HELP may get sacked at work for having an abortion

nogginthenog

MuffinMama wrote: »

Really need help with this, last year 2008 was the worst year of my life, I decided to have an abortion, which happened in April I had 2 weeks of in total, after i went back to work I had to return to hospital I had a blood clot which involved having another d&c so again in total had about 3 weeks off for this as was really ill. I returned to work and was left in a sickness procedure. then in December i returned to the doctors as i was still having pain they put me on 2 lots of anibiotics which lft me unable to get out of bed so i was off work for another 2 weeks all these weeks i had off were all covered with doctors notes. I returned to work just before christmas and nothing was really said at work untill now in Febuary work are going to put me thru a tribunual and may get sacked, I regret having the abortion everyday since having the abortion and am suffering emotionally i just want to put the whole thing behind me and forget about it, but work are not letting me and i feel i am behind treated unfairly, As i was already in a sickness procedure work was supposed to be giving me sickness reviews every 3 months which i have not had since june, this is supposed to be one of there processes. I am also in councilling to try and help me


any advice anyone could give me would be great

Thanks

Standard procedure is to give a employee a verbal warning and then a written warning before giving someone the sack.
Sacking someone at once is usually reserved for gross misconduct.

motherhen2234

As other posters have mentioned there are some details missing regarding what is actually happening eg is it a disciplinary, capability hearing, whats the sickness procedure etc.

It does sound however that you need to get some advice. Are you a member of a union who can support? or go down to your citizens advice bureau? They will be able to advice what to do next but also help fully explain what is happening. They can also advice you regarding correct procedures etc.

Whilst it may feel this is all about the abortion this is probably about the amount the sickness. Whilst personally these two things are very related it doesn't mean your employers are seeing it from your point of view. Good luck and try and keep a positive outlook even though it may seem difficult at the moment.

ceridwen

Until I saw the posts asking whether your employers actually know that the reason for that 7 weeks sick leave was down to an abortion - rather than more general illness - it never occurred to me that they may not know that that was the reason for that sick leave.

Having sat down and thought "Just how many people have I ever come across that have admitted to having had an abortion?" and come up with the answer "none at all" - but I must have come across a lot of women by now who have done so - then I guess a lot of women never do tell anyone that they have had one. So - it could well be that you havent told your employer that that was the reason for that sick leave. If that is the case - then I think it would be wise to do so - and make it plain that that information is in confidence (if that is important to you).

I know all employers are getting stricter about sick leave than they used to be - but I'm thinking here that my employer, for instance, would be a lot more "lenient" about that 7 weeks if they knew what it was. Not for sex discrimination reasons (I think?) - but because it was illness of a non-recurring nature. What worries my employer is if they think that same illness might recur - but they arent nearly so bothered about "one-off episode" type illness. So the type of thing that worries them is things like M.E., Depression, etc - ie the sort of thing that is likely to involve repeated episodes of sick leave. They've regarded operations as "one-off/we dont care about that/thats now over with" - hence it would be a good idea to make them aware of the nature of the sick leave.

SomeBozo

Ceridwen

In the previous post you suggesting that this could be sex discrimination. Now your suggesting that the employee should go and tell the employer what the problem is?!

The issue here is sickness, not whether the employee is male or female or whether its a gender related illness.

Bozo

MuffinMama

Hi All, Thanks for all the replies, my employer knows everything that happened last year and all my sickness days last year were due to having the d&c's, The time i was off before that was for a rib infection in 2007.

Thnaks

MuffinMama

Oh and also they classed all the sickness as pregnancy related

mrcow

MuffinMama wrote: »

Hi All, Thanks for all the replies, my employer knows everything that happened last year and all my sickness days last year were due to having the d&c's, The time i was off before that was for a rib infection in 2007.

Thnaks

I still don't see how you are claiming that your employer is discriminating against you for having an abortion.

They are perfectly entitled to consider whether you are fit for the job based on your attendance and sickness record. You are making some serious allegations about them on here, but then are not backing these up.

You have stated that you were off work for 7 weeks last year,but are now indicating that it was more than this? If you can confirm

• what your actual attendance has been since jan 2007
• what your letter says ref. your disciplinary
• why in particular you think that your employers are discriminating against you due to the fact that you had an abortion and what evidence you can supply to uphold this allegation

then it would make it much easier for people to try and offer you some help.

surreysaver

SomeBozo wrote: »

Ceridwen

In the previous post you suggesting that this could be sex discrimination. Now your suggesting that the employee should go and tell the employer what the problem is?!
Bozo

Exactly. How can someone be accused of discrimination if they do not know what the problem is?

SomeBozo

surreysaver wrote: »

Exactly. How can someone be accused of discrimination if they do not know what the problem is?

Ceridwen has a history off topic rants that bear no relation nor help the original posters.

I usually try and stay clear of threads she has participated in for this very reason. Now we are side tracking due to her comments and going off topic.

Bozo

Zazen999

SomeBozo wrote: »

Ceridwen has a history off topic rants that bear no relation nor help the original posters.

I usually try and stay clear of threads she has participated in for this very reason. Now we are side tracking due to her comments and going off topic.

Bozo

I usually start a response and then walk away from the computer until I've calmed down.