Questions about sickness and occ health questionnaires when applying for new job

yasminejobadvice

Masomnia wrote: »

Have you asked about returning to a different department?

That's not an option unfortunately. There aren't any different departments that do different jobs at the site where I work.

sangie595 wrote: »

If we look at what the OP has said, actually there is little evidence of wrong doing by the employer. What we know is that the OP was "stressed" and signed off sick for an unspecified period. The manager phoned her daily - well why didn't she simply not answer the phone? They "messed her about" by not phoning when they said they would- well, in the first place that implies that the OP agreed to the calls; and secondly, this is a manager we are talking about, in a workplace - things happen that need doing our need attention and sometimes you can't do things on a schedule. They wanted to know how the OP was doing and when they would be able to return to work - that isn't entirely unexpected or unreasonable, since they ate employers and want their employees in work and not off sick. They insisted on them going in for meetings or for home visits - this is both normal and good practice; and especially so after months of sickness absence. I realise that this was a summary of their transgressions - but actually none of this is really substantiating the employer having done something wrong or harassment.

You’re right that they were phone calls, but to call them “just phone calls” isn’t accurate. Technically they didn’t do anything wrong I guess, but I had my doctor suggesting I should open up a harassment case against them. Again, this is just a brief summary, but just to give you an idea… I was in a position where my symptoms had worsened, most likely because of the contact stress that my employer was subjecting me to, and my doctor had now given me a four week sick note. They were phoning me constantly and interrogating me about every single thing I’d been doing. I was accused constantly of not wanting to get better, of dragging it out, of taking the mick. This is a slight exaggeration, but trust me, the actual conversations weren’t much better than this…
Manager: My neighbours hairdressers auntie said she saw a YouTube video that explained anxiety problems vanish if you rub 2.7 g of ginger on your temples.
Me: Oh right, well I’m just following the advice of medical professionals at the moment.
Next day – Manager: How much ginger have you rubbed on yourself? None? Why? Why don’t you seem to be trying to help yourself? Why aren’t you trying to get better?
They’d just pull random things out of the air and then accuse me of faking for ignoring their suggestions. You say why didn’t I ignore them – I didn’t have a choice. I was constantly threatened with having my sick pay cancelled if I didn’t comply with their demands. The calls were stressful and I always dreaded them. One could be arranged for 9am, so I’d make sure I was prepared – but nothing. I’d get a text a couple of hours later saying they’d call at 3pm instead – nothing again. Then they’d call out of the blue the next morning just to repeat the whole routine of beating me down to rock bottom. My doctor kept telling me I needed some time to just relax and clear my head, but they wouldn’t allow this. Even after my doctor wrote a letter to them, explaining what he felt I needed to improve, they just persisted. I guess they thought that if they made it as uncomfortable as possible being off sick, they could pressure me in to either going back or just quitting. Like I said though, this is only a very brief summary of the whole saga.

sangie595 wrote: »

OP, how long have you worked for this employer? What is your notice period?

Around 8 years in total and the notice period is 30 days I think.

sangie595

yasminejobadvice wrote: »

That's not an option unfortunately. There aren't any different departments that do different jobs at the site where I work.


You’re right that they were phone calls, but to call them “just phone calls” isn’t accurate. Technically they didn’t do anything wrong I guess, but I had my doctor suggesting I should open up a harassment case against them. Again, this is just a brief summary, but just to give you an idea… I was in a position where my symptoms had worsened, most likely because of the contact stress that my employer was subjecting me to, and my doctor had now given me a four week sick note. They were phoning me constantly and interrogating me about every single thing I’d been doing. I was accused constantly of not wanting to get better, of dragging it out, of taking the mick. This is a slight exaggeration, but trust me, the actual conversations weren’t much better than this…
Manager: My neighbours hairdressers auntie said she saw a YouTube video that explained anxiety problems vanish if you rub 2.7 g of ginger on your temples.
Me: Oh right, well I’m just following the advice of medical professionals at the moment.
Next day – Manager: How much ginger have you rubbed on yourself? None? Why? Why don’t you seem to be trying to help yourself? Why aren’t you trying to get better?
They’d just pull random things out of the air and then accuse me of faking for ignoring their suggestions. You say why didn’t I ignore them – I didn’t have a choice. I was constantly threatened with having my sick pay cancelled if I didn’t comply with their demands. The calls were stressful and I always dreaded them. One could be arranged for 9am, so I’d make sure I was prepared – but nothing. I’d get a text a couple of hours later saying they’d call at 3pm instead – nothing again. Then they’d call out of the blue the next morning just to repeat the whole routine of beating me down to rock bottom. My doctor kept telling me I needed some time to just relax and clear my head, but they wouldn’t allow this. Even after my doctor wrote a letter to them, explaining what he felt I needed to improve, they just persisted. I guess they thought that if they made it as uncomfortable as possible being off sick, they could pressure me in to either going back or just quitting. Like I said though, this is only a very brief summary of the whole saga.


Around 8 years in total and the notice period is 30 days I think.

I wasn't for one minute saying that you haven't had a difficult time. I was pointing out ( to another poster ) that suggesting or inferring a "justifiable" claim to an employment tribunal was beyond the evidence available to us. And I'm afraid that nothing you have said here changes that position for me. Your doctor (thankfully) isn't a lawyer - there is no such thing as a "harassment case". Harassment has a very specific meaning, directly linked to unlawful discrimination, in employment law. And I think you can work out for yourself what the police would make of a complaint under criminal law that your employer wants you to get better and return to work! There is a huge difference between what people believe the law ought to say, and what it actually does - being a doctor doesn't make you an expert on the law unless it happens to be a doctorate in law!

I have to admit though, I am surprised that you have 8 years continuous employment. In the majority of cases I see, if things get to this impasse, it is usually much earlier in employment.

However, if you have 8 years employment, your statutory notice from the employer is 8 weeks. If they were to give you notice, regardless of whether you are getting sick pay or not, they would have to give you 8 weeks full pay. If they dismiss you for sickness absence, that is what they have to pay anyway. Plus accrued holidays.

If you are intent upon resigning, then contact HR and make them an offer that you will resign for 8 weeks full pay plus holidays now. The longer they drag out your sickness absence the more this bill will go up, even if only by accrued holiday. You are only asking for what got are entitled to anyway, and that won't go down the longer they put it off.

That doesn't solve the problem of what your reference will say. But I'm afraid nothing will solve that, and asking an employer to lie isn't viable. In fact, lying about it yourself isn't viable. If the employer ever find out, at any time, that you lied to them during recruitment, you could be dismissed. I'd therefore suggest that the only viable solution is to find an explanation for this. It can be done. For example "My mother died, and I really struggled with her death and getting over it, but now I have completed counseling and have been stable for xx months and feel ready to move on positively, and the reason I want to work for your company is...." - obviously, avoid that one of your mother is still alive! The point is, if you are going to lie, keep the lie small (the reason you became sick) rather than big (you didn't have eight months off sick) AND don't ever forget the lie you told! If there is a one off cause - such as a particularly distressing death in the family- and nothing to do with employment, most employers will not worry too much about it, and those that will you don't want to work for anyway as they aren't nice people! Your reason for leaving your last job then becomes "I had been off work for a long time and I didn't think it was fair on my employer to stay on the books when I wasn't in work". Which is kind of true.

Obviously, the risk with any kind of lie is getting caught in the telling, so don't tell one that will be contradicted, and don't forget the one you told and suddenly mention your visit to your "dead granny"! Your current employer is highly unlikely to ever mention a reason for the sickness - it is the amount of it that will be reported. And if anyone wants to contact your doctor, they have to be ok with omitting anything to do with the reason, which also shouldn't be a problem as it isn't relevant to medical opinion.