Ill health early retirement

christie_3

I have been in my present job with a large employer for over 8 years and am now 54. I have been struggling with severe migraines for most of that time but now, due to continued work stress, the migraines are getting worse and require frequent medication. The medication makes me woozy (this is a major listed side effect) and, unfortunately, my job is in field sales involving lots of driving. I have been so far managing to organise my work around my migraines - with difficulty - but as the problem is getting worse and I need more medication driving is becoming a major worry for me.

I have tried lots of treatments over the years and the current one is by far the most effective so my GP feels that it is the best one for me. It would be unlikely that I could find another job with the company, the head office being 400 miles from my home. I cannot afford to give up the job but wonder if anyone knows if there might be any possibility of early retirement on ill health grounds as the migraines - or rather the treatment, are making my job hazardous both for myself and other road users.
I would appreciate any information which any forum user might have on this.

dunstonh

It would very much depend on your employer and the pension trustees as to what you are entitled to and what they are willing to offer.

You really need to be having a discussion with your HR dept to discover your options and then seek advice based on those options.

christie_3

I don't really feel that I want the HR department to know the problem I have re the driving until I know what my options are - I suspect that they may not be too happy about me doing so much driving when I don't feel too happy doing it when I have to take medication. it is a bit of a chicken and egg situation.

Debt_Free_Chick

I assume that your employer has an occupational pension scheme? If so, you need to look at the rules for ill-health early retirement. They specifically state what the criteria are for IHER e.g. unable, through illness or disability, to do your own job, or any other for which you are suitably qualified. I emphasise, that this is just an example, you must find out what the rules of your own scheme state.

Using my example, you probably wouldn't qualify - because that example of an IHER rule means that you remain capable of doing another similar job i.e. one that does not require frequent driving.

You are entitled to inspect the rules free of charge - so you could copy the rule out - but make sure you do so word for word, if you are going to post it here for further advice.

Alternatively, what does the scheme booklet say about IHER?

christie_3

I have never seen the rules - and they have never been provided for me to see. However, as the company office where all other jobs are based is 400 miles away from where i live ( I am in a home based sales job), I don't see how I could possibly be offered another job for which I am suitably qualified...That is why I was wondering if I might be in a position to be offered IHER

nearlyrich

I sympathise with the problem but if you are driving knowing you are in your own words "hazardous to other road users" how would you feel if you had an accident and hurt or killed someone?

Can you not find a desk based sales job with a local employer, perhaps one of your customers would be suitable, good experienced sales people are very sought after.

Debt_Free_Chick

christie wrote:

I have never seen the rules - and they have never been provided for me to see. However, as the company office where all other jobs are based is 400 miles away from where i live ( I am in a home based sales job), I don't see how I could possibly be offered another job for which I am suitably qualified...That is why I was wondering if I might be in a position to be offered IHER

You might not have seen the Rules, but they must be provided to you if you request them. In theory, you have a right to "inspect" the rules, which implies that you must visit the place where they are stored. But in practice, there's likely to be an electronic version (pdf?) which could be emailed to you.

The rules may not require that you are capable of doing another job with the same company ... they may simply determine that if you are capable of doing any other job, then you don't qualify. For this reason, it's absolutely vital that you get the rules - without them, you don't know what hurdles you have to overcome.

As for another job with the same company ... well, they manage to accommodate you in your present role ... there may well be others that could be done, by working from home.

Get the rules ... please!