Could Someone Pls Help Me Urgently :(

hope4debtfree

hello,

I've been suffering from depression, paranoia and anxiety for a very long time now. I suffer from other health problems too. I had been feeling better for approx 11-12months and I plucked up the courage to look for work. With the help of mental health charities, I have found a good job late last year and have been working great.

Now even though I told my employer about most of my general health issues, I never told them of the mental health issues I have had due to my paranoia of what others will think or stigmatise as that would drive me insane. But now I'm feeling unwell once again as I'm having many problems sleeping, even with my medication. I'm now at a stage where I really can't hack it in my job and feel very paranoid and snappy at even the smallest office joke and feel like everyone is laughing at me behind my back. It's like my whole world is turning upside down once again..in fact I feel that weak and lethargic, that when i go to work, I almost fall asleep.... I don't know what to do??? if I take any further time off, I most likely will be sacked for poor attendance and if I simply don't go back to work, I may not get help from my local benefits department.

Can anyone advice regarding taking time off work and what happens in the event I don't feel well enough to go back?

Will i not ever be able to claim any help or benefits? What help and advice is available to me? Rights?

Thank You
PS: Posted in Benefits & Tax Credit section too

Uncertain

Your health must come first so get an appointment with your GP asap and fully explain the situation.

You condition MAY amount to a disability (in the employment sense) which would give you a SMALL amount of extra protection as your employer would be legally required to consider reasonable adjustments to help you cope at work. However, this can only happen if they are made aware of the problem.

If your firm has an occupational health department it may be worth asking if you can be seen by them. The firm will no doubt refer you in any case if this continues so getting in first can sometimes help.

Whatever you do, don't simply resign. Even if you know you are never going to return it is far better to remain off sick and let the firm make all the moves. Whilst this is happening you are getting at least SSP plus you are accruing paid holiday which will have to be paid when you finally leave. It is also possible, depending on the circumstances, that the firm may offer you what's called a compromise agreement. Briefly this is (usually) a sum of money plus an agreed reference to go quietly and sign an agreement not to make any claim against them.

If the firm terminate your employment for medical reasons (which they may well be able to do) then you are immediately entitled to whatever benefits are available. This COULD still be true if you resign but only if you have some clear medical evidence that this was the best thing to do. Again, sit it out and let the firm make the moves.

nonnatus

You've backed yourself into a corner I'm afraid, and rather than pull a couple of pistols out of your pocket and start shooting indiscriminately at all around, slow down and be careful.

Make an appointment with your supervisor ASAP and be honest about the mental health. Also be honest about NOT being honest at interview. If you're self destructing anyway and about to embark on behaviour that won't be tolerated by employers, you've got nothing to lose by trying to do it the right way first??

Chances are they'll use the initial "untruths" to push you out of the door quickly, but there's also the chance that you could have been a great team member which they will go out of their way to support. They may offer you some time off to get things together before inviting you back for another meetingetc.

I hope they play nicely, you sound kind and hard-working.

marybelle01

I agree with both of the above comments, but can you please clarify - what do you mean when you say that you told the employer about most of your general health issues? This implies that there is more than simply mental health issues, especially since you say that if you take any further time off you may be dismissed. So how much time off have you already had and why? In the end, and not being harsh about this, the employer employs people to work, and there is only so far that they can or will go to accommodate sickness absence, disability or not. You have less than twelve months employment, which doesn't matter if there is a disability claim, but it does matter if in a relatively short space of time you have had a lot of time off sick.

Mistral001

The Op is second guessing a lot. Try to avoid predicting what will happen if you do or do not do this that or the other.

If you are sick take time off work and see your GP.

It is not uncommon for people with mental health problems to not mention them at an interview. Many people here have said that they have not disclosed the mental health problems at an interview and have gone on to have sucessful careers in the job.

It is up to your employer to tell you whether you are falling down on the job. You might actually be doing OK as far as they are concerned, despite the time you take of work.

marybelle01

Mistral001 wrote: »

The Op is second guessing a lot. Try to avoid predicting what will happen if you do or do not do this that or the other.

If you are sick take time off work and see your GP.

It is not uncommon for people with mental health problems to not mention them at an interview. Many people here have said that they have not disclosed the mental health problems at an interview and have gone on to have sucessful careers in the job.

It is up to your employer to tell you whether you are falling down on the job. You might actually be doing OK as far as they are concerned, despite the time you take of work.

The OP is also, however, missing out information. And that doesn't help anyone to give accurate or helpful advice. They need to answer the question I asked about other time off. And they could also elucidate on the comment they made on the other thread they started about having problems with their manager recently - which may indicate that they are not doing OK.

It's really hard to give advice based on only part of the story OP. If your illness is already impacting on your ability to do the job, then in the absence of any explanation, your manager is going to have to deal with it as you falling down on the job.

hope4debtfree

Hi and thank you for your warm and very helpful comments.

Just to clarify, i wasn't trying to avoid giving any information, but was trying to start the topic off as simple as possible.

FYI, I have taken time off twice so far - 1st time was due to stomach and headaches and 2nd time was due to back pain as i had asked for a chair when i started the job last year and eventually my back gave in.

I do have a lot of health issues, but most of them are either short term or don't have a huge effect on performance at work. But as you can understand, if you didn't sleep well, it's very likely that your not going to work well. I tend to have very disturbed sleep throughout the night and may only have 2-4hrs of actual sleep. By morning i have watery eyes and severe headaches. My job doesn't help as it's boring and i almost fall asleep on the computer.

I plan to goto GP and i'm also going to see my jobcentre adviser.

Racheldevon

Go & see you GP - seek treatment for your mental health issues - there is support and other help out there that can work with you to address the route cause, through therapy/IAPT/clinical psychology routes etc.

Seek a referral to occupational health, which may well be initiated by your employer on your return to work/sickness absence meeting. Consider whether any of the factors at work are contributing to your current episode of ill health, and if so whether when you're well again you need to consider roles/sectors that are less likely to act as triggers.

marybelle01

If you haven't had that much time off sick then you may not have too worry too much - at least for now. But I agree that the GP and occupational health are essential - which means that you really do have to come clean with your manager. It seems you don't have a lot to lose - you are already worrying about losing your job so doing nothing isn't an option because that will almost certainly end you up losing your job and possibly your health too.

hope4debtfree

thank you very much guys. i have been to see the gp. she was very helpful and said she recommended that i take time off. i explained that since i'm currently using my holidays, i don't want a sicknote until that period ends. she told me to see my jobcentre advisor asap and also my psychiatrist...i've made appointments with both. Just to be safe, i'll take advice off my jobcentre and my union rep.

Thanks so much again