Mental health & left job

ashpan

A young family member has recently developed severe mental health issues and as a result has walked out of her job, she asked for leave of absence and they declined.  She is highly qualified and diligent and they have said they will pay her a bonus??
She is not making good choices at the moment and could easily have taken extended sick leave but as a result of her issues is not thinking clearly.  She is not in a union.
I have advised her that this may seem the only option right now but she will soon have no money to pay her rent (over £1000 a month) and possibly be homeless.  She will not listen to this and any further discussions are stressing her out further.
I feel she should withdraw her resignation (stating her mental health as the reason for poor decisions) and get sick leave cover from her GP, shes been there just under a year.  What benefits can she access etc?? 

feeling helpless......

Takeaway_Addict

She can ask to withdraw her resignation but they're not obliged to accept. Your Family member may then need to go through a tribunal to determine whether this is lawful or not. However given she has nothing to lose she might as well try if that is how she is inclined.

However it seems that your family member isn't in the right mind to do this.

Not sure on benefits but all you can do is be there to support and gently nudge in the right direction. As with anything though make sure your help to the family member is not at a mental cost to you.

Undervalued

ashpan said:

A young family member has recently developed severe mental health issues and as a result has walked out of her job, she asked for leave of absence and they declined.  She is highly qualified and diligent and they have said they will pay her a bonus??
She is not making good choices at the moment and could easily have taken extended sick leave but as a result of her issues is not thinking clearly.  She is not in a union.
I have advised her that this may seem the only option right now but she will soon have no money to pay her rent (over £1000 a month) and possibly be homeless.  She will not listen to this and any further discussions are stressing her out further.
I feel she should withdraw her resignation (stating her mental health as the reason for poor decisions) and get sick leave cover from her GP, shes been there just under a year.  What benefits can she access etc?? 

feeling helpless......

The firm might agree to her doing this but they don't have to.

With less than two years employment her rights were fairly limited. Whilst mental health issues can amount to a disability (for employment law purposes) it is not automatic. Even if it did it would only require the firm to make "reasonable adjustments" which only go so far. You mention "extended sick leave" but how much would the firm have tolerated?

In any case this is all moot unless they agree to allow her to withdraw her resignation. 

Marcon

ashpan said:

A young family member has recently developed severe mental health issues and as a result has walked out of her job, she asked for leave of absence and they declined.  She is highly qualified and diligent and they have said they will pay her a bonus??
She is not making good choices at the moment and could easily have taken extended sick leave but as a result of her issues is not thinking clearly.  She is not in a union.
I have advised her that this may seem the only option right now but she will soon have no money to pay her rent (over £1000 a month) and possibly be homeless.  She will not listen to this and any further discussions are stressing her out further.
I feel she should withdraw her resignation (stating her mental health as the reason for poor decisions) and get sick leave cover from her GP, shes been there just under a year.  What benefits can she access etc?? 

feeling helpless......

I wouldn't bank on that. You have been on sick leave for over 6 months but you work for a local authority, plus you had much longer service than your relative, so it may be she is entitled to little more than SSP. Alternatively, her employer may simply decide to terminate her employment on capability grounds, although the fact they've offered to pay her a bonus (sounds a bit odd) suggests otherwise. If she is indeed seen as valuable, then it's a little strange they wouldn't agree to leave of absence - presumably unpaid, but who knows?

Bear in mind you probably won't have been given an accurate account of events if this young lady is in such a state. There probably isn't much you can do while she is incapable of listening, except stick around to offer support when she feels able to accept it.

Undervalued

Marcon said:

ashpan said:

A young family member has recently developed severe mental health issues and as a result has walked out of her job, she asked for leave of absence and they declined.  She is highly qualified and diligent and they have said they will pay her a bonus??
She is not making good choices at the moment and could easily have taken extended sick leave but as a result of her issues is not thinking clearly.  She is not in a union.
I have advised her that this may seem the only option right now but she will soon have no money to pay her rent (over £1000 a month) and possibly be homeless.  She will not listen to this and any further discussions are stressing her out further.
I feel she should withdraw her resignation (stating her mental health as the reason for poor decisions) and get sick leave cover from her GP, shes been there just under a year.  What benefits can she access etc?? 

feeling helpless......

I wouldn't bank on that. You have been on sick leave for over 6 months but you work for a local authority, plus you had much longer service than your relative, so it may be she is entitled to little more than SSP. Alternatively, her employer may simply decide to terminate her employment on capability grounds, although the fact they've offered to pay her a bonus (sounds a bit odd) suggests otherwise. If she is indeed seen as valuable, then it's a little strange they wouldn't agree to leave of absence - presumably unpaid, but who knows?

Bear in mind you probably won't have been given an accurate account of events if this young lady is in such a state. There probably isn't much you can do while she is incapable of listening, except stick around to offer support when she feels able to accept it.

I assume that information came from other threads posted by the OP?

We don't know what type of organisation the young lady worked for but the majority of small to medium sized companies (and many larger ones) will only tolerate a fairly limited amount of sickness absence. Particularly so when the employee has less than two years service.

Even local authorities, civil service and larger universities are not offering the traditional "six months full pay, six months half pay" terms to newer employees any longer.

ashpan

Marcon said:

ashpan said:

A young family member has recently developed severe mental health issues and as a result has walked out of her job, she asked for leave of absence and they declined.  She is highly qualified and diligent and they have said they will pay her a bonus??
She is not making good choices at the moment and could easily have taken extended sick leave but as a result of her issues is not thinking clearly.  She is not in a union.
I have advised her that this may seem the only option right now but she will soon have no money to pay her rent (over £1000 a month) and possibly be homeless.  She will not listen to this and any further discussions are stressing her out further.
I feel she should withdraw her resignation (stating her mental health as the reason for poor decisions) and get sick leave cover from her GP, shes been there just under a year.  What benefits can she access etc?? 

feeling helpless......

I wouldn't bank on that. You have been on sick leave for over 6 months but you work for a local authority, plus you had much longer service than your relative, so it may be she is entitled to little more than SSP. Alternatively, her employer may simply decide to terminate her employment on capability grounds, although the fact they've offered to pay her a bonus (sounds a bit odd) suggests otherwise. If she is indeed seen as valuable, then it's a little strange they wouldn't agree to leave of absence - presumably unpaid, but who knows?

Bear in mind you probably won't have been given an accurate account of events if this young lady is in such a state. There probably isn't much you can do while she is incapable of listening, except stick around to offer support when she feels able to accept it.

im not really sure how helpful it is to reference my other posts, as this is a unique situation, she has periods of complete lucidity and focus and so i feel her account is pretty accurate. Its all too easy in my experience to diminish a person with mental health difficulties' capacity/capability.  We will look into SSP though and need to find out if she can get support to stay in her accommodation as she wont be able to pay her rent 

Undervalued

ashpan said:

Marcon said:

ashpan said:

A young family member has recently developed severe mental health issues and as a result has walked out of her job, she asked for leave of absence and they declined.  She is highly qualified and diligent and they have said they will pay her a bonus??
She is not making good choices at the moment and could easily have taken extended sick leave but as a result of her issues is not thinking clearly.  She is not in a union.
I have advised her that this may seem the only option right now but she will soon have no money to pay her rent (over £1000 a month) and possibly be homeless.  She will not listen to this and any further discussions are stressing her out further.
I feel she should withdraw her resignation (stating her mental health as the reason for poor decisions) and get sick leave cover from her GP, shes been there just under a year.  What benefits can she access etc?? 

feeling helpless......

I wouldn't bank on that. You have been on sick leave for over 6 months but you work for a local authority, plus you had much longer service than your relative, so it may be she is entitled to little more than SSP. Alternatively, her employer may simply decide to terminate her employment on capability grounds, although the fact they've offered to pay her a bonus (sounds a bit odd) suggests otherwise. If she is indeed seen as valuable, then it's a little strange they wouldn't agree to leave of absence - presumably unpaid, but who knows?

Bear in mind you probably won't have been given an accurate account of events if this young lady is in such a state. There probably isn't much you can do while she is incapable of listening, except stick around to offer support when she feels able to accept it.

im not really sure how helpful it is to reference my other posts, as this is a unique situation, she has periods of complete lucidity and focus and so i feel her account is pretty accurate. Its all too easy in my experience to diminish a person with mental health difficulties' capacity/capability.  We will look into SSP though and need to find out if she can get support to stay in her accommodation as she wont be able to pay her rent 

Whilst I would agree with the sentence I have highlighted, that is of little relevance to the legal position. Maybe her employer will be generous but many / most employers would not allow a resignation to be withdrawn under these circumstances, nor would they offer anything like the sick pay scheme you apparently enjoy.

pickledonionspaceraider

I would say look on a benefits calculator to work out what she is entitled to, it would have been ESA in the past i think, but may now be different. She may need to provide a sick note from her GP to show them

I would not push her to pursue this job issue - because she made her choice as an adult, and it may have been the job that was causing a dip in mental health - or at least contributing towards