Friends rights on sickness?

Viberduo

My friend was diagnosed with diabetes 3 years ago after being very ill at work and losing weight fast, he was even in hospital at one point, he kept his boss informed all the time but was told he could not miss a single day of work more or be fired, since he is a pushover he went back to work still ill.

A year later he moved to another part of the country to take care of his dying mother and she died last year he has been having issues with health related to the long commute to work for minimum wage, not being able to run a house on his own, his daibetes being bad.

Also this is a big thing, his health meant he was supposed to get a short break every hour to test his blood, and perhaps have a snack and after he moved stores the new boss refused to let him have them and so he has his insulin at different times every day depending on shifts and has told me about being weak to the point of near collapse many times when he is at work and his bosss dont care(the same bosses that refuse to let him car share despite knowing it costs him a huge amount in petrol every week and he does same shifts)

A few months ago he had a car crash as he fell asleep at the wheel but was only into a fence with no damage to him, last week he collapsed 3 times at work in 3 days and was rushed to hospital and told he has had a suspected stroke, his boss rang him and told him that he couldnt have time off work! so my friend discharged himself without being assessed but has been very strange and not all there(he also hit his head when he fell) acting like a totally different person and muttering, stuttering, talking to himself and just saying strange things and being quite agressive waving his hands about if someone speaks to him.

With that in mind what rights does he have as his employer refuse to help him!

pmlindyloo

Get your friend to the doctor/hospital straight away.

Worry about his employment afterwards.

From what you have said it seems that he would have a good case for unfair dismissal if his boss dismissed him.

When your friend is better get him some professional advice about his employment.

Indie_Kid

Your friend is classed as disabled under the Equalities Act 2010. His boss has to make reasonable adjustments.

jobbingmusician

Have a look at http://www.hse.gov.uk/disability/law.htm

I am VERY shocked that the employer is making no allowances for diabetes, even to the extent of letting your friend take his injections. I suggest he contacts http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/ for advice.

tyllwyd

I agree, your friend needs to see a doctor asap.


I think you need to be more clear about what is expected from the employer and what isn't - if your friend has a long commute because he moved further away from his workplace, that isn't his employer's responsibility, but providing a clean place for him to test his blood sugar probably is.

Viberduo

I do not live local to my friend as if I would he would be staying in my spare room, its not that he moved further away, he had to move to a totally different area of the country to look after his mum so had to transfer to a local branch and there was only 1 within 40 miles(yet where I live theres like 15 within 15 miles and 2 within 2 miles!)

My friend is supposed to get hourly checks of his blood sugar to stop him collapsing, I am even thinking he collapsed because his employer has refused the checks telling him he has to do it on his lunchbreak or teabreak so I assume he has gone hours without checking and it has dropped.

His blood sugar each time he collapsed was 1.5 so shows he has blood sugar problems but bosses dont seem to care, at his old branch they did give him breaks but my friend said they were not happy doing so, my friend has wanted to move in with me as he knows the rent in area once he is settled is low(£200.275 for a 2 bed unfurnished flat a month, less than he now pays in petrol!) but the same boss keeps putting his foot down and "forgetting" to start the transfer process.

double_mummy

ignoring the medical stuff for for a second because you have excellent advice on that

how can they stop him car sharing what he does in his own time is his own business as is how he gets to work

Takeaway_Addict

I honestly don't know so don't flame but isn't checking once an hour excessive. The diabetics I know check regularly but not that often.

BobQ

As has been said by others he has rights under the Equality Act and the behaviour of his boss is most likely discrimination under the act.

Is "the boss" the owner or director or chief executive? Or is he a line manager. If the latter, he needs to tell is boss's boss what is going on.

In view of what the boss has done it will be unsurprising if he has not followed legal processes. I would contact ACAS for advice.

At the end of the day, he should worry about his health, particularly in a minimum wage job with such an employer.

Another_not_new_user

Here's another "don't flame". Proof? As in evidence? There are things here he doesn't have a right to - they have nothing at all to do with any disability. And that includes no right to a transfer of employment. Or a right to run a house on his own (which has nothing at all to do with the employer). So I am sorry but these things don't matter. Because I am afraid the current evidence appears to be that he has not looked after his own health - he has allegedly worked when unfit and discharged himself from hospital when ill. And that is what the employer will show as a defence. So what can he show that this isn't true (since, actually, it is true!) or that his medical needs have been ignored?


The Equality Act is nowhere near the protection that people think it is, and his word isn't going to be good enough. People do ignore their own medical needs. So he needs to be able to establish that the employer has actually acted in a way that discriminates or breaks the law. And nothing at all you have said here indicates that.


Don't take this the wrong way - but if you/he cannot defeat my argument with evidence, then he has no chance of defeating the employers - which will almost certainly be better than mine....


So what evidence does he have that he was refused the opportunity to test his blood sugar levels and/or eat to sustain them?

Viberduo

double_mummy wrote: »

ignoring the medical stuff for for a second because you have excellent advice on that

how can they stop him car sharing what he does in his own time is his own business as is how he gets to work

Sorry wrote a long post and stored it wrong, anyway the situation with that is that he has 2 supervisors who live in same town as him and work same shifts and he has asked to share with them and pay his share of petrol but they refuse, dont know how reliable my friends comment is but he says they do not mingle with the regular shop staff and act a bit superior(seems to be his general idea of the higher ups and if what he says is true then its understandable) considering he also told me that they originally refused a day off to him when his mum died to attend his funeral and just told him to swap a shift, I cant remember if he tool a unpaid day off work or got someone to swap or just got someone to swap who had a shift later in the day so he couldnt stay with family and friends which he needed for his mental heatlh(honestly hes on verge of a nervous breakdown) They also are unhelpful over hospital visits saying the same i.e he tells them in advance he cant work certain times or dates and they put him down anyway then tell him he has to work, and he can just change shifts with others but says others either refuse to change their shifts or ignore him (hes got mild autism so finds it hard to speak to people)

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

I honestly don't know so don't flame but isn't checking once an hour excessive. The diabetics I know check regularly but not that often.

It could be every 2 hours but I am sure he has said more than once its every hour as I think is diabetes is quite severe though he may have other issues as he says he cant eat stuff like nuts at all.

He works for a well known large supermarket chain so you would assume they would have better trained and more sympathetic staff, I have been told though now he has had his stroke social work are thinking of giving him emergency accomodation local to his work and giving him debt councelling since he was living fine when working before till his mum became ill and the 60 mile or so a day travel added up costs as did maintaing a 2 bedroom cottage on his own and paying heating and utilities.