I might not be able to work because of ill health

Mr_worried

I have worked for a leading supermarket for nearly 14yrs now, but have been sick on/off now since march. I have just been told by a neurosurgeon that one of the discs in my back has completely disintergrated ! Where do i stand if i am uncapable of continuing my job(warehouseman) ? Can they finish me ? Am i entitled to anything ? The surgeon says this has taken 10-12yrs to occur.

tanith

Hopefully they may be able to redeploy you in more suitable employment for someone with a bad back.. if not it will depend a lot on the particular companies policy, your age, and whether your disc problem can be fixed , lots of variables but it doesn't necessarily mean there won't be some job that you can do in the future.. Clarify what you mean when you say are you entitled to anything, do you mean from you company or from the government?

Oldernotwiser

If you are thinking of disability benefits, the appropriate one would be ESA but this is for people who cannot work at all, rather than people who can no longer do their normal job.

Hammyman

Mr_worried wrote: »

I have worked for a leading supermarket for nearly 14yrs now, but have been sick on/off now since march. I have just been told by a neurosurgeon that one of the discs in my back has completely disintergrated ! Where do i stand if i am uncapable of continuing my job(warehouseman) ? Can they finish me ? Am i entitled to anything ? The surgeon says this has taken 10-12yrs to occur.

I have 3 compressed discs in my lower spine so I am maybe more placed than most to understand the pain you go through..

Firstly: Basically, forget the warehouse job, it'll put you in a wheelchair. They can finish you if you have a period off sick however they are supposed to change your job "within the bounds of practicality" to cater for you but in a job with lots of lifting, it simply isn't going to happen.

You would be entitled to claim ESA (it isn't just for people who can't work anymore - that's utter rubbish) plus you can claim DLA if you need help getting around and looking after yourself.

A good idea would be to consider retraining for something you can do, such as admin type roles.

I work. I created my own job and went self employed basically because my ability to work can change in a heartbeat - 11am on Thursday this week was when I had to stop and hopefully I'll be OK this week but no guarantees. Being self employed allows me to control when I work and what I do. I was lucky in that I have something I could fall back to other than my former career - have you got something you could convince people to pay money for?

Mr_worried

When i said entitled to anything i mean if they sack me, do they have to give me some redundancy payment or percentage of wages i would have earned or something similar. I don't mean anything off the govt. Hopefully i will be fixed and able to go back to work. Was planning on working there until i retire, got company pension,shares and alsorts of things with them.

Mr_worried

What i'm worried about is being finished with no warning and not being able to pay my mortgage. Not trained to do anything other than various warehouse jobs, forklift, etc. If they do finish me through capability can i claim on my life insurance through permanent disability ?

Judas

You can be dismissed on the grounds of incapacity and would receive no payments as such for this - notice and outstanding holiday.
They do have to try and make reasonable adjustments if its classed as a disability; as its a supermarket they will have lots of different jobs; I would be tempted to try and get a fit note for alternative work in the back office or sitting on a till all day and see if they do it. If they do it will make it easier to bring up the topic of this becoming permanent without them starting incapability processes.

LindsayO

you will need to look at the terms and conditions of your pension and insurance
some pensions do have a provision to pay an ill-health pension, some don't and conditions vary from pension to pension, same with insurance

do you have the information they gave you when you took out the pension and insurance, that would be the place to start looking

it is very worrying when your health takes a nose dive, I know, so it is no use me saying try not to worry

tanith

Why would they have to pay you anything ? you haven't suffered any injury , what you have is wear and tear on your spine from years doing a hard physical job but unless you could prove some sort of negligence on their part they wouldn't be liable to pay you anything. If you are in the pension have you asked about ill-health retirement?, but it doesn't sound as though you are seriously disabled enough to qualify but you could find out if you would qualify . You have to jump through lots of hoops to qualify nowadays.. I did manage to get ill-health retirement after I had spinal surgery and a hip-replacement as there was no possibility of my continuing in my job although we went through a year of trying to redeploy me elsewhere.

On a positive note lots of people who have LDD (Lumbar degenerative disc disease , have a read here http://www.cure-back-pain.org/lumbar-degenerative-disc-disease.html) do manage to live with it and after the initial stages of pain it actually settles down and is painless.. mine is bearable now although I have O/A in lots of other joints..

Oldernotwiser

Hammyman wrote: »

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You would be entitled to claim ESA (it isn't just for people who can't work anymore - that's utter rubbish) plus you can claim DLA if you need help getting around and looking after yourself.

In the short term ESA can be claimed as a substitute for sick pay, but in the longer term you have to be incapable of work.


"You will only receive ESA if Jobcentre Plus accepts that you have limited capability for work. If this is not accepted, you may have to claim Jobseeker’s Allowance or another appropriate benefit. If it's accepted that you have limited capability for work, you'll have a further test of the severity of your illness or disability, which will decide whether you're part of the support group or the work-related activity group under ESA.
The ESA scheme pays you a benefit while you're not able to work, but, unless your illness or disability is severe, you'll be expected to go back to work at a future date. Help will be provided with coping with the difficulties caused by your illness or disability that prevent you from working"

I second your suggestion about retraining or getting retail/admin work within the company.