Sacked for being disabled?

Pricivius

A couple of points stick out to me:

OP seems unhappy that her OH needs to prove he has issues before the company will take note. This seems fair to me - you need to meet the company and Occ Health halfway. If OH is hiding his difficulties through pride, how are the company supposed to know he is struggling? If an ear infection takes OH out of action for two weeks, has he taken a GP's note to the company, explaining how OH's disability exacerbated the infection by x days and anyone else would only have been signed off for 2 weeks minus x days on average? How are the company supposed to know the impact his disability has on such things? Companies have a few options regarding amending their sickness triggers, one of which is agreeing to trigger disciplinary based only on illness not related to disability. So, the recent ear infection would only account for 2 weeks minus x days of sickness, rather then 2 weeks. Has OH discussed how they intend to deal with sickness triggers with the company?

I would recommend being proactive about these things, then everyone knows where they stand, including your OH. The company has an obligation towards your OH, but there's only so much they can do if OH soldiers on and doesn't help the company understand his needs.

kazzah60

My son is also disabled and works for our local council
he has been placed on a monitoring programme and potential further action list because he has hit the employers limit of sick days in a 12 month period
he has been ill for a total of 8 days
in 12 months
we had NO qualms about this - the employer has the RIGHT to instigate any sickness level action they deem appropriate
my son hit their target figure and was subject to the SAME actions as his colleagues would be

I believe that the OP's boyfriend has had more than twice the amount of time my son has taken off sick and in the first three months of the year

I don't believe the OP's BF's employers are being unfair in any way, shape or form.

PHILANTHROPIST

Interesting discussions, albeit the OP appears to be AWOL !

MissNice

Hi all,
Thanks for your replies, I've been trying to get a bit more info out of my boyfriend so I can act accordingly RE advice etc.
He was sent a letter from his manager yesterday saying:

The reason for the review was that you have had 28 days sickness absence due to injuries following a car crash, upset stomach ,tendonitis, swelling around ankle and
hit the trigger points of
6 working days absence within the previous 3 months
3 separate incidents of absence within the previous 3 months
12 days within the previous 12 months
6 separate incidents within the previous 12 months


The purpose of the meeting was to explore the reasons for your absences. During the meeting we discussed the following :
We have re-submitted the non-people pay panel to order you a new chair, suitable for you
Your trigger points would be increased by 50% as recommended by occupational Health (THIS WAS DONE ABOUT 2 WEEKS AGO)
Your sickness had a great impact on the rest of the team , who have had to cover extra shifts on the phone as a result (BF IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ON PHONES, HIS MANAGER ISNT HIS BIGGEST FAN SO ALWAYS MAKES HIM DO IT, SO OTHERS HAVE HAD TO DO IT WHEN HE IS OFF, EVEN THOUGH ARE DEDICATED PHONE/ADMIN STAFF AND HE ISN'T)

It was agreed that there was nothing specific that we would be able to do, which could reduce your levels of sickness, but that we would hope to do more regular one-to-ones with all staff following changes being made in June


After taking into account what had been said, and the reports and advice from occupational health, you are issued with a Stage 1 warning, which will remain "live" for 6 months . Please note that if your attendance is unsatisfactory during the currency of the warning, further action will be taken immediately, which may include dismissal.


You have the right of appeal against the warning, and should lodge your appeal in writing within five working days of the receipt of this letter to MANAGER

You can appeal on the grounds that you consider the sanction too harsh, that you dispute the medical evidence considered or that you consider there has been a misapplication of the policy or procedure. Please state on what grounds your appeal is being made. Your appeal will be heard by another manager within the company.

They have made him sign the letter posted above.
He's told me his days sick since Feb 2013, first of which happened June 2013:
10- Jaw/ Ear
5- Car crash
1-sickness
2-ankle
5-foot
3-foot
2-sickness

He thinks the 10 days for his jaw/ ear infection were after his one year probation (they also run holiday in the financial not calendar year) so would that count as a new year of sickness? Can they count that against him?
He is lactose intolerant so that would explain the 3 days "sickness". Is there any way of getting the ankle/ foot days combined into one bout of sickness? I've asked him to show me the work sickness policy to see how they classify sickness, whether they go on the days taken or on each bout of time off or both.
Is there anything we can do to appeal this? I know he has had a lot of time off, but all bar the car crash is due to him being disabled and having a weakened immune system because of it.
He cant really agree to say things will improve over the next 6 months, I mean I can try and make sure he stays away from dairy so he wont be puking! But otherwise, there isn't much he can do to improve it apart from go to work in pain
Its not looking good

MissNice

I've just checked his sickness policy and they have made no exceptions for his disability as occupational health said they would.

kazzah60

MissNice

i believe your boyfriends employer has already gone beyond what they need to - they have a sickness policy - it is the same for all employees
my son had exactly the same meeting and with the same outcome as your boyfriend - but his sickness trigger days were only 8 and he only had two periods of absence
I think if your boyfriends sickness record was strictly to do with his disability he might have more leverage- but personally I think he needs to adhere to the rules and do what my son did when he had a chest infection ( which was prescribed anti-biotics by the GP) he simply went into work so as not to trigger a level two intervention and infected 3 other members of staff with his germs who all subsequently had time off sick. he had no other option

elsien

MissNice wrote: »

Your sickness had a great impact on the rest of the team , who have had to cover extra shifts on the phone as a result . Standard practice to explain the impact of sickness on the rest of the team. Generally if someone is off sick then someone else has to pick up the slack, regardless of the role, so making someone aware that their absence does have an impact on others is a valid point to make.

It was agreed that there was nothing specific that we would be able to do, which could reduce your levels of sickness, but that we would hope to do more regular one-to-ones with all staff following changes being made in June. This seems to me to be saying that it was agreed his sickness is not caused by workplace factors so other than the points already agreed, there is nothing more they can do to help him reduce his sickness levels. They've asked him/Occy Health what else they can put in place to reduce his sickness, and there isn't anything.

He thinks the 10 days for his jaw/ ear infection were after his one year probation (they also run holiday in the financial not calendar year) so would that count as a new year of sickness? Can they count that against him? Sickness recording may be over a rolling 12 month period, so anything in the last 12 months counts, regardless of whether the new sick pay year has started. You'll need to check the policy to be sure.
He is lactose intolerant so that would explain the 3 days "sickness". It may explain the physical reason for it, but that is not a reason for them to discount it. They're not saying he's making his sickness up or exaggerating it. They're saying that regardless of the reason it's getting to the point where it is not sustainable for the company to keep paying out once they've made the adjustments already agreed. Is there any way of getting the ankle/ foot days combined into one bout of sickness? I've asked him to show me the work sickness policy to see how they classify sickness, whether they go on the days taken or on each bout of time off or both. Probably both, so combining them may not make much odds.
Is there anything we can do to appeal this? Their sickness policy will include the appeals procedure. There will be timescales he needs to stick to, so check it carefully.I know he has had a lot of time off, but all bar the car crash is due to him being disabled and having a weakened immune system because of it.
He cant really agree to say things will improve over the next 6 months, I mean I can try and make sure he stays away from dairy so he wont be puking! But otherwise, there isn't much he can do to improve it apart from go to work in pain
Its not looking good

My twopennorth for what it's worth.

elsien

MissNice wrote: »

I've just checked his sickness policy and they have made no exceptions for his disability as occupational health said they would.

They've increased his trigger points by 50%. What else were you expecting?


Edit
Unless he has some medical evidence to back up his claims that the majority of his sickness is related to his disability (did he say this to OH and what further evidence have they asked for? Access to GP? Does he see any specialists who can support his claim) then they've made adjustments for him already. What more does your boyfriend want? That's not a rhetorical question, btw, what other suggestions does he have to make the situation more workable, other than being able to take as much time off whenever he needs it.

MissNice

elsien wrote: »

They've increased his trigger points by 50%. What else were you expecting?

It was agreed about 2/3 weeks ago that his sickness trigger points would be extended, but it has not been applied retroactively. I would expect that they would go from:
6 working days absence within the previous 3 months
3 separate incidents of absence within the previous 3 months
12 days within the previous 12 months
6 separate incidents within the previous 12 months
to:
9 working days absence within the previous 3 months
4.5 separate incidents of absence within the previous 3 months
18 days within the previous 12 months
9 separate incidents within the previous 12 months
In which case, not all of these have been broken as they have not considered the 50% increase of trigger points in this meeting.
Surely if sickness is a problem, occy health get involved and agree to extend trigger points, he should not then be called into a meeting over sickness within 2/3 weeks of that decision being made unless he has had more time off in that period? Or does it not work that way?

elsien

Trigger points can be either or, ie x number of absences in 12 months, or a total of x days in 12 months, or, x days in a row, or unacceptable patterns of absence. He only needs to hit one of these to trigger the absence review, not all of them. And even taking the increased triggers into account, he's still had the tigger of more than 18 days in the last 12 months.
I notice they haven't set him a specific target for the next 6 months but said

"Please note that if your attendance is unsatisfactory during the currency of the warning, further action will be taken immediately, which may include dismissal."

That's a bit open to interpretation so if I were him I'd be clarifying exactly what that means in terms of his new trigger points and whether it relates to the sickness he's already had or whether it's a new starting point, as it were.