Sick/Injury because of Work, Now They Want to Make Me Redundant, Please Help! DDA

melody213

I am in a dilemma with my current work situation and I would gratefully appreciate your assistance. I have been off sick from work for almost a year. The illness is depression and the associated physical symptoms. It is a view that the mental health illness has been triggered and caused by mistreatment by my management at work, and I have hence raised a grievance which was not upheld by my employer. I have appealed their decision and am waiting their action.

Whilst this is happening, I have asked them if they will redeploy me because of the circumstances and the risk to my health if I stayed in my current role, but they have given no definitive answer. They have only sent me the list of internal vacancies – but I have been too ill to look at these and they are aware of this. After raising this grievance, I have only recently been fit enough to meet with them to discuss how to move forward, however having met with them, their agenda was more sinister and was in fact to make me redundant.

I have been receiving a reduced salary from the company’s insurance but they have decided to stop because they think I am able to work in my role according to the Occupation health reports. However they have misinterpreted this because the report says that I am able to work (after phasing in) but not in my current role because of the psychological risk. I have appealed to the insurer and am waiting their action.

This crux of the issue now is that from the point the insurer has stopped paying, my employer (a large global company) has informed me that my role is now redundant and I will be made redundant in 30 days (now less). They have told me that I will only be removed from the redundancy selection if I appeal to the insurer and they resume paying me or if I get another role internally.

In the meeting they said that my redundancy was part of a group of redundancies which happened in Sept 2009, but then at another point in the meeting they said my redundancy was an individual case and due to business reduction. This raises alarm bells and makes me think that they just want to get rid of me.
They have written in a letter to me that my redundancy was due to business reduction and that I was selected from a pool of candidates, in which I was a “low scorer”. How can they score me if I was off sick?

I do not think it is appropriate for my employer to select me or even score me.
Also, since they are aware that due to medical reasons I would not be able to return to my original role in any case don’t they have a lawful obligation to redeploy me?
If so, since I would be in a new role upon my return wouldn’t their premise to make me redundant be defunct?

It also seems to me that they don’t want to make reasonable adjustments because of my health but instead just want me out. I feel that they are discriminating against my medical condition and possibly victimising me because I raised a grievance. Would this be a reasonable assessment?

All of these things have played havoc on me and I am unsure what to do. I have a mental health illness and am now taking medication and treatment from my therapists because of these issues at work. Is my employer being unfair to me?
Do I have a case for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination?

dehaani

So, you've been off for a whole year with sickness that you attribute to your employer's behaviour towards you?

If the situation is serious enough to warrant a year of sickness, why haven't you sought legal advise? I'm sure your employers would be wondering why this has gone on so long without you attempting to address it.

So, you want redeployed and they send you the vacancies. I'm sure they were a bit miffed when you stopped the positive progress by claiming to be too ill to look at the vacancies! Are you for real?

melody213 wrote: »

How can they score me if I was off sick?

If you're not there to "earn" a decent score then wouldn't your score default to zero or some baseline?

melody213 wrote: »

makes me think that they just want to get rid of me.

OMG! You think? :eek:

Emmzi

you cannot return to work under current circumstances because you are too ill
you do not want to leave
you cannot bring yourself to look at alternate employment with them

what do you actually want to happen? free money forever? ain't gonna happen.

let's start with you telling us what your preferred outcome would be.

Anihilator

All seems perfectly legitimate to me. Surprised its not dismissal rather than redundancy.

If it was work related after a year off surely you should be fine or at least fine enough to apply for the other positions...

As for legality it all sounds perfectly legal.

Sunshine12

Jesus, go easy will you! The OP is clearly going through a hard time just now without you lot having a go about how long she has been off sick for!

OP, why not give ACAS a call in the first instance to discuss it through with them. Sure they can give you some very good advice without making assumptions or judging you in the process. It may be that your employer is completely within their rights to do this and I would assume they have taken advice before proceeding down this route (its highly unlikely that they havent) but you should check with ACAS or an employment lawyer just to check what your rights are in any case. ACAS phone numbers and website pasted below. Good luck with it.

ACAS (www.acas.org.uk)

Monday–Friday, 08:00–20:00 – 08457 47 47 47
Monday–Friday, 08:00–20:00 – 08456 06 16 00 (Minicom users)

Saturday, 09:00–13:00 – 08457 47 47 47

Anihilator

The OP's hardtime seems to equate to screwing every penny she can without doing work.

There are genuine illness's yes but the OP seems unwilling to try and return to work in which case why shouldnt she be dismissed or made redundant.

bendix

Sunshine12 wrote: »

Jesus, go easy will you! The OP is clearly going through a hard time just now without you lot having a go about how long she has been off sick for!

OP, why not give ACAS a call in the first instance to discuss it through with them. Sure they can give you some very good advice without making assumptions or judging you in the process. It may be that your employer is completely within their rights to do this and I would assume they have taken advice before proceeding down this route (its highly unlikely that they havent) but you should check with ACAS or an employment lawyer just to check what your rights are in any case. ACAS phone numbers and website pasted below. Good luck with it.

ACAS (www.acas.org.uk)

Monday–Friday, 08:00–20:00 – 08457 47 47 47
Monday–Friday, 08:00–20:00 – 08456 06 16 00 (Minicom users)

Saturday, 09:00–13:00 – 08457 47 47 47

Oh please ..... Evidently the OP is "too sick" to look at a list of internal vacancies that her employer sent her, but is more than competent enough to draft a very articulate post on this forum as soon as it becomes likely the employer is going to get tough on her.

Surprise surprise.

Fire_Fox

melody213 wrote: »

I am in a dilemma with my current work situation and I would gratefully appreciate your assistance. I have been off sick from work for almost a year. The illness is depression and the associated physical symptoms. It is a view that the mental health illness has been triggered and caused by mistreatment by my management at work, and I have hence raised a grievance which was not upheld by my employer. I have appealed their decision and am waiting their action.

Whilst this is happening, I have asked them if they will redeploy me because of the circumstances and the risk to my health if I stayed in my current role, but they have given no definitive answer. They have only sent me the list of internal vacancies – but I have been too ill to look at these and they are aware of this. After raising this grievance, I have only recently been fit enough to meet with them to discuss how to move forward, however having met with them, their agenda was more sinister and was in fact to make me redundant.

I have been receiving a reduced salary from the company’s insurance but they have decided to stop because they think I am able to work in my role according to the Occupation health reports. However they have misinterpreted this because the report says that I am able to work (after phasing in) but not in my current role because of the psychological risk. I have appealed to the insurer and am waiting their action.

This crux of the issue now is that from the point the insurer has stopped paying, my employer (a large global company) has informed me that my role is now redundant and I will be made redundant in 30 days (now less). They have told me that I will only be removed from the redundancy selection if I appeal to the insurer and they resume paying me or if I get another role internally.

In the meeting they said that my redundancy was part of a group of redundancies which happened in Sept 2009, but then at another point in the meeting they said my redundancy was an individual case and due to business reduction. This raises alarm bells and makes me think that they just want to get rid of me.
They have written in a letter to me that my redundancy was due to business reduction and that I was selected from a pool of candidates, in which I was a “low scorer”. How can they score me if I was off sick?

I do not think it is appropriate for my employer to select me or even score me.
Also, since they are aware that due to medical reasons I would not be able to return to my original role in any case don’t they have a lawful obligation to redeploy me?
If so, since I would be in a new role upon my return wouldn’t their premise to make me redundant be defunct?

It also seems to me that they don’t want to make reasonable adjustments because of my health but instead just want me out. I feel that they are discriminating against my medical condition and possibly victimising me because I raised a grievance. Would this be a reasonable assessment?

All of these things have played havoc on me and I am unsure what to do. I have a mental health illness and am now taking medication and treatment from my therapists because of these issues at work. Is my employer being unfair to me?
Do I have a case for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination?

[FONT=Times, Times New Roman, serif]"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."[/FONT]
(World Health Organisation)

I have a nine year history of mental health problems including over two years on Incapacity Benefits. I was let go from the employment which had contributed to my condition, so I am on your side but I will speak plainly if that is ok? Depression is rarely caused by one factor and I think you will have a very tough time arguing this point, tho I fully accept your work situation was the trigger or a major contributor.

Your post above reads as wholly negative, regardless of whether you are correct about being treated unfairly or it is your perception. It actually doesn't matter which, you will never achieve health as defined here unless you make a positive choice to remove yourself from the current situation.

If you are not well enough to look at a list of vacancies then you are (a) not well enough to return to work in any capacity and (b) not well enough to fight a tribunal case. If this job has had such a detrimental effect on your health and you have not had the support of of management, walk away it's just a job! Stress and depression are heavily intertwined and it's often difficult to see where one stops and the other starts.

I assume you have the support of your GP and therapists? If so you will be able to claim ESA, LHA and CTB and this will give you the breathing space to get well, as will your redundancy money. At least when I claimed I could get Incapacity Benefits whilst I was still employed by my old company but no longer receiving any income from them, so get onto this rather than arguing the toss with the insurance company.

Being let go from my job was terrifying but a relief, I didn't want to go back and I don't honestly think I would have coped if I had. In the long run it was the best thing, I had the time to research my conditions (depression, stress and insomnia), start taking care of my diet, start doing some exercise, a little voluntary work. Eventually I completely retrained and I am now a fitness instructor! I am really good at what I do and can empathise with my clients.

LibbyR26

Get some legal advice and don't take some of the earlier comments personally. Some people seem to love kicking someone when they are already down and appear to trawl this forum looking for easy targets.

Hope you get back to full strength soon. Your health is more important than any job. Take care.

Norfolk_Jim

Fire_Fox wrote: »

[FONT=Times, Times New Roman, serif]"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."[/FONT]
(World Health Organisation)

I have a nine year history of mental health problems including over two years on Incapacity Benefits. I was let go from the employment which had contributed to my condition, so I am on your side but I will speak plainly if that is ok? Depression is rarely caused by one factor and I think you will have a very tough time arguing this point, tho I fully accept your work situation was the trigger or a major contributor.

Your post above reads as wholly negative, regardless of whether you are correct about being treated unfairly or it is your perception. It actually doesn't matter which, you will never achieve health as defined here unless you make a positive choice to remove yourself from the current situation.

If you are not well enough to look at a list of vacancies then you are (a) not well enough to return to work in any capacity and (b) not well enough to fight a tribunal case. If this job has had such a detrimental effect on your health and you have not had the support of of management, walk away it's just a job! Stress and depression are heavily intertwined and it's often difficult to see where one stops and the other starts.

I assume you have the support of your GP and therapists? If so you will be able to claim ESA, LHA and CTB and this will give you the breathing space to get well, as will your redundancy money. At least when I claimed I could get Incapacity Benefits whilst I was still employed by my old company but no longer receiving any income from them, so get onto this rather than arguing the toss with the insurance company.

Being let go from my job was terrifying but a relief, I didn't want to go back and I don't honestly think I would have coped if I had. In the long run it was the best thing, I had the time to research my conditions (depression, stress and insomnia), start taking care of my diet, start doing some exercise, a little voluntary work. Eventually I completely retrained and I am now a fitness instructor! I am really good at what I do and can empathise with my clients.

This is good advice.

Some of these posts seem pretty heartless to me. Unless you have suffered from Depression , actuall clinical Depression and not just feeling down, they can't possibly understand how you feel.
Two years ago I suffered a serious mental breakdown / Depressive episode and certainly my employment was a contributory factor, but not the only factor. This kind of mental illness isnt that simple and as your finding out, it still has a stigma with some. But the poster above is quite right.

Im my case, my employers have been increadibly supportive and have rehabilitated me back into work. Even so, it has taken about 2 years and I'm just about back to working normaly. I'd suggest to you that this kind of employer is rare.

If your employment has been THE major factor in your depression that you really need to be thinking of doing something else - in which case redundancy wouldn't be so bad - much better than dismissal for being incapable.

Obviously I'm not a doctor or mental health profession but you strike me as still being Depressed. What one of the posters above has missed is that even when your depressed there are times when you will be feeling better than others and times of clarity when you can string a clear sentence together, and other times when you cant follow one word with another.

Is yours a high paying job? Do you have major commitments? Being made redundant isnt the end of the world, sometimes its a new beginning. Getting back to work has been an important part in my recovery but if its such a contributor to you then you need to do something else as part of your recovery.

I'd check out my options with CAB too. I know that while your depressed it is hard to motivate any action or see issues clearly. Its hard to make any kind of descision, which is why help is out there. You could also see if theres a local MIND group near you, they'll at least understand the illness and can give you advice and guidance if you want it.

Good luck - get better soon.