u/Aggressive-Lab3693

Hi everyone,
I am new posting here. I'm looking for an advice on how to handle my current situation with my manager.

I am an electrical engineer (mid-level) working in the semiconductor industry. I've been with company for about 5 years and currently in an E2 role. I want to grow into a more senior engineering role (E3), which requires ownership, design involvement and independent.

Here is the situation:

• My manager has assigned me personal tasks outside of work scope (e.g., asking me to transport personal items internationally without asking first, I felt uncomfortable but ended up doing it because he is my manager.
• I'm not being given ownership of meaningful design projects. I'm mostly doing implementation-type or technician level tasks (cabling, rework, basic integration)
• I've been working on a long-term project, but progress is blocked by external dependencies, and I'm mostly waiting instead of actively engineering.
• Projects I start often out of design discussions or taken over, which makes it hard to grow technically.
• I'm often left out of design discussions, which makes it hard to grow technically.
• There seems to be limited transparency in how work is assigned, and my manager tends to keep control of major projects. He takes on big and high visibility projects and any left over project he gives to the team.

Additional context:

• I'm currently on worker's comp due to a hand injury (limited mobility, I cannot fully bend some of my fingers).
• A large portion of my work involved repetitive cable rework tied to design decisions, which contributed to my injury over time.
• Despite this, I've still been asked to continue doing cable rework, even while wearing a metal splint.
• Because I'm on worker's comp, I'm not in a position to easily switch jobs right now, so I need to figure out how to navigate this internally.

At this point, I feel stuck:

• I'm not developing the skills needed for promotion.
• I don't feel comfortable pushing back strongly due to internal dynamics
• I'm starting to feel disengaged and burnt out.

I'm trying to stay professional and not escalate things unnecessarily, but I also don't want to ignore what feels like a safety concern and career stagnation at the same time.

What I'm looking for advice on:

• How would you approach this conversation with your manager?
• Is this something that should be escalated (HR, EHS, or skip-level), especially given the injury context?
• How do I push back on physical tasks that may worsen my injury without risking backlash?
• How do I advocate for project ownership and more engineering-focused work?
• At what point do you decide its better to leave or fix the situation?

Any advice or similar experiences would really help. Thanks in advance.