New job - with a recent sick leave?

Elvis1976

Hi,

I work in the IT industry in a fairly specialised field. Last November due mainly to work stress, and some personal matters I had 3 months off sick (prior to that - no real sick leave problems).

I have now returned to work, however my role has changed. There are no vacancies for my skills in the company currently. I am therefore being told that I can either stay and carry out the new role (which will include some of my previous activities) or take a compromise agreement which will give me the same terms as redundancy. However the company is not offering me 'redundancy'. The role they are offering does make me a little nervous...

My question is, I know that the Equality Act stops a company from asking questions regarding health etc. What happens though if I got the job offer, and they asked for references only to find out I've had 3 months off sick? Whilst I can get strong personal references, and my appraisals have always been very good - even if they like me won't they just say no when they see how much sick leave I've had?

Thanks in advance

Funky_Bold_Ribena

Yes, they could either start you and then decide it's not working out...or not start you at all.

The best thing would be to wait until they have had references and offer you an unconditional offer before resigning.