Returning to work after sick. Problems.

jennilb

Hi

I think you said your employer said they consider your health problems to be a health and safety risk? I suggest the following questions might be worth exploring, perhaps with ACAS and eventually your employer

1) Does your illness meet the requirements of the disability discrimination act? If so, your employer has a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments to allow you to continue to work. This could include redistributing tasks between the team so you don't do the ones where your illness could lead to higher H&S risks.

2) Is there any truth in the idea that your illness causes a H&S risk. Think honestly about this. This could be a risk to your own health due to the nature of the work (eg lots of heavy lifting if you have a back problem); it could be a risk to other staff / customers (eg if you might black out and you control a vital piece of machinery).

Obviously there are some situations where illness or disability is a bar to the work eg I have photosensative epilepsy so I'll never be a DJ in a nightclub, but as you said you've had this condition for a year while doing this job, it sounds like you should be ok.

3) Think about completing your own medical condition risk assessment - identify hazards (things likely to cause harm may include poor condition / symptom management, work tasks completed, frequency of breaks, lone working etc etc) and how the risk might be reduced to an acceptable level. You're aim is to consider the extra risk related to your condition ie everyone would be affected if the working environment is very cold but people with arthritus would be more severley affected.

When you return to work your employer should carry out this risk assessment process, but being prepared should make this go more smoothly and hopefully will also demonstrate that reasonable adjustments can be made (ie that your disability does not prevent you from doing the job).

I hope this helps.
Jenni

McKneff

sandy71 wrote: »

Yes my doctor provided me with an official sick note (thought I had said that:o)
I don't think any employer would take someones word for that long!

Sorry jdturk, I misread this post first time,


yes i know that he provided you with official sick notes but did he provide you with a 'signing off note' which normally says you can go back to work on such and such a date. If not, he should have done, I'm now presuming not which is why your company is kicking up a stink

Newbiesw

Newbiesw wrote: »

Call me suspicious but it all sounds very suspect to me by both parties.

This is a very weird case.
Some-one is off sick for 3 months and is returning to work, big deal, full-stop, should be End of Story.
Instead we have all this talk of Solicitors, OH assesments, ACAS, legal rights etc. etc with some-one just returning to work ???....... which is why I still think there must be more to this ?
You said you had been off for 3 months and were due to go on SSP, this you changed to 2 months pay and 1 month half-pay.
You also stated that one of the reasons you were going back was because they keep asking you, but now they sound like they are putting obstacles in your way to prevent this.
They sound worried about you coming back too early from sickness but you stated that when your Doctor signed you off, they asked you to work 4 more days until they could find cover for you, so they were quite happy for you to work whist you were sick then?
Who are these nasty people you work for, let's see: your colleagues are your friends and your Boss was your friend for 10 years before you joined the Company !!!
:think: Hmmmm!, nice friend, wonder what you enemies are like ?
All this confusion & contradiction is doin' my 'ead in :wall:........ I hope you get it sorted.

Newbiesw

Edinburghlass_2

I'd think the company have probably consulted a solicitor purely because they are a small company and want to get it right themselves for your sake as much as themselves. Obviously H&S is a big consideration due to your having epilepsy and now have an arm in plaster due to a fall while having an attack. They will be most concerned if something like this happens while you are working and will obviously have to cover themselves insurance wise if nothing else rather than particularly trying to put obstacles in your way of a return to work.

Hopefully your doctor won't take too long in providing the reports that the company will need and you can get back to work.

SueC_2

Not strictly relevant to this case (although perhaps worth bearing in mind), but the whole Sick Note system is changing in April:

http://www.shponline.co.uk/article.asp?article_id=9742&viewcomment=1

I shudder to think how this is going to work in practice, and can't begin to imagine what will happen with payrates during the period of 'fitness'!

jdturk

its not though is it, whilst its a good idea on the face of things the fact they took out the 'is fit to work' option from Doctors means that by saying 'may be fit' to work means that the employers will still decide they need in writing that their employee is actually fit to work.

if the company converse with their employee and do a risk assessment etc etc the employee could turn around and say they felt pressurised to returning to work just because the doctor said 'may be fit'. It also means that the company could leave themselves open for being sued because 'may be' is not definately

Edinburghlass_2

I hope your meeting at work tomorrow goes ok and you get the outcome you want.

Edinburghlass_2

Hope some of the replies in this thread have helped you with your meeting with your boss? Would be nice if you updated the thread.