Stressed in job, don't think it's possible to continue.

mickym

Hi.

I'm writing this on behalf of my wife.

She has always been employed bespite having some learning difficulties that has meant certain tasks are tricky for her to undertake. Despite her difficulties she has been working a professional job for best part of 20 years within a certain area of healthcare. And has been in her current job for over a year.

Her job holds quite a bit of responsibility for patient safety but is under pressure at work to see lots of patients, so much so she had accidently stabbed herself with an instrument that has led to having blood tests to ensure she didn't contact anything.

Her employer hasn't really asked if she has been ok after this happened. They even make her clock out of work (i.e not paid) to goto the hospital to have her tests done.

For a a good few months after this she worked with other staff and things were a little less stressful (not by much!), But has now been put back into working in same environment where she had her accident.

She has been told by management last week that she needs to speed up which my wife feels impossible to do so in a safe way for both herself and patients.

This along with many other aspects that have increased her stress levels meant she came home last week absolutely in bits which I have never seen her like, and I really don't think any job is worth being that upset for and making her ill.

Im taking her to the GP to explain her situation and how stressed she is.

If the GP signs her off for stress how does that affect any notice period she has to give and looking for a new job?

Can she look for a new job whilst signed off sick?

Can she be signed off sick for her notice period(I believe is 4 weeks).

Also are the current employer under any duty to ensure they give a good reference as my wife is worried that they may be awkward due to her taking time off / leaving the job. She has always done the tasks well that she has been asked to do and never had any disciplinaries etc.

KatrinaWaves

Notice period is not affected by sickness, but the company may allow a shorter notice period to stop paying sickness to an absent employee.

If she is too sick to work she can be sick on her notice. She can apply for other jobs but the company may get ‘stricter’ with their sick pay and policies if they feel she is using the sickness as a way to get free time for this.

They can mention the sickness in their reference. They are under no obligation to give a ‘good’ reference is simply has to be accurate. So, both ‘resigned after taking sick leave’ is as acceptable as ‘X was a wonderful worker who did everything we asked of her.’

jonnygee2

She has always been employed bespite having some learning difficulties that has meant certain tasks are tricky for her to undertake. Despite her difficulties she has been working a professional job for best part of 20 years within a certain area of healthcare. And has been in her current job for over a year.

Her job holds quite a bit of responsibility for patient safety but is under pressure at work to see lots of patients

Do her learning difficulties fall under disability legislation, and if so is her employer explicitly aware of this?

In many cases (not all), the lowering of targets for someone with a disability would be a reasonable adjustment, and trying to hold someone to the same targets as a fully able person might count as discrimination.

If it hasn't been approached already, and it's a disability, I'd be trying to get the target for number of patients to be seen individualised for her, taking into account the disability.

Savvy_Sue

I assume she is in a union and it would be worth approaching them for support with the challenge to speed up. If it cannot be done safely, they should be able to support her.