Ill health retirement following accident at work

swingaloo

Just looking for any words of advice or what to be wary of in this circumstance please.

Dont want to put tooo many personal details as you never know whos about but the gist of it is-

Hubby had an accident at work. Been off now for over 12 months and as yet despite many tests and hospital consultations which are ongoing they have not yet found a solution to his ailment.

Atos have been involved and at the last meeting a few months ago suggested that if he is not able to return to work by next meeting he may be suitable to be put forward for ill health retirement as there is no position in the company that can be offered to him to make his return to work possible.

The thing is that we are being told so many things about the pros and cons of ill health retirement. We have looked at the websites which go into detail regarding the legal aspects of getting rid of an employee on ill health grounds and there are many examples of what the entitlements are but none of them are in relation to someone who has to lose a job because of an accident which occured in the course of the work.

The situation is quite worrying and we feel we need to be armed with all the correct information before the next Atos meeting.

Does anyone have any pointers please. Thanks.

Oldernotwiser

The best advice would be to make sure that your husband has union representation at the meeting.

ceridwen

1. Check exactly what the terms would be, ie:
- ill health retirement on the one hand
OR
- incapacity dismissal on the other hand.

Ill health retirement means pension commences payment immediately. Incapacity dismissal means sacked for being ill and they may or may not "sweeten that pill" with some sort of compensatory cheque.

2. Second the advice that the Union needs to be involved.

3. I doubt whether the fact that the ill health is as a result of a work accident would make much (if any) difference to the terms that the job was lost on. It should obviously - but I doubt it will.

4. As the ill health is because of an accident at work - then has your O.H. put in a legal claim for compensation for this? If he hasnt - then he'd better get a move on to do so.

Emmzi

as cerwiden says the 2 issues are seperate

1. ability to fulfil terms of his contract - if he is unable for the foreseeable future, IHR may be the best option, not that you will get a say in it
2. accident at work, which you should submit an insurance claim for

Both are dealt with seperately.

swingaloo

Thank you for the replies.

To address the points raised-

There is no claim, it was an accident pure and simple and there is no blame attatched. It happened during the course of his work (delivering) but was off the company premises.

As for the union attending the meeting, there is no chance that will happen. They have been useless from day one. We even contacted thier main headquarters to complain that he couldnt get representation from his local rep. Everyone compalins about him and he dosnt really want to be a rep (thats by his own addmission so why hes doing it?????)
Head office fixed him up with a rep from another branch. He had a full discussion with him and he promised to keep in touch and help him through the procedures but in all honesty he dosnt even return phone calls when you leave him a message.

We found out about industrial injuries benefit on here. It was 5 months after his accident and then we found out that the union rep should have given him the forms to claim it weeks before.

When the rep does eventually get back to its just 'Right, leave it with me, will ring you back' which never happens.

Also we are not sure if ill health retirement is the right thing to be asking about. It was mentioned at the last Atos meeting that he would probably be recommended for it but he dosnt want to retire completely. The company he works for cant give him a job which he could manage but they obviously cant just keep him on, but he will need to look for another job when he has had his oiperation or whatever it takes to put him right when the hospital find out what the problem is. If he just has to live with the pain then he will need to perhaps find a desk job.

bigbigmamamoo

does he have a pension through his job? If not then he will simply be dismissed from his job due to health reasons and then will need to seek work or help from benefits in the future. I don't think there is any advantage to him leaving in any other way, say by resigning. If he does have a pension, then he needs to check out the terms and conditions of his pension and under what conditions he is paid a pension due to medical incapacity, and what the consequences of taking another job might be.