Off on long term sick, my rights?

RossDave10

Hi All, posting this on behalf of a work mate.

Basically she's gone be off on the sick as she's having chemotherapy, likely to be off for a few months,

Anyways she's worried as she's on a relatively large contract and so her missing from the department is quite a large hole in hours and so she's worried they replace her in her absence and shell return to work on a different department?

This is in a large supermarket chain btw.

What rights does she have? can they legally do this?

Thanks

marybelle01

It's chemotherapy, so we are talking cancer, which is automatically a disability under the Equality Act. But that only offers limited protection - so the bottom line is, yes they could.

RossDave10

marybelle01 wrote: »

It's chemotherapy, so we are talking cancer, which is automatically a disability under the Equality Act. But that only offers limited protection - so the bottom line is, yes they could.

Could you explain this in a bit more detail please?

marybelle01

It is difficult but not impossible to dismiss someone who has a disability. But the employer has a requirement to fulfill their business needs too, and ao much depends on her contract. From the way you describe it, she has no "claim" to work in that department and could be moved somewhere else anyway. Sick or not. Much depends on exactly what her contract says. So in theory, yes they could. And maybe in practice too. But I'm not an expert in employment, however I do know one thing - it's impossible to say exactly until the employer does it! And then it depends on the explanation they give.

In the circumstances, I understand her worries, but right now I think she has better things to wory about than what might happen. Sometimes it's better to worry about one thing at a time. I'd suggest this is one of them. Get better first.

RossDave10

marybelle01 wrote: »

It is difficult but not impossible to dismiss someone who has a disability. But the employer has a requirement to fulfill their business needs too, and ao much depends on her contract. From the way you describe it, she has no "claim" to work in that department and could be moved somewhere else anyway. Sick or not. Much depends on exactly what her contract says. So in theory, yes they could. And maybe in practice too. But I'm not an expert in employment, however I do know one thing - it's impossible to say exactly until the employer does it! And then it depends on the explanation they give.

In the circumstances, I understand her worries, but right now I think she has better things to wory about than what might happen. Sometimes it's better to worry about one thing at a time. I'd suggest this is one of them. Get better first.

Thankyou for the very quick replies.

It has cleared it up great, I agree with the last paragraph they just wanted peace of mind as the whole situation has made them reassess their whole life, including work etc.

Thanks

marybelle01

RossDave10 wrote: »

Thankyou for the very quick replies.

It has cleared it up great, I agree with the last paragraph they just wanted peace of mind as the whole situation has made them reassess their whole life, including work etc.

Thanks

And maybe part of that might be that they don't want to go back - or back to the same place?

The most important thing now - the only important thing - is getting into remission. And then staying there.

I would recommend ditching all other worries, real or not, until after that.