Amended duties at work

Payless_2

Hi. i suffer from osteoarthritis in many joints but it is particularly bad in my feet. One aspect of my job involves standing on a moving bus while inputting information into a mobile phone. I find this very hard now as I can't keep my balance. For the past 3 years I haven't had to do this but now my employer is asking for some sort of evidence from my GP, otherwise I'm back on this sort of duty. My GP has issued me with a fit note for amended duties but this is going to have to be renewed every month.

Surely there is an better way to do this. I can manage every other aspect of my work and don't want to be sacked or give in to my arthritis until I have no option. Do I now have to class myself as disabled? I don't really want to do this either

Confuseddot

Payless wrote: »

Hi. i suffer from osteoarthritis in many joints but it is particularly bad in my feet. One aspect of my job involves standing on a moving bus while inputting information into a mobile phone. I find this very hard now as I can't keep my balance. For the past 3 years I haven't had to do this but now my employer is asking for some sort of evidence from my GP, otherwise I'm back on this sort of duty. My GP has issued me with a fit note for amended duties but this is going to have to be renewed every month.

Surely there is an better way to do this. I can manage every other aspect of my work and don't want to be sacked or give in to my arthritis until I have no option. Do I now have to class myself as disabled? I don't really want to do this either

Does your company have any sort of occupational health department you can deal with ?

ohreally

Payless wrote: »

Surely there is an better way to do this.

Occupational health referral and support form trade union.

tizerbelle

Ask your GP about a Fit for Work referral.
GPs can refer employees who are likely to be off work for 4 weeks or more and presumably your condition is severe enough that this would be likely in your case.

It may not be appropriate so you'll need to discuss more with your GP but it does give you a good starting point. The other option (or even may be covered by Fit for Work) would be seeing whether your arthritis would be classed as a disability under the Equality Act which could mean you can ask for reasonable adjustments to assist you in your duties - Access to Work might be a possibility as well

Payless_2

I am seeing Occupational Health next week. My boss said that I need evidence from my GP for her. I think I could just show her the state of my feet. To be honest I have never found her to be particularly helpful on previous occasions>

I have previously mentioned to my union rep that I might need help in this area and he said that I need to be careful going into the realms of disability for the role that I am in as it does involve being on my feet for best part of the day

Payless_2

tizerbelle wrote: »

Ask your GP about a Fit for Work referral.
GPs can refer employees who are likely to be off work for 4 weeks or more and presumably your condition is severe enough that this would be likely in your case.

It may not be appropriate so you'll need to discuss more with your GP but it does give you a good starting point. The other option (or even may be covered by Fit for Work) would be seeing whether your arthritis would be classed as a disability under the Equality Act which could mean you can ask for reasonable adjustments to assist you in your duties - Access to Work might be a possibility as well

I have never been off work because of osteoarthritis but this is because they haven't made me work on board buses which, for me, is likely to lead to an accident and intense pain when the bus jerks and goes round corners. I have, however, been off as a result of recent unrelated surgery and subsequent complications. I'm not sure the access to work applies as all I want is not to have to do this one aspect of my job

There are about 9 different duties that I can be called to do. I am happy to do the other 8. What is really annoying me is that some colleagues only do 3 or 4. I do feel I'm being picked on for some reason, presumably my recent absence, and that I'm next in line for redundancy

ohreally

Payless wrote: »

I have previously mentioned to my union rep that I might need help in this area and he said that I need to be careful going into the realms of disability for the role that I am in as it does involve being on my feet for best part of the day

Does the option of alternative jobs exist within the organisation?

If OH require information from your GP, give consent and let them obtain it, your boss is likely being tight as there will be a cost to do this if they request it.

Payless_2

ohreally wrote: »

Does the option of alternative jobs exist within the organisation?

If OH require information from your GP, give consent and let them obtain it, your boss is likely being tight as there will be a cost to do this if they request it.

I am still capable of doing the vast majority of my present job and my colleagues would be more than happy to do my bus duties. Some actually prefer this work to the work that I would be doing instead. We work out in the field talking to users of public transport and our role changes on a daily basis. I enjoy being out and about talking to people. I expect they could find me office based work but I'd rather do what I'm doing now.

Confuseddot

Payless wrote: »

I am seeing Occupational Health next week. My boss said that I need evidence from my GP for her. I think I could just show her the state of my feet. To be honest I have never found her to be particularly helpful on previous occasions>

I have previously mentioned to my union rep that I might need help in this area and he said that I need to be careful going into the realms of disability for the role that I am in as it does involve being on my feet for best part of the day

Is there a occ health doctor you can see ? I remember getting to see one once who was useless but carried more clout that just the Occ health person.

Sometimes its easier just to go in with my doc says that I can't do blah but i can do the other 7 things and can you just rubber stamp it.

If they still being difficult then a reasonable adjustment should be made ... but probably best to leave that as a last resort. But even then you just had to provide evidence(which you have) that you struggle with one out of the eight tasks.

Good luck