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Cottage_Economy

Can anyone offer some advice on what we should do next?

My DH tore a leg muscle last Thursday, saw a GP Friday who suspected full tear, Physio today has confirmed (luckily) a partial tear and begun rehabilitating it.

DH is a postman (he did not injure his leg on duty). Physio has said that DH can return to work on crutches for light sorting duties from Friday onwards but obviously cannot do his walking round for many weeks to come, but less obvious and unexpected was that he cannot drive, even short distances, and cannot stand.

That last one is a problem. After speaking to the Office Manager today he has been told he is no use in the office unless he can stand to sort packets, that there are no seated jobs, so there may not be any point him coming in and to stay at home. The Office Manager is going to speak to his superior and see if there is anything that can be sorted out but thinks it unlikely.

We believe he is expecting DH to stay at home unpaid until he is given clearance by the Physio to stand, and we have no idea how long that will take.

What are the employment guidelines on this please?

Should he defy the physio and stand to work? Should he take a week or two's annual leave? Should he turn up for work on Friday and say "you must find me something"?

We have no idea how to go forward with this or what to suggest as a compromise as neither of us have ever been off sick with anything requiring restrictive duties.

Carrot007

They do not have to find him something (so no he cadictate what he can do), but if he is declared unfit to work what is available he should not.


The company insurance would likely not cover him if somerthing occured so they should not let him unless they decalre him fit though their own doctor. (which they can ask him to see).


He should not voluntarily taker it unpaid either, he is entilted to sick pay per his contract (which may well be statutory and not from his employer).


He should really not be allowed to take it as holiday either. he is sick. But fair to allow it (I guess) if he gets no more than stat sick pay.


His manager should be talking to HR not his manager.

Cottage_Economy

Carrot007 wrote: »

They do not have to find him something (so no he cadictate what he can do), but if he is declared unfit to work what is available he should not.


The company insurance would likely not cover him if somerthing occured so they should not let him unless they decalre him fit though their own doctor. (which they can ask him to see).


He should not voluntarily taker it unpaid either, he is entilted to sick pay per his contract (which may well be statutory and not from his employer).


He should really not be allowed to take it as holiday either. he is sick. But fair to allow it (I guess) if he gets no more than stat sick pay.


His manager should be talking to HR not his manager.

So, are we saying that if there is no work he is fit to do, then he is not fit to work?

Would it be simpler for DH to go back to the GP tomorrow and get signed off for another 7 days? That way he can update RM next Wednesday after his next Physio appointment and, if cleared to stand then, go in and do a standing job.

ohreally

One for union assistance given the management response. Perhaps medical suspension could be looked at.

I think there are some RM guys on here who could advise on policy.

Cottage_Economy

ohreally wrote: »

One for union assistance given the management response. Perhaps medical suspension could be looked at.

I think there are some RM guys on here who could advise on policy.

Thanks ohreally. We hadn't considered medical suspension. I guess that could be a reason why the Office Manager has to talk to his superior.

We have the union rep's number so DH will give him a call if the conversation with the manager does not go well tomorrow.

System

Cottage_Economy wrote: »

So, are we saying that if there is no work he is fit to do, then he is not fit to work?

Yes, imagine your employer is a building firm - there's no other jobs than laying bricks, but you can't because you've got an injury. Are you expecting the employer to pay for you when there's no work for you? They may wish to keep a good employee for a while, knowing they'll come good, however my guess is that eventually there will be a parting of ways.



If you sustained the injury at work...different story.

Cottage_Economy

andydownes123 wrote: »

Yes, imagine your employer is a building firm - there's no other jobs than laying bricks, but you can't because you've got an injury. Are you expecting the employer to pay for you when there's no work for you? They may wish to keep a good employee for a while, knowing they'll come good, however my guess is that eventually there will be a parting of ways.

I think you're being a little over-dramatic.

It's five days post a small tear, which will come good in a few weeks with rehab, not a career-threatening illness that's been dragging on for months.

There actually is sitting work that we know about - it is possible to sort up frames for posties who are on days off/annual leave/sick leave - but for some reason that has not been suggested. DH intends to suggest that tomorrow.

ReadingTim

Cottage_Economy wrote: »

I think you're being a little over-dramatic.

It's five days post a small tear, which will come good in a few weeks with rehab, not a career-threatening illness that's been dragging on for months..

Err....that's not quite how you first described it:

Cottage_Economy wrote: »

DH is a postman (he did not injure his leg on duty). Physio has said that DH can return to work on crutches for light sorting duties from Friday onwards but obviously cannot do his walking round for many weeks to come, but less obvious and unexpected was that he cannot drive, even short distances, and cannot stand.

We believe he is expecting DH to stay at home unpaid until he is given clearance by the Physio to stand, and we have no idea how long that will take.

So, while it hasn't yet been dragging on for months, there's nothing to suggest, based on what you've said, that it won't... Furthermore, as the injury didn't happen at work, perhaps their sense of obligation is somewhat less than what it might have been had he fallen over (or whatever) on the job.

Also, what's his working relationship with management like? What's his overall performance like? Sometimes in instances like these, there's more discretion or flexibility shown to those who are more well-regarded by management than perhaps they'd extent to (shall we say) more 'troublesome' employees....

Cottage_Economy

ReadingTim wrote: »

So, while it hasn't yet been dragging on for months, there's nothing to suggest, based on what you've said, that it won't... Furthermore, as the injury didn't happen at work, perhaps their sense of obligation is somewhat less than what it might have been had he fallen over (or whatever) on the job.

Also, what's his working relationship with management like? What's his overall performance like? Sometimes in instances like these, there's more discretion or flexibility shown to those who are more well-regarded by management than perhaps they'd extent to (shall we say) more 'troublesome' employees....

The physio did not want to give us a definite time frame. Despite asking him to allow us to give RM some kind of idea he didn't want to. He said just for our information if everything went well he should be ok in about 4- 6 weeks but that was a guideline for a grade 2 partial tear and based on many factors, including how diligently DH did his exercise, him resting his leg as instructed, not lifting/doing anything that could compromise his recovery, etc., etc. He didn't feel comfortable with us giving that commitment to the managers until DH so soon after the initial injury until he has a couple more sessions under his belt. He did not indicate any timescales for driving or standing, but then it is only five days post-trauma. As of next week he is going to be given exercises to do so he could be given the go ahead then. Or not. Who knows.

His working relationship with management is excellent and he is well regarded. He always goes out of his way to ensure he completes his round every day and not bring any mail back. Over 25 years service he has had four incidences of sick leave, collectively lasting less than a month (things like flu, salmonella, etc). He has gone out of his way to keep work up to date every day on his condition and while he could have asked for a sick note for a further week, recognised that they would be short-staffed and made himself available to do anything he could to help out within the limitations he's been instructed to stay within.

System

Cottage_Economy wrote: »

...but obviously cannot do his walking round for many weeks to come, but less obvious and unexpected was that he cannot drive, even short distances, and cannot stand.


...given clearance by the Physio to stand, and we have no idea how long that will take.

Dramatic? Get your story straight mate :T

Cottage_Economy

andydownes123 wrote: »

Dramatic? Get your story straight mate :T

It is straight thanks, I've already explain in my last post (which you haven't read yet) about not being able to give specific timings to management on being able to stand and drive based on what the physio told us but it may, if all goes textbook, be 4-6 weeks to recovery and being back on delivery based on the standard treatment for a grade 2 partial tear. It may be as early as next week to stand and drive if the physio says. We just have to wait.

When I said dramatic, I referred to your comment:

They may wish to keep a good employee for a while, knowing they'll come good, however my guess is that eventually there will be a parting of ways.

Talk about Chicken Little. Very premature to be predicting a job loss.

After speaking to the office manager today, he's been thanked for his efforts and asked to get a sick note for the next 7 days. They're already accommodating someone on restricted duties, hence there being nothing for him to do at the moment. If that person wasn't there, he would have been able to go in. He's to ring in after his physio appt next week to give them an update. In the meantime, he's giving his union rep a ring to update him about what is going on, just in case it is needed.

So for the moment, that is it until next Wednesday.