Am i being treat correctly

SqaushedTomato

Ok there goes.

I have been on long term sickness from work sonce the birth of my baby (17 months) as i have post natal depression have now been diagnosed with BPD. During this time off work i have had 5 different managers all to which have never contatced me during my sickness, now i have another manager for the last 3 months. She has never been off the phone, in the past 3 months she's called 12 times. Some of these times i havent answered the phone due to me being in a bout of depression. I was calling into work for an investagation due to me not answering.. so i musteres up the courage and attended the investigation and gave all my personal life to them and why i never answered the call.. they went away and came back with a decsion that what i had told them wasnt good enough! And that there would be a further investigation into this.. this time 3 members of staff! Is this a fair procedure? Considering no manger ever got in contact.. i feel im being discrimimated against and also harrassed!! I have had no issues with requestiny my holiday entitlement either but not this new manager said to me you can request your holidays so i said to her im requesting some she replied well im refusing them, i said may i ask why she said youll get all your holiday entitlement when you tell me your fit and ready to return to work. That was it. Now ive had a letter through door stating that i may be dismissed due to gross misconduct!!! For being unwell and not answering a phone.. please some one help im at my wits end i dont no where to turn.

Ja7188

How long have you worked there for...?

SqaushedTomato

2 and a half years

elsien

Is there a realistic chance of you returning to work any time soon?
Because if not you may well be getting to the point where they would be looking to dismiss on capability grounds anyway given the length of time you've been off.
Your previous managers were remiss in not keeping in touch. Most companies have a policy where they keep in touch while you are off sick. What does your long term sickness policy say about how this should happen? If you don't have a copy of it then get hold of one.

I think you have misunderstood about the holidays. It would normally accrue at the statutory level while you are off sick, for you to take when you return to work.
I wonder if with asking for holiday and not returning calls they think that you are not being completely honest with them?
Are you in a union?

Takeaway_Addict

SqaushedTomato wrote: »

Ok there goes.

I have been on long term sickness from work sonce the birth of my baby (17 months) as i have post natal depression have now been diagnosed with BPD. During this time off work i have had 5 different managers all to which have never contatced me during my sickness, now i have another manager for the last 3 months. She has never been off the phone, in the past 3 months she's called 12 times. Some of these times i havent answered the phone due to me being in a bout of depression. I was calling into work for an investagation due to me not answering.. so i musteres up the courage and attended the investigation and gave all my personal life to them and why i never answered the call.. they went away and came back with a decsion that what i had told them wasnt good enough! And that there would be a further investigation into this.. this time 3 members of staff! Is this a fair procedure? Considering no manger ever got in contact.. i feel im being discrimimated against and also harrassed!! I have had no issues with requestiny my holiday entitlement either but not this new manager said to me you can request your holidays so i said to her im requesting some she replied well im refusing them, i said may i ask why she said youll get all your holiday entitlement when you tell me your fit and ready to return to work. That was it. Now ive had a letter through door stating that i may be dismissed due to gross misconduct!!! For being unwell and not answering a phone.. please some one help im at my wits end i dont no where to turn.

Are you saying you have been off work for 17 months? If so I'm sorry to say but I think you need to accept that this is coming to a resolution. TBF the company probably lack of consistancy of managers have waited alot longer than most would.

You should as much as possible be proactive to help your employer but I do think your manager is being spiteful with regards the holiday....but then they've paid you holiday for no work so I can see why they maybe feeling aggrieved.

Have you given them any optomism about your return? Is it soon or are you still likely to be off for the foreseeable?

BorisThomson

You've had longer off sick than you have in work, is that correct?

They're not going to hold the job open for you forever. I'd expect this to be the start of the dismissal process, both for failing to respond to a reasonable request, and for excessive absence/ inability to fulfil your role.

Ja7188

Given that you've been employed for over 2 years, I suspect you may well be offered a leaver's package of some sort rather than being dismissed - reading between the lines, it doesn't look like you're going to be able to return to work but on the other hand, the company may well want to safeguard itself against you claiming to have been unfairly dismissed. If this happens, I'd guess that any sum they offer you will include any accrued holiday that may be taken into account.

As is the case with many queries raised here, I'd say you need legal advice.

theoretica

I assume that much of the first year you had off was classified as maternity leave, so only about 5 months has been sick leave. Is this right? The first couple of months of sick you were left to yourself, but then the employer got their act together and has called about once a week? Doesn't seem unreasonable to me. Absence management proceedings are not pleasant to be involved with, but that doesn't make them wrong or always badly done. It is plain truth that you are not at present doing the work for your employer that they employed you to do, and as a business they need to know if it is likely you will do this for them and when.

Les79

Bear in mind that 12 calls in the space of 3 months equates to roughly 1 call per week!!!

That's not unreasonable, though checking the company handbook may be useful to see what it says about that (mine mentions something about regular contact on LTS).

Failing to answer phone calls (more so when you are able to "musteres up the courage" to attend a disciplinary hearing, which is probably why they don't accept your reason for not answering a phone call!!!) is a bit rude and unprofessional. Can 100% see why they'd want to discipline you for that, more so if it is in your company handbook. Only thing I'd question is whether you have told the employer before now that you find it hard to answer the phone due to your mental health? I don't think you'll have that documented anywhere though to be honest...

Also, I have to question whether you even have a protected characteristic right now?! Pregnancy is long over, all you have is a mental health issues which IS NOT NECESSARILY a disability. You may just be like most other schmucks and be dismiss-able without much of a reason/recourse.

Lesson for future: "musteres up the courage" to answer a weekly phone call and follow your company handbook to the letter.

Nothanks

As a BPD sufferer I find the previous post a little harsh in places. If someone broke their leg just saying pull yourself together and jump once a week wouldn't be sane.

But there are also some great points.

I imagine the root cause is you're accustomed through previous manager mediocrity to being left alone. Once a week is very reasonable for contacting an absent member of staff. However, if this is difficult, as it was for me, then a reasonable adjustment might be to respond by text and call in later in the week when you're up to it.

But breach of absence reporting could be deemed gross misconduct. Best bet is to attend the the disciplinary with a good rep, apologise profusely to your line manager for the misunderstanding, present the reasons it came up -ie your symptoms and the previous lack of contact and really try and mend the relationship.

ohreally

The situation appears you're going to be exited out the door.

What do you want to happen?

You cant continue with the status quo, new broom making a clean sweep!