Advice appreciated

inkie

At the end of Nov I fractured my foot and have been signed of work ever since. Has pot removed a couple of weeks ago - but still got soft tissue damage, and am still having to use crutches, due to being in pain when weight-bearing. I am still being signed off work by Dr, as my job involves standing up for long periods, also normal part of my role includes manual handling (chairs and tables/ jumble etc).
I am hoping that the symptoms that I have will subside, but at as things stand I do not feel in a position to carry out my duties normally. What the sequence of events for returning to work.
Do I carry on being signed off by Dr, and then flag up with personnel manager that I will have difficulty with doing X, Y and Z, and do they make sugguestions to deal with these issues - I do not want to be in a position to think about going back until this is clarified, otherwise, the people that i work with will just assume that i am phsically able to carry on doing as I was before.
There is another option to be moved to a different role (i.e. counselling role/office based) which would elimininate the 'phsyical side of things'.
In what order do I proceed?

Any help appreciated
TIA Inkie:T

ohreally

Your employer has a duty of care to ensure "as far as reasonably practical", your health, safety and welfare while your at work. They should identify hazards which may affect you and look at introducing control measures or implementing support mechanisms to facilitate a return to work. I'd suggest you arrange to have a personal manual handling assessment carried out and also arrange a phased return to work e.g. two/three days per week gradually increasing over 3/4 weeks.
As you have already identified a different job which may be more suitable than you current position, perhaps you could use this as an opportunity to suggest moving in to the other position, even as an interim measure to see how things work out.

Edited typo.

Savvy_Sue

I'd agree that you need to start by talking to your HR people, because they're the ones who know what they expect you to be capable of doing, and they're the ones who need to know what you can or can't do at the moment. Then it's partly up to them: they might prefer you to carry on completely off sick, or to have a phased return on light duties, or to move into the office-based role.

When you know what you want, you ask your GP to sign you off appropriately ...