off sick and a grievance at work

MummyHol

MummyHol's OH posting on her username.

Hope someone can help me. I was signed off sick for stress and anxiety for 2 weeks at beginning of last week, waiting for an appointment with a counsellor and on medication. I have to go back to the drs on thurs to review and possibly to be signed off for longer.
HR called me on friday but i was unable to take the call and HR told MummyHol that they needed me to call back to arrange a meeting with them. Didn't get a chance to call back and saturday morning received a letter for a meeting with a senior manager and HR for this week (whilst still off sick) about a grievence i raised against a line manager the same day i got signed off.
First thing this morning HR called to confirm meeting and I have refused to discuss the greivence while my dr has signed me off, feeling its conterproductive to my recovery. HR have told me i have to go to the appointment anyway to discuss my ''absence'' and spent the remainder of the call trying to persuade me to attend the original grievence meeting and to make me discuss my reasons for raising the grievence.

Firstly i want to know if i'm in the right to refuse to attend the grievence meeting until my return to work. I don't want to cause myself any trouble for my return to work.
Secondly i'm concerned about being 'backed into a corner' at the meeting about my ''absence'' (as they are calling it) and where i stand on refusing to answer any questions relating to the grievence. Its complicated because the problems i have with my line manager have caused most of the stress and anxiety that i've been signed off for.

Any advice appreciated

jdturk

MummyHol wrote: »

MummyHol's OH posting on her username.

Hope someone can help me. I was signed off sick for stress and anxiety for 2 weeks at beginning of last week, waiting for an appointment with a counsellor and on medication. I have to go back to the drs on thurs to review and possibly to be signed off for longer.
HR called me on friday but i was unable to take the call and HR told MummyHol that they needed me to call back to arrange a meeting with them. Didn't get a chance to call back and saturday morning received a letter for a meeting with a senior manager and HR for this week (whilst still off sick) about a grievence i raised against a line manager the same day i got signed off.

First thing this morning HR called to confirm meeting and I have refused to discuss the greivence while my dr has signed me off, feeling its conterproductive to my recovery. HR have told me i have to go to the appointment anyway to discuss my ''absence'' and spent the remainder of the call trying to persuade me to attend the original grievence meeting and to make me discuss my reasons for raising the grievence.

Firstly i want to know if i'm in the right to refuse to attend the grievence meeting until my return to work. I don't want to cause myself any trouble for my return to work. I think you would be ok to want this but by you raising a grievance against another employee you have most likely caused them 'stress and anxiety' and thus by being off for however long is counter productive to that person. So whilst its unfair on you to be called from your sickness it is unfair to leave the other person hanging in the eyes of HR

Secondly i'm concerned about being 'backed into a corner' at the meeting about my ''absence'' (as they are calling it)You are off, it is absence...what would you call it? and where i stand on refusing to answer any questions relating to the grievence. Its complicated because the problems i have with my line manager have caused most of the stress and anxiety that i've been signed off for.

Any advice appreciated

As I stated unfortunately circumstances have stuffed you and the person you are starting a greivance against right up and whilst you obviously don't feel up for it HR have to consider the best solution which is to obviously get the grievance sorted ASAP.

soolin

I'm a little concerend byt this:

HR called me on friday but i was unable to take the call and HR told MummyHol that they needed me to call back to arrange a meeting with them. Didn't get a chance to call back

Why couldn't you take the call or call them back. My worry is that they might think you were 'out' (shopping or whatever) and that might cause you some issues even with a GP certificate.

liney

soolin wrote: »

I'm a little concerend byt this:



Why couldn't you take the call or call them back. My worry is that they might think you were 'out' (shopping or whatever) and that might cause you some issues even with a GP certificate.

Whilst i would generally say "To sick to go to school, too sick to go out to play" Technically a sick note does not mean you have to be locked in the house, however, I would take a very dim view that you were too busy being sick to call me back.

soolin

liney wrote: »

Whilst i would generally say "To sick to go to school, too sick to go out to play" Technically a sick note does not mean you have to be locked in the house, however, I would take a very dim view that you were too busy being sick to call me back.

I do this from the other side and like you say we might think it odd that someone couldn't come to the phone immediately, but put it down to having popped out to collect a prescription or buy some milk. However we would be wanting to know a lot more if they never called us back .

Jazzking

Also, if someone is off sick with stress do they really need to stay at home? A few people have been off with stress in my office, one I didn't hear from until she came back, the other I saw on facebook that she'd been on a drunken night out while she was off "sick"...

Sorry, this is nothing to do with the original question, but just sticking up for the fact that the OP doesn't need to be at home all the time!

MummyHol

I was driving the car at the time they called, thats why MummyHol answered the call to my mobile for me. They called quite late in the afternoon and by the time i'd reached my destinaton there would have been no-one in the office.

I don't really have the option not to go out as we have a baby due in under 2 weeks and need to get everything ready. MummyHol has mobility problems so can't leave the flat alone. Also, i'd imagine it would be quite difficult to recover from stress and anxiety if i was cooped up in the flat the whole time i'm off sick.

Thanks for all the replies

iamana1ias

MummyHol wrote: »

I don't really have the option not to go out as we have a baby due in under 2 weeks and need to get everything ready. MummyHol has mobility problems so can't leave the flat alone. Also, i'd imagine it would be quite difficult to recover from stress and anxiety if i was cooped up in the flat the whole time i'm off sick.

Good job you're off sick then, isn't it? Heaven forbid you use your annual leave to cover getting ready for your baby being born! (Unbelievable).

You don't sound like an employee worth hanging onto from what you've said.

987654

I assume your stress/ anxiety is affected by the reason that you raised the grievance (even if a number of other issues are also involved)?

If it is, then it could help your recovery if the grievance is sorted out through an investigation.

MummyHol

iamana1ias wrote: »

Good job you're off sick then, isn't it? Heaven forbid you use your annual leave to cover getting ready for your baby being born! (Unbelievable).

You don't sound like an employee worth hanging onto from what you've said.

Thats very rude. I was only refering to the fact that i need to leave the house to get things prepared. If i was not off sick i would be deing these things outside of my work hours. I didn't plan to go off sick and had even planned paternity leave and holiday.
Taking paternity leave and paid holiday when the baby is born would have been much better for me, but unfortunatly i am ill and it was my DR that has said i need time away from my job. Don't jump to the conclusion that i've planned to fake illness to get some time off work :mad:

dmg24

jdturk wrote: »

As I stated unfortunately circumstances have stuffed you and the person you are starting a greivance against right up and whilst you obviously don't feel up for it HR have to consider the best solution which is to obviously get the grievance sorted ASAP.

I would agree with jdturk. All too often we hear of employers who are slow at sorting out problems. Your employer is being efficient and trying to resolve the problem that is causing you stress. Why would you not want to co operate with that? Your stress will not go away unless you address the problem.