Employers and Time off for Hospital Apointments

cjones03824

I recieved phone call from the hospital offering me an apointment on Thursday evening. i had been waiting for an apointment for around 4 months and had recieved an offer due to a cancellation. not wanting ot wait another 4 months on a list i told my emoployer i had an apointlemt on Monday at 5.30PM (this would be within my working day).

I offered to take a 1/2 day of my annual leave which was refused, then as i had a lieu day on wednesday i offered to swap this to the monday with the person who would be off on this day. this was also refused. i also offered to swap my shift to an earlier one so that the apointment would then fall outside of working hours. again this was refused and my employer stated in these exact words "your hospital apointment is not my problem, its a monday you cant go"

bearing in mind nothing is different on a monday happens in our work place and i made every effort to allow myself the time to go, can my employer refuse to let me go?

T800

do what we all do. call in sick.

System

The employer doesn't have to allow time off for the appointment. However any DECENT employer would understand that a specialist medical appointment, which this sounds like, is decided by the hospital and the person has absolutely no say in day or time, as evidenced by the fact that OP would have to wait 4 months for a new one and would probably be in the same position then.

lucylucky

Is there any possibility that not having this appointment could be detrimental to your ability to work in the future?

villabadger

cjones03824 wrote: »

I recieved phone call from the hospital offering me an apointment on Thursday evening. i had been waiting for an apointment for around 4 months and had recieved an offer due to a cancellation. not wanting ot wait another 4 months on a list i told my emoployer i had an apointlemt on Monday at 5.30PM (this would be within my working day).

I offered to take a 1/2 day of my annual leave which was refused, then as i had a lieu day on wednesday i offered to swap this to the monday with the person who would be off on this day. this was also refused. i also offered to swap my shift to an earlier one so that the apointment would then fall outside of working hours. again this was refused and my employer stated in these exact words "your hospital apointment is not my problem, its a monday you cant go"

bearing in mind nothing is different on a monday happens in our work place and i made every effort to allow myself the time to go, can my employer refuse to let me go?

If you work for a large company, raise this incident with your HR department - I'm sure they would consider your health and wellbeing as important. If you work for a small business then I would discuss this with the business owner - unless this is the person you have already talked to! If this is the case then a sickie is probably your only option as it seems to me that you have been more than reasonable as to cover any potential business disruption by being off.
T*ssers with that type of arrogance don't deserve to be in charge of other people! :mad: Once you get yourself better, try to get another job - there are people out there who do appreciate the value of their employees!

jazzyman01

Be careful about pulling a sickie. Your employer is aware that you want the time off and could therefore assume you are not ill and deal with it as a disciplinary matter.

terra_ferma

T800 wrote: »

do what we all do. call in sick.

I expect by 'we' you mean all the people don't care about their job and their career, and won't achieve much in life...

Seriously...
OP you are in a difficult predicament, you have been very reasonable, and it sounds like the employer are just being unfair.
Unfortunately if you take a sickie it could backfire quite badly, as you had requested the day off.

I would put my health first, if it's something serious, but be prepared to face the consequences. Probably disciplinary, worst case scenario lose your job and possible ET case.

I can't find specific information, but I believe employer cannot stop you from attending hospital appointments. (anyone more knowledgeable who can help here???).
To be honest I've not come across this before, normally the issue is about employers forcing people to take annual leave or pay the time back.

If this appointment is linked to a disability (as per DDA definition) your right would be much stronger.

SarEl

terra_ferma wrote: »

I can't find specific information, but I believe employer cannot stop you from attending hospital appointments. (anyone more knowledgeable who can help here???).

I am afraid that actually the employer can stop you attending, in that they can refuse time off. There is no right to time off, paid or unpaid, to attend hospital appointments unless that "right" is contractual (some employers have contractual arrangements for hospital visits, dentists appointments etc). The only exception to this is where a disbaility in law exists (which sounds not to be the case) where time off for necessary hospital appointments could be viewed as a reaosnable adjustment.

The refusal to allow you to take time off (annual leave) is slightly more dicey for them, in that the law states that provided you give at least as much notice as the amount of time off you want to take, the employer should not normally refuse requests - although they may do so if the request is unreasonable for business reasons. But to be honest, it isn't much to go on in legal terms.

I would have to reiterate what has been said here by others. If you choose to go off sick, knowing that they know you have an appointment, there is a real risk of facing disciplinary action.

Sorry, but I don't know what to tell you - the law does not relly have anything to offer in terms of support for you.

RedSoleShoes

Sounds like you work for a right pr*ck. Did they not say anything other than "no"?? As said above, there is no legal right to leave work for a hospital appointment (or doctor, dentist, etc) - unless you are pregnant of course and it is a recommended ante-natal appt (as we all know, pregnant woman are allowed to pretty much get away with everything but other medical issues are not classed in the same way for some reason).

I would be careful about going off sick but at the end of the day, they can't discipline you unless they can prove you were not ill (ie if they saw you doing a round on the golf course, it may go against you!).

System

I can imagine the tribunal.

"You assert that the OP wasn't sick because you saw her walking about? Where did you see her?"

"Walking into a hospital"

Doh!!!

SarEl

!!!!!! wrote: »

I can imagine the tribunal.

"You assert that the OP wasn't sick because you saw her walking about? Where did you see her?"

"Walking into a hospital"

Doh!!!

Rather simplistic. There is a difference between a disciplinary and a dismissal (the major one being that you can't take a disciplinary to a tribunal). Having a hospital appointment is not the same thing as "being sick" - and she has already told them that she has a hospital appointment. They therefore do not have to "prove" anything - no employer has to prove anything other than reaosnable belief. She asked for the time off, they refused, she went off sick, ergo "reasonable belief" that she went off sick to attend the appointment. For which they do not have to dismiss - they could issue a warning - even a final warning. The the first time she is late for work....fair dismissal. I cannot in any way, shape or form, disagree that her employer is a royal ***** (fill in your own expletive). But given this knowledge, does anyone here think that they would not do exactly what I have just described?