Work trying to get hubby to admit a medical problem that doesnt exsist

lindseykim13

where to start,

hubby has had a bad time since he started working at his new place just over a year ago, he is a trainee welder (even though he has previous experience).

Basically he has to do loads of test pieces before he can qualify and do the proper work etc.
He has had really bad problems getting test pieces passed where as others have been passed when theirs have been clearly no better than his.
He still got on with his training and stuck at it but its getting to him now, they pick him up on the smallest of things when others get away with loads.
When he accepted the job he was told he had 2 years to complete the training, he spent 3 months out on the work site rather than training cause they needed a welder.

He had an accident on his way to work about a month after he started and had 3 months out with serious concussion.
Then 3 months ago he had appendisitis and had 4 weeks off because of that, during this time his manager decided that he would write to the occ health nurse and tell them that he believes my hubby has short term memmory loss following his accident (a year ago) total rubbish!
The nurse showed my hubby a pile of emails that had been sent to her from my hubbies manager telling her all sorts about his behaviour, she said it was total rubbish and so do i and so does my hubby.
After his manager recieved the confirmation from the nurse that there was nothing wrong with dh, they took him in the office and said 'if you admit you have a problem we can make some allowances, otherwise you have no excuses for your work' they even said 'we want the old *name* back, the one before your accident'
now if he did have something wrong wouldnt this be a bit harsh?
my point is that his work isnt rubbish they've even said 'its good enough for out on site but not in the test bay'! they are failing it wherever they can, they even pass bits and say 'do another one just to make sure' and this is unfair as no-one else has been told to do this in training.
They blackmail him and stitch him up by giving him a job to do that is immposible for even the best welder and say 'if you can do that we'll let you have o/t as they know that we are desperate for it this year.
He's getting treated so differntly from the other trainees and if he was that rubbish why havn't they sacked him or found him another job (its a big company) he just doesnt understand.
The make nasty comments say that he hides away working and if he's caught walking anwhere he gets bollocked for that, he cant win.
What should he do as all the managers are up each others !!!!!!, i've told him to complain to someone higher, but he says that the guy higher than him takes orders from him.
Thsi whole situation doesnt make sence to me has anyone any ideas of what to do? thank sorry its long!

Savvy_Sue

Is he in a union? If not, I'd advise him to join.

And ACAS may be helpful.

ceebeeby

Of all the threads I've read tonight, this one makes me the saddest.

From what you say your husband appears to be receiving the worst kind of work-place bullying i.e. intimidation and humiliation.

You mention that it is a very large company that your husband works for. If this is the case, I wonder if they have a Human Resources department that is separate or even a whistle-blowing policy.

It is unfortunate that he has had so much time off in his first year with the organisation (although I appreciate this has been completely unavoidable from his medical perspective) but that is no reason for him to suffer at the jibes of others regardless of the quality of his work.

You mention that the quality of his work is comparable to his work colleagues. Is there any way he would be able to get an independent evaluation of that (possibly without the employer knowing?).

I sincerely hope this works out for you!

lindseykim13

he has had his work looked at by lloyds inspectors (completly unrealted from everything going on) and they commented on how good it was.
I feel he is being bullied in some way, he's not the type to take it lying down, but when your manager is the one doing it it;s difficult to stop it.
He's tried having a chat with them about it and asked if its to do with him having so much time off and they say its nothing to do with it, then they have contradicted themselves by saying things like 'well if you'd been here more you might have got o/t etc.
They are just nasty and he's looking for another job, but the intention was to finish his training before he left so he had come away with something, but looks like they seem to be keeping him back for some reason. No idea why, he's always done what he's told without argueements of any kind so no reason for them to be so nasty. he's not in the union and as for HR he doesnt even know what their role is, as they dont deal with pay or holidays anymore his manager does, Take this as an example dh put in a holiday form for 3 days he gives it to manager (meant to) and when he goes back into work gets a bollocking for not showing up for work for 3 days, when he argueed the point that he'd put in a holiday form, it took him 2 weeks to get the holiday money he was owed. When dh went to hr they couldnt do anything about it! He just has no idea who to go to there and fears making the matter worse, as the sort of place it is word always gets back to the manager.

He'd have to ask for permission to leave the room to even see anyone about this situation, its rediculous.

Nile

Hello lindseykim13

I'm not doubting your husband's skills but wonder if there's a possibility that although he's a skilled welder.........he has to meet more exacting standards now, for example working with more exotic materials?

It does sound like workplace bullying. Good welders are always in demand, perhaps your husband should look for a new employer.;)

Life's too short to spend your working days feeling undervalued, bullied and miserable.;)

Regards

Nile

lindseykim13

lloyds inspectors are the bees knees in welding qualifications. he has had his work looked at by them before and no problems, they are just holding him back for some reason, there is nothing wrong with his work, other trainees cant see why his isnt getting passed, but you know what people are like they wont stick up for him if it came to it.

sarahlouise210

I would call their bluff - agree with their diagnosis of short term memory loss - take medical retirement and then get another job once he had been paid off!

Newstart_4

sarahlouise210 wrote: »

I would call their bluff - agree with their diagnosis of short term memory loss - take medical retirement and then get another job once he had been paid off!

that is rediculous, why the hell would anyone want to admit to a health problem that doesnt exist.?

Sounds to me like they want to give him the push, dont give them the amo!

i can see his reference now!!

we were so sory to have to let him go, but after his accident his "memory loss meant he became a danger in the work place"

that would go down real well with any future employers.:rolleyes:


the Lloyds quall definitly shows theres some skill there but there not realy a high level transferable quallification,

Google TWI thats the kind of thing you need, have a look at the training links if need bee he could go there for indipendant tests, or possably send a few test pieces up and have them inspected, just to see if theres any truth in this idea of his welds being crap.

i presume that the welds they are failing are actualy being put thru some kind of NDT inspection?

if not then i would sugest that your husband insists that they are.

if they are, then its likely that your husband is producing poor quality work, but i dont see admiting or being asked to admit to memory loss will help his work improve or how they can make any allowances, afterall if hes welding to standard that requires the weld to be inspected then they realy do need to pass.

im curious to know what hes welding and what process is used.

prenton01

Newstart wrote: »

Google TWI thats the kind of thing you need, have a look at the training links if need bee he could go there for indipendant tests, or possably send a few test pieces up and have them inspected, just to see if theres any truth in this idea of his welds being crap.

i presume that the welds they are failing are actualy being put thru some kind of NDT inspection?

if not then i would sugest that your husband insists that they are.

if they are, then its likely that your husband is producing poor quality work, but i dont see admiting or being asked to admit to memory loss will help his work improve or how they can make any allowances, afterall if hes welding to standard that requires the weld to be inspected then they realy do need to pass.

im curious to know what hes welding and what process is used.

to have an accurate NDT inspection the item has to have been used or tested in a site environment first then if there is any defect in the weld cracks will show during NDT inspection, if it is just tested after the item has been welded in workshop then your unlikely to find cracks or defects as there has been no pressure on the weld (unless it is bad welding) (tried to put it into layman terms)

tony
(NDT ASNT LEVEL 2 QAULIFIED)

lindseykim13

im not quite with it on all the correct wording terms on quals etc, all i know is that the manager who has a problem with him has to first pass the piece before it goes down to be x-rayed.
Guess what they dont send it sown 99% of the time, when they do and it comes back passed they will say 'we want you to do another before you can move on to the next part of training' if the next one isnt in their eyes passable then he has to start all over agian on that piece, the first one doesnt count anymore. If this was procedure for everyone it wouldnt be such a problem but they actually use the words 'because its you, you need to do another one'
He has been a welder in a previous company for 3 years and the standard procedure in the new place (shipbuliding) is to have anyone not coded put through the training.
it just seems strange that he's allowed on the boats when they are short of welders and all managers out there find his work fine (no complaints) but its not good enough in the training bays.
Surley a weld on the boat is more important that one in a test bay.
The point is that he knows the weld will pass the x-ray test and beacuse his manager has to ok it first, he's not. So theres not much he can do, he's stuck at it and keeps getting on with it but they arn't slacking off at all if anything its getting worse.
It seems they want to try and get rid of him, why? no-one knows.

He had to pass a 1 day test before he was offered the job so he cant be that bad can he and if he was why havn't they sacked him or found himanother job in the factory, they just seem to be enjoying keeping him there to tell him how rubbish he is.

oh the other one they used last week was, passed, sent down to xray told it passed, then hours later he was told it had been mixed up and his hadn't passed, total crap, as they have their names on the pieces.

alwaysonthego_2

go to the cab because they have specialised employment workers who will be able to advise him on his rights