zero sick pay and Employment tribunal help

Undervalued

pmlindyloo wrote: »

My gut feeling is that this could cause even more problems since your employer sounds very difficult!

Yes, that is my view too.

In theory, it is possible to be off sick from one job but OK for another. An obvious example would be a manual worker with a bad back who is OK to do some evening book keeping.

If you are going to go down this route then you need to make sure your doctor is "on side" and will clearly state that you are OK for one and not the other.

I think you need to really pressure the insurance company to decide if they are going to accept your claim for legal representation. Generally it needs a solicitor to say that you have a better that 50% chance of winning. Have they got as far a paying for a face to face meeting with a lawyer?

witsend10

I have been allocated a solicitor that is reviewing the whole thing to decide. He has had telephone consultations with me etc but no meeting as yet. He has had the case for over a month and I have contacted my insurance, but they tell me that I can't swap solicitors until they accept the case.
My GP is definitely on side and cannot believe how I am being treated.
The trouble is that this is impacting on my whole family now, I have a teenager who has gone from being happy and carefree to being, well how do I put this, on suicide watch from the stress of it all, watching everything we have be lost and then the final straw was when the 'for sale' sign went up, losing his home too was just too much for him. My partner is having counselling too from the sheer stress of it all and obviously my GP is their GP too, so knows the whole story.
Thanks for your time and trouble in reading and replying, it is touching that complete strangers will take time out to give support.

witsend10

Hi, thanks for helping me, I have just read the message to me on the other site, but unfortunately it still will not let me reply, (I am assuming because I still haven't had an activation code). I don't know what i have done wrong, I have even tried to reset my password in the hope that it sends something, but still nothing. It just tells me that I don't have permission.
It lets me give thanks but nothing else!

jobbingmusician

witsend, if you want to PM me with what you want to post on the other site, I will paste your post there for you - my ability to post appears still to be working.

witsend10

Thanks jobbingmusician, I do appreciate your help.

Undervalued

I'm delighted to see that communication with SarEl has now been established.

Whilst I'd be happy to help further as best I could I would strongly suggest leaving it to her. Do listen very carefully to her advice even if some of it is not what you want to hear.

All the best.

pmlindyloo

QUOTE

The trouble is that this is impacting on my whole family now, I have a teenager who has gone from being happy and carefree to being, well how do I put this, on suicide watch from the stress of it all, watching everything we have be lost and then the final straw was when the 'for sale' sign went up, losing his home too was just too much for him. My partner is having counselling too from the sheer stress of it all and obviously my GP is their GP too, so knows the whole story. QUOTE

Please tell me that you are not losing the house because of this and that there are other factors involved that has led to your putting the house up for sale and leading to the distress of your family?

My first post was about getting benefits in place and getting some financial help so that you can live. The DWP should not have been telling you that if you resign then you get no benefits. If you can show 'good cause' then you would get benefits. Relying on food banks is no way to live in the short term.

I know this is not the right board for this kind of advice but your employment problem has been addressed as best it can so I make no apologies for bring up this matter.

When all said and done pursuing this at the detriment of your family's health and losing your home is just not worth it.

Please go to CAB and speak about your financial situation. I still believe that resigning and getting another job is your best option. Can your wife work? Are you claiming tax credits/ council tax reduction. Have you spoken to your mortgage lender? Are you up to date with your mortgage payments? What have you been using your savings for? How much left?

Go and get some financial advice.

Yes, your employers are the 'pits' but who and what is more important?

witsend10

Hi, thanks to all for their help and advice.
pmlindy I am losing my home because of having no money to keep it going due to zero pay. I have been waiting to go back to work yet this has not happened. The savings have been spent paying bills etc as for a long time I was on half pay which was not enough even to keep my family going, so had to be topped up. I do get some child benefit and some child tax credits but they don't amount to much and will not pay bills, feed us etc, never mind the mortgage, so my savings have gone on this. I have tried to keep my mortgage going but now cannot hence the sale.
I wish I could say that resigning and getting another job was that easy but the refusal to provide a reference will be an obstacle to getting any other job, they have refused to provide a reference even for a house rental agent that we are registering with, in view of being homeless soon.
I am not pursuing anything at the detriment of my family, the ET1 is another thing, all I wanted was to go back to work, I don't like not being at work, they are preventing me from returning and from moving on due to the reference, I could have been gone a year ago as I had a job offer. I am like a prisoner, which is why I asked originally how long can they keep me like this?
I would add that if you think that i am putting my family second then you are mistaken, they always come first, I desperately didn't want to go back to a workplace where my boss is so vindictive and evil and will probably stop at nothing to get rid of me, but I was willing to do that for my family's sake, I am just powerless to do anything at the moment.
I have tried to look into benefits etc. and can only go off what I have been told, this is why I ended up here, to seek help in a desperate situation.

undervalued, thanks for the advice and for pointing me elsewhere, I will take all advice on board and am grateful for your help.
Hopefully I will come back one day and tell you all that this nightmare is over. Thanks all again.

Undervalued

witsend10 wrote: »

I have tried to look into benefits etc. and can only go off what I have been told, this is why I ended up here, to seek help in a desperate situation.

Just from the benefit point of view I think what you have been told / quoted earlier is gross simplification.

I'm not an expert but my clear understanding is that if you resign on clear medical advice then you should not be sanctioned for JSA. However that doesn't mean to say there won't be a battle or delay.

I'm also not clear why you can't get ESA at least for 13 weeks if you remain employed. Your doctor has, in effect, signed you off as sick UNLESS the firm will make the reasonable adjustments he has specified. They won't so are treating you as off sick (which they are entitled to do APART from any disability aspects). As I understand it you could claim ESA at least for the initial 13 week assessment phase. After that you would have to attend a medical (which you probably wouldn't pass as you would likely be judged fit for at least some types of work). However that would get you some money for a while.

As I say I'm not an expert and I'm also several years out of date on this but I would suggest you research this with a benefits advisor and / or the CAB. Don't just accept an initial brush off from some clerk at the DWP.

pmlindyloo

Undervalued wrote: »

Just from the benefit point of view I think what you have been told / quoted earlier is gross simplification.

I'm not an expert but my clear understanding is that if you resign on clear medical advice then you should not be sanctioned for JSA. However that doesn't mean to say there won't be a battle or delay.

I'm also not clear why you can't get ESA at least for 13 weeks if you remain employed. Your doctor has, in effect, signed you off as sick UNLESS the firm will make the reasonable adjustments he has specified. They won't so are treating you as off sick (which they are entitled to do APART from any disability aspects). As I understand it you could claim ESA at least for the initial 13 week assessment phase. After that you would have to attend a medical (which you probably wouldn't pass as you would likely be judged fit for at least some types of work). However that would get you some money for a while.

As I say I'm not an expert and I'm also several years out of date on this but I would suggest you research this with a benefits advisor and / or the CAB. Don't just accept an initial brush off from some clerk at the DWP.

I absolutely agree with this.

Someone in your position is entitled to some help whether it be JSA or ESA. The initial assessment period for ESA is taking far longer than 13 weeks at the moment so you may be entitled to it for some months. Benefits would also entitle you to help with your mortgage after a period of time and access to council tax reduction. I cannot understand why you haven't sought help about this.

I know you are feeling desperate and your employment problem is taking all of your energy but please make an appointment with a benefit advisor and get the financial help that you are entitled to.