Can my employer do this?

kingfisherblue

1. Your job is an administrator. Most of the tasks that you posted are admin jobs.

2. If you are also a key worker, then presumably you have had an enhanced DBS check. If not, you should not be working directly with vulnerable people. Most admin jobs do not require DBS checks, although some might, due to the confidential issues that you may come across during your work. You wouldn't need a DBS for typing up policies though. Have you had a DBS?

3. It sounds as though you work for a care agency or similar. If there are any unsafe practices, or any that you suspect may be unsafe, then you have a legal duty to report them to the CQC and the local council Safeguarding team. Even without the legal duty, surely you would have a moral obligation, as unsafe practices could have potentially dangerous effects on service users.



Please contact your local Safeguarding team to report your concerns. That is by far the most important issue at the moment.

Wildcat1990

Thank you all. I will report. I believe the company has a whistleblowing policy. I should know after all !!!128540; so worst case scenario (for myself) CQC can’t find anything. Best case they do and sort it.

I did have a read on ACAS regarding holiday during sick leave that said sick pay has to be topped up to holiday pay. It was titled “what should a worker be paid if they take holiday during a period of sick absence?” I have a screenshot but no link sadly.



Finally regarding the cancelling itself, from my research if they want to cancel it I believe they have to give the holiday time as notice. Ie to cancel a three day holiday they have to give three days notice.
I’d taken 23/7 to 5/8 as holiday. I’d nipped in on 27/7 to give the sick note for previous week and that’s when I was informed she would not be allowing it and instead I’d have to accept sick pay.

Wildcat1990

Kingfisher I have an enhanced DBS don!!!8217;t worry.
It!!!8217;s nothing on the care side. It!!!8217;s the documents. She had me in for a huge amount of overtime the days before the last inspection to do some type ups and I!!!8217;m starting to worry that the stuff I typed was then dated differently and potentially fraudulently signed to ensure audits were up to date (wasn!!!8217;t my role back then) and it looked like reviews had been done. I!!!8217;m scared I!!!8217;ll be penalised for not saying anything sooner when really it!!!8217;s something I!!!8217;ve been thinking about more and more as times gone on.
Plus also the thought that I had to do overtime in the double figures over two days prior to an inspection also makes me question things. If I!!!8217;d refused to do overtime would the inspection have passed? Doubtful.

sangie595

I believe you have misread that. That advice would be correct if you were already on sick leave and wished to take holiday- so usually for the long term sick. It doesn't apply to your circumstances. You have definitely misread the issue around canceling leave. The employer hasn't canceled leave at all. You effectively did, by handing in a sick note that covered that period. They could have, and might still, choose to pay the holiday pay, with your agreement- but they did not have to. As in the article I have quoted above.

Dox

Silvertabby wrote: »

Wildcat - you seem to think that you have been given all this extra work on top of what had been your original job description. You haven't - it's just that your job description has been widened.

Unless you have more than one pair of hands you can only do one job at a time. You just need to prioritise your daily tasks, and concentrate on the most important ones. If your boss asks you why you haven't done X, then say that that you haven't done X because you had been busy dealing with the more urgent Y.

If he/she has a problem with that, then it's time to move on. As someone has already pointed out, all this experience is giving you a cracking CV.

Agree with all the above, but perhaps I could add one further thought. If you can't get through all you have been given to do, ask your boss how she would like the tasks prioritised, because you'd like to ensure that the things she feels are most pressing are done first(!).

Wildcat1990

She wants them all done at once haha.
As for the holiday the sick note covered the week before. Not the time of the holiday. My issue there is she!!!8217;s telling me during my holiday that I now have to get a sick note for that too as I was off with one the week prior.

Apologies I was rambling before I was frightened.

I!!!8217;m looking now at what I can control.

The holiday she cannot go back on after it had already started.
I can ring Cqc with my concerns.
I!!!8217;m looking into support now in leaving without being penalised by universal credit. The sick leave was due to mental health so I feel I should not be working with someone with mental illness when my own is fragile.


So rather than focus on all the worries I!!!8217;m looking at the points that I can do something about.

sangie595

If it is your companies policy that you must return to work before holiday starts, then she most certainly can "go back on it"- such a policy is quite common and perfectly lawful. It's hardly unusual for employees to become sick before or after a holiday, and employers don't trust such illness.

I can see no evidence whatsoever that your boss has a mental illness, and this is the first you have mentioned it. I am going to reiterate that I can see absolutely nothing at all here that is unlawful or wrong at this moment in time. It seems that all she had asked you to do is to work; and that she needs to check the holiday position with HR. Nor have you evidenced that there is any abuse or irregularities of clients - "what if I hadn't worked overtime?" isn't, and nor is backdating a couple of documents.

To be perfectly honest, you are making serious allegations over things that appear to be nothing, complaining about your workload, and complaining that she wants to talk to HR to check the situation. Right now she's sounding perfectly reasonable. You are not!

If you don't like the workload or the pay, do what everyone else must do and get a better job. Unless you have something that actually is serious, don't make spurious complaints about the employers conduct or you may find that really does rebound on you. And ask her if she had spoken to HR and what they have said. At this moment in time it doesn't appear that there is anything to go on - what you "don't like" and what is unlawful are different things, and there a lot of the former and little of the latter being evidenced right now. Maybe when you get a response from HR there's more advice we could offer. But right now I'm at a loss to see what you can realistically expect.

clairec79

Were you off sick, then two weeks leave and then straight back off sick again?

Because if so then I can see their point in that you were in fact sick for the period inbetween

If you were off sick, then went on leave then came back to work not so much (but did you contact them to tell them you were no longer sick)

ohreally

You're off sick and therefore on sick leave until your GP signs you fit to return.

Savvy_Sue

to be fair, I read the situation as the OP is expected to provide some kind of care / keywork for someone with a mental illness, rather than them saying the boss has a mental illness.