Help - what are my rights, Signed off for over 4 years and still employed

Donna8

Hi there

I have a rather unique issue I think whereby I have been off sick from work for 4 1/2 years due to depression and anxiety etc.  I am still an employee and receive my benefits (private health insurance).  I have had no contact from my firm for the past 16 months and I have been sending my sick certificates in but not a word.

It is now affecting my mental health considerably more and I belief my firm are trying to push me into contacting them to determine what is happening.  Additionally if I make the first contact they could lower any redundacy or illness retirement (50 y.o).  I have been in this job for 30 years.

If anyone has any information or similar scenarios that I could digest, I would really appreciate it

Thanks in advance

KatrinaWaves

Donna8 said:

Hi there

I have a rather unique issue I think whereby I have been off sick from work for 4 1/2 years due to depression and anxiety etc.  I am still an employee and receive my benefits (private health insurance).  I have had no contact from my firm for the past 16 months and I have been sending my sick certificates in but not a word.

It is now affecting my mental health considerably more and I belief my firm are trying to push me into contacting them to determine what is happening.  Additionally if I make the first contact they could lower any redundacy or illness retirement (50 y.o).  I have been in this job for 30 years.

If anyone has any information or similar scenarios that I could digest, I would really appreciate it

Thanks in advance

What do you mean 'if I make first contact, they could lower any redundancy' etc

What do you want from your employer? An acknowledgement of the sick notes? A chat and a catch up? Have you ever told them what you want them to do?

I assume with the private insurance they are not actually paying you, but the insurance is, and with you being off for so long they will have had to 'move on' as it were and fill your position and get on with their work. What do you want from them?

lincroft1710

What do you want to happen?

Donna8

Basically they could say that I have been in contact with them and wish to push for an exit.

I know that I will not be going back to work, this has been confirmed by my mental health team as I am not fit enough.

Ultimately I want to get the best deal financially and leave and thats correct I am not receiving any salary from for the past 3.5 years

lincroft1710

They can just dismiss you on capability grounds. As you haven't been working you cannot expect to receive any salary. From what you have posted unless there is a company pension scheme which allows you to retire on ill health grounds,  I cannot see there will be any financial deal to be done

oh_really

The exit process can start regardless.

I'd keep silent and continue as is.

Do you think your mental health  would improve with a dismissal?

Keep quiet and look at improving your MH.

MovingForwards

Do you know how long this policy will pay out for? As if it's 5 years, 10 years etc, that's when the capability process will start.

There was a thread a while ago where a guy was off work for years, had exhausted the company sick pay, think he had SSP and then the policy like you have. He was very concerned his employer had suddenly contacted him after years of no contact.
Might be worth trying to find that thread or one of the other members may recall it. I never commented on it otherwise I would search through all my posts.

Dox

Donna8 said:

It is now affecting my mental health considerably more and I belief my firm are trying to push me into contacting them to determine what is happening.  

Why is that so unreasonable? And how are they 'pushing' you? They seem to be doing the decent thing and giving you plenty of space to deal with your issues.

Donna8 said:

Additionally if I make the first contact they could lower any redundacy or illness retirement (50 y.o).  I have been in this job for 30 years.

What makes you think that?

It's unclear what you want. Please could you clarify? Your title is 'What are my rights?' but you seem to be getting them: continued private medical cover albeit with no sick pay. If you qualify for ill health retirement, there is no minimum age under pensions legislation. 

comeandgo

You don't get redundancy by being off long term sick.  I imagine there is someone in doing your job.  Your employer can just sack you as you are no longer able to do your job or any job, they have no need to keep you on.  How about your pension?  Does it pay out early if you leave due to ill health?

Dox

MovingForwards said:

Do you know how long this policy will pay out for? As if it's 5 years, 10 years etc, that's when the capability process will start.

There was a thread a while ago where a guy was off work for years, had exhausted the company sick pay, think he had SSP and then the policy like you have. He was very concerned his employer had suddenly contacted him after years of no contact.
Might be worth trying to find that thread or one of the other members may recall it. I never commented on it otherwise I would search through all my posts.

It's private medical cover, not permanent health insurance, if I've correctly understood OP's post. If there's an ongoing claim under a PHI policy, normally the insurers would almost certainly be in touch on a regular basis to see how they can 'help' the claimant to return to work. Regular medicals in a case of this sort would certainly feature.

TELLIT01

If the OP has been off sick for 4 1/2 years it suggests that the employer isn't exactly pushing hard.  I suspect the OP actually means permanent health insurance as medical cover wouldn't be paying out each month.  I am also not clear what the OP is expecting of the company.  They presumably know there is no likelihood of the OP returning to work, and will have known that for some time.  There may be a cost involved in terminating employment, I don't know, so there would be even less incentive for the company to take any action.