Dismissal due to ill health - Is it fair if employer caused it?

fatou256

the problem will you have to face is tht you will need a medical report that precisely said that support your claim.

i suffer from sever depression and other serious psychiatric illness .

however ypou mentined that your employer was the source of your illnees then ima sorry you will need psychaitrist and a consultant report detailing your condition and why you cannot do your current job and the reason and the why etc... ... , then you will have to show that your employer has used all exhausting avenues before sacking you aka my post no 4, before you can consider if they have been discriminatory.

i didnt mean to be harsh but i know it is difficult. In my case i have that in black and white both from gp ,psychiatrist and CPN who all judge that i am unfit for work and i should not be return to work under any circumstance due to my severe mental illness.

and to be honest it is better that you can sack from your employer when it comes to benefit !

fatou256

Uncertain wrote: »

To get back to the original question....

A dismissal due to ill health can be fair (if carried out properly) even if the employer caused the problem.

However, if the employer did in fact cause you to be too ill to work, then you would have a claim against them for damages. This would not be easy to prove but could, potentially, lead to a very large award under some circumstances.

Will people please confine themselves to answering questions and not making judgements!!!

agrre with you this is why i noted that she need hard eveindece from consultant and gp plus a detailed account to how her employer meet her needs through their sickness policies and if they haven't followed that and what it is written in her/his contract then he/she may have a claim .... however without any psychiatric/medical assessment the claim will be hard to prove .
what stieke me that her employer offer analternative and he/she refused then the tribunal might see that the employer has fullfill his duties towards her unless otherwise noted by medical report and the employer didnt even acknowldege that or didn't go through any occupational helath route.

Horace

If the employer was singling the OP out for 'special attention' which resulted in the depression, one wonders if the grievance procedure was followed? Its all well and good saying that nothing was done but we don't know if a formal written grievance was ever submitted?

I think it would be difficult to prove one way or another whether or not the depression was caused entirely by the work situation or other outside factors and I feel that this can only be determined by medical professionals such as psychiatrists.

Perhaps the OP needs to take some sort of legal advice about his/her position and whether or not this can be pursued through an Employment Tribunal - it may be that the OP is out of time who knows.

cab412

For those of you who have assumed some things here is the case:

I was harassed at work for a year with my manager doing nothing for me. The person harassing me kept a diary of the food I ate, continuosly told me to apply for other jobs to get away from him, told customers that I was no use, increased my workload by taking longer breaks and a lot more. I complained verbally and in writing but got nowhere.

I was then given a letter by my manager asking me to come to a meeting. When I got there, I was told that the very same person who had been harassing me had made a complaint against me with made up allegations. These were all proven false.

It took 8 months to complete the investigation. For that whole 8 months I got no repsonse as to the latest. No updates and I had no idea where I stood. I got depression and anxiety which has worsened over time. I was not off work sick however, I was suspended.

After the 8 months, I was told that there was no case to answer and I should come back to work. I was not well enough.

Since then my employer has tried to push me and push me to come back to work without offering any help.

The person who accused me and made false allegations has been promoted and nothing will happen to him.

I am now in this position as described above.

Thanks your your replies however they have sounded.

ceridwen

I see what you mean O.P. - that sounds like harassment to me and the keeping of a record of what you eat sounds like they are a bit mentally ill (as well as being a bully) - that is wierd to do that.

Obviously someone like that shouldnt have been promoted - what on earth does that say about the culture of the firm?

At a practical level - presumably the fact they HAVE been promoted means they are at least out of your way and you won't encounter them anymore?

Its not unusual for a bully to make out that THEY are the ones being bullied - I know this from experience.

Is it possible to at least look at the plus side - ie you've not had to go in and do that job for 8 months now and its not gone on your sickness record? That bully is now, as I said, presumably out of the way (in fact - daft as it sounds - and it certainly does sound daft - perhaps one of the reasons that bully got a promotion they didnt deserve was in order to get them away from a situation they had created - ie bullying you and then putting in false counter-allegations). So - maybe in a sense your employer feels they have dealt with this.

I think it would be wise for you to go back to work now and "play it by ear" and see how things go.

adecor

I definitely think (based on what you're saying) that you should seek legal advice if you can afford it.

You will have to firstly make a decision of whether you want to return there or not as claims are very different.

You should also bear in mind that as a large company they may have some sort of insurance scheme (employee compensation) that you will be able to claim against to continue being paid.

Don't know if you've tried the BUPA therapy sessions (usually at the Priory) but they really are helpful.