Disclosure of health issue

inspirespirit

My neighbour is beside herself with worry. 5 years ago she had a bad knee. She had an MRI on it and nothing showed up. Was given painkillers and ibrufen and told to rest and it went away. Gave her absolutely no issues whatsoever and she went on to work as a Care assistant for a few years whilst attending Uni to do a degree in Teaching Assistant. So last year she applied and got a job as a teaching assistant and all was well . Last week her knee started to hurt and the doctor said it had fluid on it and she needed to rest it. Sent her for an xray and said it was showing signs of arthritis. Doctor put her off sick for two weeks and told her to rest it. She mentioned on her FB page that the pain was similar to the pain she had 5 years ago. She has now received a letter from her work saying she is being given a disciplinary for not disclosing that she had had a knee issue on her application form. She had not had any knee problems since the knee 5 years ago and it hadn't even occured to her. They are threatening dismissal. Sadly she is not a member of a union and she can't sleep or eat from worry. Is there anything she can do please?

elsien

First of all, do what she should have done in the first place and block everyone work related from all social media.
How long has she worked there for - if it is less than two years then they can dismiss on pretty much any grounds and she will have no comeback. If longer than two years then she has some protection against unfair dismissal.

She is (presumably) being invited to a disciplinary hearing. The outcome is not a foregone conclusion. When you say they are "threatening dismissal" it is more likely that this has been flagged up as a possibly outcome if proven. She will have the opportunity to defend herself.
It is also possible that someone else has seen it on facebook, misinterpreted it and given work incorrect and speculative information. Work do seem to have jumped the gun rather if her version is indeed correct.

She can request evidence from her doctor to show that this is a new issue and that she has had no problems in the last 5 years - she may have to pay for this. She can also suggest that occupational health review her ability to do the role. She can argue that this is a new and unrelated injury that she could not possibly have known anything about and that her previous MRI did not show anything so there was nothing to report.
Your friend needs to calm down, get a copy of the company disciplinary procedure if she doesn't have one and see if there is a colleague willing to accompany her to the hearing if she doesn't have a union rep.

inspirespirit

Thank you for your reply. I have given her similar advice. I have told her to ask her Doctor to do a letter for her but she only got the letter from work today and the disciplinary is on Tuesday so she is not certain if she can get it sorted in the timescale. She is going to try though and she is also taking a colleague with her. I will check how long she has worked there. She is a very open honest person and she would never have purposely have ommited something on her application form. They do seem to have taken quite a serious action in the circumstances but I am assuming because she now has a diagnosis of arthritis they are thinking she will be needing more time off in the future.

elsien

inspirespirit wrote: »

Thank you for your reply. I have given her similar advice. I have told her to ask her Doctor to do a letter for her but she only got the letter from work today and the disciplinary is on Tuesday so she is not certain if she can get it sorted in the timescale. She is going to try though and she is also taking a colleague with her. I will check how long she has worked there. She is a very open honest person and she would never have purposely have ommited something on her application form. They do seem to have taken quite a serious action in the circumstances but I am assuming because she now has a diagnosis of arthritis they are thinking she will be needing more time off in the future.

She may need to point out that everyone over a certain age who gets joint pain is likely to be told it's "age related degeneration." AKA arthritis. But she couldn't tell them something she didn't know herself as she can prove it wasn't there five years ago.

I fell over and when I was sent for a scan I was told this. I get the occasional twinge but I am never off sick with it and I go to the gym and do circuit training with no ill effects. Or, as already stated, for occupational health to be involved. It may also help if she says she is prepared to give them access to the relevant parts of her medical records to prove her case. Has the doctor suggested any phsyio or exercise that could mitigate any future problems?

inspirespirit

The doctor has suggested she has a steroid injection to the knee. Having said that, she is already feeling much better after a few days rest and taking anti inflammatories and painkillers so she is hoping it is just a temporary thing and will go away. She holds down a full time job and is a single parent to 5 children so she is always on the go. Plus she is now doing her Masters part time. You would think they would want to encourage her, not put her through this worry.

ohreally

inspirespirit wrote: »

She has now received a letter from her work saying she is being given a disciplinary for not disclosing that she had had a knee issue on her application form.

This may already be in breach of EA 2010.

Will try and come back to this later.

TBagpuss

I think it does depend a bit on exactly what the health form asked, but it seems to me that the appropriate response is likely to be along the lines of

"I think there must be a misunderstanding. I did not disclose a knee problem when I filled in the form as as I didn't have one when I filled in the form. I, in the past, had a single incidence of a temporary, short term problem which had been investigated and showed no underlying problem. There was there for nothing to declare when I competed the forms. My understanding of the form was that it required disclosure of any existing medical issues.

Last week I had a different and wholly unrelated issue which happened to cause a similar sort of pain."

She can definitely say that she had an MRI which showed no issues with the knee, in the past, and that she is happy to provide medical evidence to confirm that.

I'd agree that they probably are not threatening dismissal - it's fairly common to have a letter that says, in effect, that nothing is ruled out and that the disciplinary could result in sanctions up to dismissal.

I agree with the recommendation to make her social media accounts private and not to 'friend' her bosses or colleagues.

FBaby

If she has a copy of the letter stating the outcome of the MRI from 5 years ago and confirming that nothing was find, then that's her evidence. I would share that with them asap.

inspirespirit

ohreally wrote: »

This may already be in breach of EA 2010.

Will try and come back to this later.

That is interesting. I am trying to put a letter together for her and this might be something I could add in it.

elsien

ohreally wrote: »

This may already be in breach of EA 2010.

Will try and come back to this later.

On what grounds? On the face of it, there aren't any protected characteristics involved?

LilElvis

inspirespirit wrote: »

That is interesting. I am trying to put a letter together for her and this might be something I could add in it.

Personally I wouldn't go anywhere near that at this stage as it could appear confrontational as it isn't germane to the perceived failure to disclose. As others have said, she simply needs to explain the facts of her two, unrelated, issues with her knee.