  Try thinking of the "time you need to leave" rather than the time you need to arrive.  
Try setting your alarm where you have to get up out of bed to turn it off.  
Tell your psychiatrist about all of this maybe he can help with meds adjustments or lead you into the right direction for some support.

[Xila31]

I would do as ILADVOCATE suggests because it sounds like you can do the job just fine. But if there are strategies you have to get you to work on time? I know strategies don't always help, (I get that a lot due to my own problems, things that seem simple to others just don't work out for me....)

But I have the problem of always forgetting where I put things I need to leave the house, like my purse. So maybe put something by the door like a basket and put all the things you need in it for work and always put them there only? And for getting up on time maybe set 2 or 3 alarm clocks to go off in a few minutes of each other. Like those loud annoying type that beep constantly. That's the strategies I thought of, I hope that helps, but I understand if it doesn't.

I hope all goes well and you don't lose your job. It seems very good for your stability.

[ILADVOCATE]

  Within the Americans with Disabilities Act you have to be able to do the essential function (basic requirements of the job, look in the employee manual where you work) of the job but can seek a reasonable accommodation but one that would not create an undue burden meaning that it would not impact on your ability to do the work itself. Go to ada.gov. Try to figure out what could help you as regards being able to do the work you do and what accommodations you need and discuss this with your supervisor and how it could be appropriately addressed.