Employer unreasonable with colleague

fionajbanana

A colleague with a history of anxiety attacks since her parents were both killed in a car crash was given a disciplinary 5 hours into her shift. Its due to having 6 absences in 12 months - of which 4 of them were due to the anxiety attacks. The other two were for flu and food poisoning.

I don't think that is good, esp when the colleague's mental state is fragile. We did help her to remove/cover any watches or clocks near her.

My employer should have given the disciplinary within an hour of starting work.

Now she is off sick again. Her sister in law said, if the disciplinary was held as soon as she started, she would not had another attack. She is not a member of the TU. Could she complain?

ohreally

fionajbanana wrote: »

We did help her to remove/cover any watches or clocks near her.

My employer should have given the disciplinary within an hour of starting work.

Pardon????

Dogger69

fionajbanana wrote: »

My employer should have given the disciplinary within an hour of starting work.

Says who?


...

fluffy70

was she given a disciplinary or was she invited to a meeting to discuss her absence over the 12 months?

why would you need to cover the clocks and watches?

I understand why you would be worried and concerned for your friend but businesses and companies need to be on top of absence management and have to follow processes.

Are you in a business where there is a Union presence? Perhaps your colleague/ friend should approach her rep if she is a member?

Takeaway_Addict

she can complain all she wants but at the end of the day I can't see from the little you have said that the employer has done wrong. 6 times in 12 months is a lot of instances even if each one was 1 day which I doubt they were.

Whilst I feel for your friend they are employed to work and if they are unable to then the employer needs to start procedures.

paulineb_2

fionajbanana wrote: »

A colleague with a history of anxiety attacks since her parents were both killed in a car crash was given a disciplinary 5 hours into her shift. Its due to having 6 absences in 12 months - of which 4 of them were due to the anxiety attacks. The other two were for flu and food poisoning.

I don't think that is good, esp when the colleague's mental state is fragile. We did help her to remove/cover any watches or clocks near her.

My employer should have given the disciplinary within an hour of starting work.

Now she is off sick again. Her sister in law said, if the disciplinary was held as soon as she started, she would not had another attack. She is not a member of the TU. Could she complain?

You can be given a disciplinary letter 5 mins before the end of your shift.

I think the bigger issue here is, clearly she isnt well enough to be at work and its hardly surprising given the trauma shes suffered. I think she has to consider getting more support for the anxiety and I do know depending on where you live and who your GP is that can vary.

But if shes had 4 anxiety attacks in 12 months theres a clear issue that needs to be addressed and if her employer isnt supportive, maybe she needs to look for a new one or take some extended time off work (and yes I appreciate that means that she might not return to that job), until she sorts out the anxiety attacks.

And I think she needs to join a union asap.