Discrimination ?

swingaloo

Then again, they may just have looked deeper into the time you had off due to 'bullying' and found that unacceptable. Maybe they feel that you would not fit in with thier workforce and have decided not to take the risk.
As others have said you need to focus on finding another job rather than trying to get revenge via a solicitor

ohreally

nathanjpj wrote: »

I won't get another job for the same reasons. I appear stuck with the NHS employer where I was bullied. Every day is challenging and a reminder of what happened.

I need a break, but only public bodies will give me one. This NHS employer have outsourced their HR services privately, and they are not following NHS rules. Sux.

What changed after your grievance was upheld, has bullying stopped?

[Deleted User]

nathanjpj wrote: »

I won't get another job for the same reasons. I appear stuck with the NHS employer where I was bullied. Every day is challenging and a reminder of what happened.

I need a break, but only public bodies will give me one.

So do something different, then go back to similar work if you still feel that is what you want and if your time away doesn't prove anything. Nothing would have stopped the employer from dispensing with your service under 'failing probation' so trying for revenge when the dish is warm is pointless.

Bipolar doesn't go away over night and who knows what you may have been walking into with the existing team and just perhaps they were or have to be mindful of that doing more harm than good.

Sometimes when you are beat, you are beat. I once had the joy of being let go day 5 when a health issue was taken and completely twisted - in reality I don't think I would have survived a day longer but for which I am quite grateful now. Happened less then a year ago and I would now be one promotion up on that role so don't crawl into any corner. Turns out the least expected place was were I may have thrived. Argh.

missbiggles1

nathanjpj wrote: »

I'm aware I'm playing the world's tiniest violin here, but I have suffered for years

a few winters ago, I attempted suicide. I increased my meds, got some therapy, took only two weeks off, then returned to work.

sure, I'm no hero, but I've never been a scrounger or a shirker, either. I've always been an over-performer, regularly promoted, and open about and determined to cope with my disability. last year was a tough year. its behind me.

That leads into what I was going to ask - what number of days have you had off sick last year and what do you see as normal?

nathanjpj

nothing is normal I guess

I had four months off for diagnosis and treatment

nathanjpj

after the bullying, the manager in question was dismissed

nathanjpj

swingaloo wrote: »

Then again, they may just have looked deeper into the time you had off due to 'bullying' and found that unacceptable. Maybe they feel that you would not fit in with thier workforce and have decided not to take the risk.
As others have said you need to focus on finding another job rather than trying to get revenge via a solicitor

How can it be fair to discount someone for having been bullied? That's just callous.

Plus it is also unfair to say I want revenge. That is painting the situation very negatively.

FBaby

OP, your frustration is totally understandable. You were in a bad place and you’ve put a lot of efforts to come out of it. You feel that you deserve the rewards and it must be enraging to have been so close to be able to turn the page to have it all taken away from you. However, you are failing –understandably- to see it from another perspective than yours.

The NHS is facing a lot of issues with the impact on long term illness on its services. It has the most generous policy and inevitably, this results in a higher sickness rate than average. Many services are funded on the basis of a specific number of head counts. It’s hard enough to manage the large number of holiday entitlement and short term services, but when long term sickness gets in the way, services will inevitably suffer, either by putting pressure on the rest of the staff who have to pick up the work or financially by recruiting temporary staff, which is unlikely to provide the quality of work of a long term employee.

An employer will look at employing the best applicant, but also take into account the risk of this staff not being able to carry out their duties. In your case, the risk is high, not only because of your sickness record, but also the grievance –assuming they are aware of, which they are likely to if they’ve asked for references already-. You seem to assume that having put a grievance against your manager is evidence of bullying, explaining some level of sickness. This would only be the case if the grievance had reached that conclusion, but it seems that it still only going through the motions. From the new employer’s perspective, this could actually mean that you are struggling to cope with the demands of the job and attempt by your manager to increase your productivity levels have resulted in you being defensive, clearly something that would be of high concern to them. They have no way of knowing one way or the other! Add to this the possibility that they hesitated offering the position to you and another applicant, and the other references, which they might have obtained, showed low level of sickness, and it is understandably that they would have chosen to give them the role.

I believe your best way forward at this stage is to remain with your company and go through the stages of the grievance. If it supports your allegations, then you have something tangible to use. It might also mean an internal change so that you could carry out your duties in a better environment. You say you are now more stable with medication, so even though your intentions are to get out of your current place, if you could manage another say 6 months, you would then again be able to show to a prospective employer that your previous poor performance was just a blip.

Don’t give up, but put your energy in the right place, that is to find coping mechanisms to cope going back to your current place rather than trying to fight a battle that you’ve already lost, that will only leave you even more frustrated and vulnerable.

FBaby

after the bullying, the manager in question was dismissed

Sorry, just picked up on this. Was the grievance concluded then and that is what led to them being dismissed? If so, then staying with your current role and rebuilding your sickness record should be bearable?

nathanjpj

Update - there are several cases in historical (recent) news that are identical. The tribunal's upheld the claimants' cases and awarded payments.

This is discrimination. I am disabled. I have an obligation to do the right thing.