Broken foot - expected to work

od244051

My friend works for a clothing retailer and got two stress fractures in one of her feet and is wearing a walking Her work involves being on feet all day - putting delivery out, serving on tills etc.

Now she has a walking boot and requires rest. Yet her boss expects her to work. No such thing as light duties or sitting down to do any work

She’s currently on 10 days leave.

Is her boss being unreasonable?

Kim_kim

od244051 wrote: »

My friend works for a clothing retailer and got two stress fractures in one of her feet and is wearing a walking Her work involves being on feet all day - putting delivery out, serving on tills etc.

Now she has a walking boot and requires rest. Yet her boss expects her to work. No such thing as light duties or sitting down to do any work

She’s currently on 10 days leave.

Is her boss being unreasonable?

Could she sit behind the till on a stool?

Undervalued

od244051 wrote: »

My friend works for a clothing retailer and got two stress fractures in one of her feet and is wearing a walking Her work involves being on feet all day - putting delivery out, serving on tills etc.

Now she has a walking boot and requires rest. Yet her boss expects her to work. No such thing as light duties or sitting down to do any work

She’s currently on 10 days leave.

Is her boss being unreasonable?

Her doctor needs to say if she is unfit for any work or if she is fit to do certain duties maybe with some adjustments.

However the employer does not have to agree to any reduced duties or adjustments and is entitled to say "do your full job or stay off sick". He cannot force her to attend if she is signed off sick but does not have to pay anything more than SSP (assuming she qualifies).

If she is off longer term he may be able to take steps to dismiss her.

connors07

Health should come first. Legally no the employer can do considerably little for your friend; situations like this comes down to integrity of managers and employers. A stress fracture in the foot needs to be rested and elevated. A basic stress fracture takes weeks to heal. A stress fracture can even need surgery if it is displaced. You get one chance to heal properly from injuries. I manage a team of staff, we're on our feet all day and even though there is some 'sit down' job fillers available that isn't good enough. The foot needs to be up not down. I would not want any of my staff in with such an injury.

Her boss is being unreasonable and no legalities will make me believe otherwise. A boss is there to look after and support the staff to do the job. Pains me when managers are so unsupportive. They would get so much more out of their teams if they did the right thing for them.

Hauzen

connors07 wrote: »

Health should come first. Legally no the employer can do considerably little for your friend; situations like this comes down to integrity of managers and employers. A stress fracture in the foot needs to be rested and elevated. A basic stress fracture takes weeks to heal. A stress fracture can even need surgery if it is displaced. You get one chance to heal properly from injuries. I manage a team of staff, we're on our feet all day and even though there is some 'sit down' job fillers available that isn't good enough. The foot needs to be up not down. I would not want any of my staff in with such an injury.

Her boss is being unreasonable and no legalities will make me believe otherwise. A boss is there to look after and support the staff to do the job. Pains me when managers are so unsupportive. They would get so much more out of their teams if they did the right thing for them.

Before we can criticize the boss, like Undervalued says we need to know if the friend has a GP fit note stating the extent of the injury and what tasks could be done with adjustments.

If a fit note is in place statimg "unfit for work" then the friend has certifiable reason not to be at work and can remain off for the duration of this. If the fit note states particular adjustments are required for her to be at work, then happy days if the boss agrees to them. If the boss doesn't agree to them, then again the friend can remain off for the duration. Presumably if friend has had professional medical treatment then such paperwork will be available.

If no fit note in place, boss would reasonably expect the employee to undertake all duties as before until certified otherwise (anyone could turn up with all sorts of weird and wonderful casts or contraptions on their person to get out of onerous work tasks).

Is there a GP fit note?

Undervalued

connors07 wrote: »

Health should come first. Legally no the employer can do considerably little for your friend; situations like this comes down to integrity of managers and employers. A stress fracture in the foot needs to be rested and elevated. A basic stress fracture takes weeks to heal. A stress fracture can even need surgery if it is displaced. You get one chance to heal properly from injuries. I manage a team of staff, we're on our feet all day and even though there is some 'sit down' job fillers available that isn't good enough. The foot needs to be up not down. I would not want any of my staff in with such an injury.

Her boss is being unreasonable and no legalities will make me believe otherwise. A boss is there to look after and support the staff to do the job. Pains me when managers are so unsupportive. They would get so much more out of their teams if they did the right thing for them.

Which is all very nice but doesn't help in the slightest unless the boss is actually doing anything unlawful!

ReadingTim

connors07 wrote: »

Health should come first. Legally no the employer can do considerably little for your friend; situations like this comes down to integrity of managers and employers. A stress fracture in the foot needs to be rested and elevated. A basic stress fracture takes weeks to heal. A stress fracture can even need surgery if it is displaced. You get one chance to heal properly from injuries. I manage a team of staff, we're on our feet all day and even though there is some 'sit down' job fillers available that isn't good enough. The foot needs to be up not down. I would not want any of my staff in with such an injury.

Her boss is being unreasonable and no legalities will make me believe otherwise. A boss is there to look after and support the staff to do the job. Pains me when managers are so unsupportive. They would get so much more out of their teams if they did the right thing for them.

OP - suggest your mate get a job with this bloke - he's a right soft touch and believes any old sob story - she won't even need a doctor's note as he'll swallow it hook, line and sinker. She can literally sit back and wait to be paid with him. Happy days!

yksi

While I sympathise with the person with the broken foot, they would be useless in my work (a convenience store) and it is NOT reasonable to expect a manager to pay someone who can only do a small proportion of the tasks required. Not every place of employment is able to be flexible or can afford to throw money down the drain to be nice to an employee while they have a sore foot. The boss is well within their rights to say that if you're back at work, you do all the normal tasks, otherwise, stay home and someone else will do the work.

Look at it from the other side. Why does your friend think it's ok to do half as much work and still get paid the same while so much of the job doesn't get done? It has nothing to do with the unfortunate injury but whether they're getting a fair exchange for their effort.

connors07

ReadingTim wrote: »

OP - suggest your mate get a job with this bloke - he's a right soft touch and believes any old sob story - she won't even need a doctor's note as he'll swallow it hook, line and sinker. She can literally sit back and wait to be paid with him. Happy days!

Far from a soft touch just not a moron. Any old sob story... You do understand the person originally posting this is a friend of the person with the fractures and not her boss? Lies to a friend regarding an injury are of zero worth to anyone. You know clowns still do a roaring trade; little point in you doing it for free online.

OBVIOUSLY a sick note would be necessary. A pretty fundamental basic.

Back to the point. The manager doesn't have to be remotely helpful; its down to his and the companies integrity. If she has a manager called Tim based in Reading I'd advise looking for a higher calibre of person to work for.

andygb

I have been on this forum for a long time and it never ceases to amaze me, the number of people who post sarky replies to a genuine first post.
Thank heavens there are people with empathy like you.
The OP's boss is indeed a heartless person, like someone out of a Dickensian novel.

KatrinaWaves

andygb wrote: »

I have been on this forum for a long time and it never ceases to amaze me, the number of people who post sarky replies to a genuine first post.
Thank heavens there are people with empathy like you.
The OP's boss is indeed a heartless person, like someone out of a Dickensian novel.

Hardly. If the job doesnt involve 'sitting down and resting' then the boss doesnt have to allow her to sit down and rest. She can be off sick and get whatever sick pay she gets, or she can do her full job and get full pay. There does not have to be an inbetween light duties full pay job.