Return to work whilst waiting on grievance outcome

Tomtwins

Hi,
I  am in a grievance process with my line manager, and I have been signed off with stress during this.
I am still awaiting the grievance outcome, but as I am on SSP I would now like to return to work. My outcome was to be placed with another line manager. 

On speaking to my employers, they said my only options are 1. Still sign off work sick (on SSP) until the grievance outcome. Which could be months. Or 2. To return back to work, but with my current line manager who I have the grievance with.
What are my rights here?

KatrinaWaves

Your grievance may not be upheld, so moving you would be premature.

Your rights are as above. You cannot strong arm them with rights because you do not wish to be off work whilst not being fully paid. Usually you go back to work when you are no longer sick, not just because you are now on less pay... 

Tomtwins

Thanks Katrina,
I was off sick due to stress that was caused by my line manager, and which led me to have a mini stroke and rushed to hospital. 

I feel fine to go back to work now, but for obvious reasons, I do not want to return to my current line manager. Not only for concerns for my own health but it would be very uncomfortable as I have a grievance against him. 
I have also been told it could jeopardise any grievance appeals, as I would be accepting his working ethics.
I have done nothing wrong here, yet I feel I am being unfairly treated. All I want to do is go back to work in a safe, healthy working environment.  

JReacher1

It sounds horrible but nothing has been proven against your manager so it would be unfair to move you off his team as it implies your manager is guilty before the grievance process has ended.  As a result your options appear to be either stay off work and get paid sick pay or return to work for your manager while the grievance is ongoing. 

I don’t think you are being unfairly treated though. 

While this process is ongoing I would have thought it likely that your manager will try and have as little to do with you as possible. 

When do you expect the grievance review to be held?

John_

Tomtwins said:

Hi,
I  am in a grievance process with my line manager, and I have been signed off with stress during this.
I am still awaiting the grievance outcome, but as I am on SSP I would now like to return to work. My outcome was to be placed with another line manager. 

On speaking to my employers, they said my only options are 1. Still sign off work sick (on SSP) until the grievance outcome. Which could be months. Or 2. To return back to work, but with my current line manager who I have the grievance with.
What are my rights here?

If you have been off sick then the decision as to whether to return or not needs to be based on whether you are still too unwell to work, not on how much you are being paid.
You have the right to return to work, to resign, or to take the company’s offer of staying signed off sick, as irregular as that sounds.

Tomtwins

I had the grievance hearing 2 months ago and now waiting on the outcome. The grievance manager, who is investigating the case, is waiting for HR to send out the letter. He has completed his investigations.
i asked if I could have a temporary line manager, whilst this was ongoing, but this was refused. 

Thanks everyone for your input. 

I don’t want to be signed off sick again, but the thought of going back to my line manager is not an option.  

To be honest, I do sometimes wish I never started this process, but I felt very strongly that his behaviour is not acceptable, not just towards me, but to other colleagues.

k3lvc

Tomtwins said:

I was off sick due to stress that was caused by my line manager, and which led me to have a mini stroke and rushed to hospital. 

Is this your definition or supported by a Doctors note showing this as the cause ?
What do your occupational health/HR function say about this ?

ETA How long have you worked there ?

Takeaway_Addict

Tomtwins said:

I had the grievance hearing 2 months ago and now waiting on the outcome. The grievance manager, who is investigating the case, is waiting for HR to send out the letter. He has completed his investigations.
i asked if I could have a temporary line manager, whilst this was ongoing, but this was refused. 

Thanks everyone for your input. 

I don’t want to be signed off sick again, but the thought of going back to my line manager is not an option.  

To be honest, I do sometimes wish I never started this process, but I felt very strongly that his behaviour is not acceptable, not just towards me, but to other colleagues.

You are presuming that you are found to be correct.... have you made any plans as to what to do if not?

nicechap

Tomtwins said:

I had the grievance hearing 2 months ago and now waiting on the outcome. The grievance manager, who is investigating the case, is waiting for HR to send out the letter. He has completed his investigations.
i asked if I could have a temporary line manager, whilst this was ongoing, but this was refused. 

Thanks everyone for your input. 

I don’t want to be signed off sick again, but the thought of going back to my line manager is not an option.  

To be honest, I do sometimes wish I never started this process, but I felt very strongly that his behaviour is not acceptable, not just towards me, but to other colleagues.

What's your plan should they uphold your grievance but tackle it through, say, H&S refresher training in that particular area, and leave them as your manager?  

Grievances aren't generally about picking and choosing who manages you. 

TELLIT01

Moving the OP to a different team whilst the grievance is being investigated is not an admission by the company that the original manager has done anything wrong.  It is simply a pragmatic approach to avoid further issues in the period until a decision is made.

That said, it might not be practical to do for business reasons.  The OP certainly can't demand to be placed with a different manager.

Tomtwins

k3lvc said:

Tomtwins said:

I was off sick due to stress that was caused by my line manager, and which led me to have a mini stroke and rushed to hospital. 

Is this your definition or supported by a Doctors note showing this as the cause ?
What do your occupational health/HR function say about this ?

ETA How long have you worked there ?

Hi, I had several tests, MRI, blood tests, CT scan and Ultrasound during the week after the mini stroke, and all was fine. The consultant mentioned it could be stress related and told me to sign off work for 2 weeks. I informed my manager, and his main concern was for me to get back to work. Which I did, 4 days after. I wasn’t allowed to drive for 3 weeks, but my manager insisted I drive in with a colleague. He did not report it to OH or HR. I eventually went off work sick with stress 1 month after, and i asked him to inform OH and HR.
i have worked there for 2 years.