Capability Meeting

Echo86

Hey everyone.

After suffering a break down at work I was signed off by the Doctor with depression and work related stress, I have been off now for 4 weeks and the Doctor has just supplied me with a 3 weeks sick note as he says I am unfit to return to work yet.
I have been given different kinds of medications but at the moment I am still in the trial period as I have had some awful side affects including one that I was unable to eat solid food as it made me sick

Yesterday I received a letter from work saying I must got to a Capability Meeting on Monday(tomorrow)
I do love my job but at the moment I am simply not ready or able to go back to work.
Is this meeting something I need to worry about?
I don't want to lose my job, I am actually looking forward to when I am fit and able to return, at the moment I am still suffering with depression and having god awful panic attacks.

some advice would be great appreciated

sangie595

Echo86 wrote: »

Hey everyone.

After suffering a break down at work I was signed off by the Doctor with depression and work related stress, I have been off now for 4 weeks and the Doctor has just supplied me with a 3 weeks sick note as he says I am unfit to return to work yet.
I have been given different kinds of medications but at the moment I am still in the trial period as I have had some awful side affects including one that I was unable to eat solid food as it made me sick

Yesterday I received a letter from work saying I must got to a Capability Meeting on Monday(tomorrow)
I do love my job but at the moment I am simply not ready or able to go back to work.
Is this meeting something I need to worry about?
I don't want to lose my job, I am actually looking forward to when I am fit and able to return, at the moment I am still suffering with depression and having god awful panic attacks.

some advice would be great appreciated

Sorry, but the answer is yes, this is something to worry about. Capability processes are designed to provide a framework for dismissing people who have too frequent sickness absence. So if the employer is being specific and saying this is a capability meeting and not simply a sickness review or welfare meeting, then I am afraid it isn't good.

How long have you worked there?

tomtontom

Is there anything you or your workplace can reasonably do to manage the stress issue? Are you getting any practical support - therapy, relaxation methods etc - rather than just meds?

Echo86

Hi
I have worked there 5 years

the letter says -
I am sorry to hear that you are still unwell and continue to be on sick leave, As a result I am writing to you to confirm your attendance at a Capability Meeting to discuss your welfare on the 10th of August.

At the meeting the following will be discussed
- Your continued absence from work
-You intentions of returning to work
- All reasonable alternative positions available
-Any reasonable adjustments to the job.

It did say to call and confirm I would be attending which I did and the lady I spoke to said the meeting was just to see how I am and see what they could do to help me and that it wasn't anything to do with losing my job but I got the feeling she was sugar coating it

I am currently on the waiting list for counselling

TELLIT01

I really don't think reply #2 was helpful. It might be true that some employers will look on this initial meeting as a way to get an employee out the door but I really do not think that will be true in the vast majority of cases. The letter the OP received explained the reasons for the meeting.
This will be an information gathering exercise.

Echo86

When I phoned the number to confirm I will be attending the meeting I did say I felt like it was a way to push me out, I wasn't rude and I spoke with the woman openly.
She said it was a meeting to see how I was doing and to see if I intended to come back to work and what they could do to help me when I was ready to come back.
I'm not sure if this was just sugar coating to throw me off what was happening or if this is actually the case.

Takeaway_Addict

Ultimately it is the ground works to look to dismiss you on capability procedures, however it is highly unlikley a company would be so quick to act now, if you do not return in the future then they may reference this meeting in terms of dismissing you.

It is also there to look at ways to help you return to work, by using reasonable adjustments, so if you know there are things at work preventing you from returning then now is an opportunity to look at ways to solve these.

sangie595

TELLIT01 wrote: »

I really don't think reply #2 was helpful. It might be true that some employers will look on this initial meeting as a way to get an employee out the door but I really do not think that will be true in the vast majority of cases. The letter the OP received explained the reasons for the meeting.
This will be an information gathering exercise.

Helpful or not, it is a fact. The employer has gone straight to capability and stated that fact - any employer who is not looking to use this period of absence as a means to potentially dismiss would not use that language. There are a myriad of methods to support an employee who is off sick which do not include the word "capability". The very use of it, no matter what they say, says that they are looking at whether the employee is capable of doing their job for some reason - in this context as a result of sickness absence.

Since the OP has five years employment the employer must follow a fair procedure. What that means is that they must show that they are doing what they can to enable the employee to return to work with adjustments if necessary, but it will also include some form of targets to the return to work - such as limiting further sickness to a maximum. Generally, in these procedures, it follows the same route as a disciplinary - three strikes and you are out.

The OP needs to get hold of the sickness absence policy and make sure that they understand it, and if in a union, they need union representation. Capability meeting have the same legal status in law as disciplinaries (because they can lead to dismissal), and union representation is an entitlement.

elsien

OP, what was your sickness record prior to this current absence?