Resigning as a result of disability

Elspeth1998

My disability is making it difficult for me to sustain full time work.  I am going through the process of reducing my hours to part time.  But in the meantime am required to continue working full time until the part time role is authorised within 10 weeks from now.
Would it be really bad form to resign while this process is under way?  

I was thinking of applying to get Employment Support Allowance and working up to the legal limit of 16 hours a week casual shifts. 

Any advice on this? Thanks.

lisyloo

Sorry to pry but what do you mean by difficult?
if you mean unacceptable pain or fatigue then do you need to get signed off sick In the meantime?
i understand it may be less clear cut but you might get better advice if you can give more detail on what “difficult” means for you

as an outsider I’d say it’s bad form not to work with your employer on your difficulties whilst it appears they are trying to work with you.

obviously I’m only going on what you’ve said without knowing the full details, but why wouldn’t you work with them?

Elspeth1998

I appreciate your thoughts, thank you.  I am going to try my best to get through to the period when the part time role begins. And am sure I will manage better then.  You’re right, my employers are trying to help me.  Thanks again for your comments.

poppy12345

If you're unable to work then your employer must pay you SSP for 28 weeks if you're entitled to it, this pays more than ESA so it's not advised to just quit your job. You should also never quit working without getting some advice from some where like ACAS.

If you did claim New style ESA in the future then you will need to have paid the correct amount of NI contributions in the previous 2 tax years. If you work 16 hours per week while claiming ESA then you will no longer be entitled to it. Permitted work for ESA is possible but you must make sure you work less than 16 hours per week. There's also an earnings cap too.

When you reduce your hours to part time you can use a benefits calculator to check entitlement to Universal Credit. If you live with a partner, you claim as a couple. If you have savings/capital of more than £16,000 you're excluded from claiming.

missile

It could have dire financial implications if you resign. Speak with your GP and with his/her agreement go sick and employer will be forced to make you redundant through ill health. 

Savvy_Sue

missile said:

It could have dire financial implications if you resign. Speak with your GP and with his/her agreement go sick and employer will be forced to make you redundant through ill health. 

I'm not sure that's the right word: presumably the OP's job will still exist, but she is not capable of doing it on a full-time basis, so it is more likely to be a dismissal on grounds of ill-health or incapacity. 

OP, you say:

Elspeth1998 said:

My disability is making it difficult for me to sustain full time work.  I am going through the process of reducing my hours to part time.  But in the meantime am required to continue working full time until the part time role is authorised within 10 weeks from now.

Is it possible it will take less than 10 weeks to resolve? 

Also is there any way that you could reduce your hours - by taking annual leave / using up any TOIL if you have any? 

Not ideal, but would being signed off for a couple of weeks help you get through this? And if so, would your GP then suggest a phased return, and would your employer be able to accommodate that?

Are you in a union? If you are, have you enlisted their support? 

I'm also wondering, what is taking the 10 weeks? Is it that your employer needs to have a certain number of 'bums on seats', which can take time to organise? 

Demerara

While awaiting for the new arrangement to come into effect, your employer still has a duty to make reasonable adjustments to allow you to continue to work. This may be reducing your workload, allowing you to take more breaks, shorter hours etc. My understanding is as long as you made clear to your employer that you have a disability or condition that requires adjustments and what your support needs are, the onus is on them to make the adjustments.

Do you have an occupational health assessment? It may be worth requesting one.

KxMx

Unfortunately that's just not true, even with an OH assessment agreeing, an employer can refuse reasonable adjustments. 

The employee has the right to ask, but the employer doesn't have to say yes.

I won't bore you with my mothers recent experience other than to say I absolutely know my words above are true. 

I am glad OP's employer is much more reasonable and if they are struggling in the interim period, I would suggest getting GP to sign them off sick for a few weeks before returning to work when the new pt hours kick in. 

MalMonroe

KxMx said:

Unfortunately that's just not true, even with an OH assessment agreeing, an employer can refuse reasonable adjustments. 

The employee has the right to ask, but the employer doesn't have to say yes.

I won't bore you with my mothers recent experience other than to say I absolutely know my words above are true. 

I am glad OP's employer is much more reasonable and if they are struggling in the interim period, I would suggest getting GP to sign them off sick for a few weeks before returning to work when the new pt hours kick in. 

I am sorry about your mother's experience but it is true. An employer must make reasonable adjustments. It is the law, as per the Equality Act 2010.

See the info in this link - https://www.gov.uk/rights-disabled-person/employment

If employers do not comply, they can be taken to an Employment Tribunal.

This is what Acas says about employers who will not consider making reasonable adjustments -

https://www.acas.org.uk/reasonable-adjustments/when-an-employer-must-consider-making-reasonable-adjustments

KxMx

You can give me all the web links that you want to, but out in the real world none of the existing laws stopped what happened to her, which was being forced out of her job because her employer refused to make reasonable adjustments. Even when she was backed by GP, OH and her union.
It still happened and sadly she won't be the first nor the last. It's naïve to think otherwise.
She will be taking legal action against her ex employer.

Spoonie_Turtle

MalMonroe said:

KxMx said:

Unfortunately that's just not true, even with an OH assessment agreeing, an employer can refuse reasonable adjustments. 

The employee has the right to ask, but the employer doesn't have to say yes.

I won't bore you with my mothers recent experience other than to say I absolutely know my words above are true. 

I am glad OP's employer is much more reasonable and if they are struggling in the interim period, I would suggest getting GP to sign them off sick for a few weeks before returning to work when the new pt hours kick in. 

I am sorry about your mother's experience but it is true. An employer must make reasonable adjustments. It is the law, as per the Equality Act 2010.

See the info in this link - https://www.gov.uk/rights-disabled-person/employment

If employers do not comply, they can be taken to an Employment Tribunal.

This is what Acas says about employers who will not consider making reasonable adjustments -

https://www.acas.org.uk/reasonable-adjustments/when-an-employer-must-consider-making-reasonable-adjustments

Legally they can refuse if they feel the adjustments are not "reasonable".  [Note it's always the employer in the position of power, and usually acting in accordance with a system upheld by nondisabled people, who decides what they think is reasonable; exactly like all other access issues in society and we don't usually get any say in the matter.] 

What they can't legally do is straight out fire you because of it, but they can ultimately dismiss on the grounds of capability if they follow the procedure in their perfectly legal policy.  And unfortunately it's often very difficult to prove the usually more subtle kinds of discrimination that lead to forcing people out; @KxMx I'm sorry to hear that happened to your mother and I hope she wins her case.