In a mess at work. Advice needed!

ftb_40

Hi all, 
I started job about 27 months ago.
all was well for the first year but then I started taking time off due to me having severe abdominal pain caused by gallstones.
after a long time (roughly 9 months) I had my gallbladder removed which required 6 weeks recovery time. I returned to work and all was ok for a few months and existing mental health issues started to get worse.
I sought help from my go and was prescribed medication which helped at first but eventually my head started to go on me.
my doctor told me to have 4 weeks off work but because of all the time I’d already taken I told her to only sign me off for two weeks.
I informed work and came clean about my mental health struggles. I’d never mentioned it before as I was managing it well and my sudden dip was out of the blue.
i told them I just needed time to adjust to the new dose of medication as I was elevated to 150mg of sertraline and it was quite difficult to adjust.
When I returned to work I was called for a back to work interview in which I was given a formal verbal warning.
I never received any form of correspondence about the matter so I presume it was verbal only.
This warning knocked me for six as I kind of expected to sort of concern and support to be show, but there’s was none. The word support was banded about at the time I was being givena warning but that’s it.
In the following weeks I noticed that everything changed and suddenly barely anyone was acting the same with me. More noticeable was the change in my supervisor who up to that point would ring me everyday but suddenly that stopped.
He even attended a site I was on one day where he and another colleague didn’t even acknowledge my presence.
I work for a facilities management company and pretty much every engineer there would go home whenever they had nothing left to do for that day. It was common knowledge and it was always presumed that as long as your jobs get completed and if you get a service call you answer your phone and attend any job you are asked to.
Over the course of this month I didn’t have much work and when it got closer to. Christmas I had even less to do, so to space my work out I was going home early quite a lot and then on Christmas Eve I only had a few hours of paperwork to do so I took the decision to work from home and do my paperwork there.
during the day I got a phone call from a manager who pointed out that I was showing “started” on a job but my van hadn’t moved.
i told him I was doing paperwork at home and asked if he wanted me to attend a job. He said no don’t worry about it. 

I know that it’s not right but it’s a very common practice among the engineers.
Today was asked to attend an informal Fact find meeting in which I was accused of falsifying timesheets.
I pointed out that it’s an absolute certainty that none of the other engineers had done there hours over Christmas either but every single one of them will have put the same amount of hours as we have a digital timesheets system where you have to put In 40 hours or you cannot submit it.
therefore without excusing my responsibility for my own actions, I know that I have done nothing different to any of the other engineers at the company.
I feel I am being systematically pushed out of the company ever since I announced my mental health issues.
All this is making my mental health even worse and I feel stuck.
im now waiting for their decision which I’m pretty sure is going to be that ill get sacked for gross misconduct.
Im really gutted because I came back after Christmas really intent on putting it all behind me and knuckling down but this has all knocked the wind out of my sails to the point where I feel like getting my doctor to sign me off for a month.
Any advice on how to deal with this situation would be greatly appreciated. Would acas be able to help me in any way at all?

Mr.Generous

I don't know what the law says but being treated equally and fairly in relation to others is pretty much a given with any company's disciplinary procedures. They can keep saying they won't discuss others with you, or we're here to discuss what you did etc but I would just keep asking why you are being singled out and are being treated differently. You could call it bullying. Is your mental health condition covered by the DDA?

Marcon

ftb_40 said:

Hi all, 
I started job about 27 months ago.
all was well for the first year but then I started taking time off due to me having severe abdominal pain caused by gallstones.
after a long time (roughly 9 months) I had my gallbladder removed which required 6 weeks recovery time. I returned to work and all was ok for a few months and existing mental health issues started to get worse.
I sought help from my go and was prescribed medication which helped at first but eventually my head started to go on me.
my doctor told me to have 4 weeks off work but because of all the time I’d already taken I told her to only sign me off for two weeks.
I informed work and came clean about my mental health struggles. I’d never mentioned it before as I was managing it well and my sudden dip was out of the blue.
i told them I just needed time to adjust to the new dose of medication as I was elevated to 150mg of sertraline and it was quite difficult to adjust.
When I returned to work I was called for a back to work interview in which I was given a formal verbal warning.
I never received any form of correspondence about the matter so I presume it was verbal only.
This warning knocked me for six as I kind of expected to sort of concern and support to be show, but there’s was none. The word support was banded about at the time I was being givena warning but that’s it.
In the following weeks I noticed that everything changed and suddenly barely anyone was acting the same with me. More noticeable was the change in my supervisor who up to that point would ring me everyday but suddenly that stopped.
He even attended a site I was on one day where he and another colleague didn’t even acknowledge my presence.
I work for a facilities management company and pretty much every engineer there would go home whenever they had nothing left to do for that day. It was common knowledge and it was always presumed that as long as your jobs get completed and if you get a service call you answer your phone and attend any job you are asked to.
Over the course of this month I didn’t have much work and when it got closer to. Christmas I had even less to do, so to space my work out I was going home early quite a lot and then on Christmas Eve I only had a few hours of paperwork to do so I took the decision to work from home and do my paperwork there.
during the day I got a phone call from a manager who pointed out that I was showing “started” on a job but my van hadn’t moved.
i told him I was doing paperwork at home and asked if he wanted me to attend a job. He said no don’t worry about it. 

I know that it’s not right but it’s a very common practice among the engineers.
Today was asked to attend an informal Fact find meeting in which I was accused of falsifying timesheets.
I pointed out that it’s an absolute certainty that none of the other engineers had done there hours over Christmas either but every single one of them will have put the same amount of hours as we have a digital timesheets system where you have to put In 40 hours or you cannot submit it.
therefore without excusing my responsibility for my own actions, I know that I have done nothing different to any of the other engineers at the company.
I feel I am being systematically pushed out of the company ever since I announced my mental health issues.
All this is making my mental health even worse and I feel stuck.
im now waiting for their decision which I’m pretty sure is going to be that ill get sacked for gross misconduct.
Im really gutted because I came back after Christmas really intent on putting it all behind me and knuckling down but this has all knocked the wind out of my sails to the point where I feel like getting my doctor to sign me off for a month.
Any advice on how to deal with this situation would be greatly appreciated. Would acas be able to help me in any way at all?

Their Helpline can explain the basics of employment law, but ACAS can't 'act for you' in the way a specialist employment lawyer could.

Looking at your post from last month https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6575805/ipa-question#latest, you've just been made bankrupt, so really must be going through it. Even if you aren't in Scotland, it's worth having a look at https://www.lawclinic.org.uk/ and seeing if that is helpful - or possibly you have some sort of legal advice centre near you?

I hope you will also ensure your GP knows how difficult things are, so ensure they can support you as best they can.

ftb_40

Mr.Generous said:

I don't know what the law says but being treated equally and fairly in relation to others is pretty much a given with any company's disciplinary procedures. They can keep saying they won't discuss others with you, or we're here to discuss what you did etc but I would just keep asking why you are being singled out and are being treated differently. You could call it bullying. Is your mental health condition covered by the DDA?

I m not sure if it’s covered so I will have to look it up, I suffer from anxiety and depression, I’m on a waiting list because I’ve been referred to trauma counselling for suspected ptsd and I have a ADHD assessment on the 17th of January.

Marcon

Have a look at https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/helplines/ - the Legal Helpline in particular could be very useful to you.

Grumpy_chap

ftb_40 said:

I noticed that everything changed and suddenly barely anyone was acting the same with me. More noticeable was the change in my supervisor who up to that point would ring me everyday but suddenly that stopped.
He even attended a site I was on one day where he and another colleague didn’t even acknowledge my presence.

I understand how this has come across to you, but there are two sides to every situation.
It may be that your Supervisor thinks not doing the daily calls is reducing your stress and, therefore, a good thing.
It is possible that your Supervisor is not really sure how to handle your health needs, maybe without support from the business (Occupational Health) and without the confidence to speak to you, so simply withdrawing is their manner of managing things.
It may not be any of that, but that is just one alternative view that may be in play.

Have you spoken with Occupational Health at the workplace?

lincroft1710

ftb_40 said:

I know that I have done nothing different to any of the other engineers at the company.

As an employee you do not know everything that management knows. You may have "done nothing different to any of the other engineers at the company". But they may be doing wrong or have prior agreement with management for their actions or inactions. You may be the first to be spoken to, they may be next. Not previously informing management about your mental health issues would not go down favourably. Also your sick leave is bound to be considered excessive and if they are aware of your bankruptcy, even though it should have nothing to do with your employment, this again will not be in your favour

Hoenir

lincroft1710 said:

ftb_40 said:

I know that I have done nothing different to any of the other engineers at the company.

As an employee you do not know everything that management knows. You may have "done nothing different to any of the other engineers at the company". But they may be doing wrong or have prior agreement with management for their actions or inactions. You may be the first to be spoken to, they may be next. 

I'd go further and suggest that issues have been identified and are in the process of being addressed. The claim of being singled out won't wash. The budget last year will have focussed management's minds. With productivity, efficiency and cost savings high up the agenda. 

Nothanks

Unfortunately all you can do is wait for the invite to a formal meeting at this stage. 

But for reference: 

DDA isn’t a thing anymore, it was repealed and replaced by the Equality Act in 2010. Looking at your brief health history above I believe your mental health would constitute a disability under the act as it creates a significant impairment on day to day life (ie ability to go to work etc) and has lasted/will last over 12 months. BUT

Being covered by the act only means an employer can’t treat you less favourably BECAUSE of your health. It also means they have to make reasonable adjustments but the timesheets stuff won’t come under that. 

The consistency element is tough, because whilst saying “Yeah but Jim-Bob did it!” will likely butter no parsnips, there is still an argument that 1. Management were aware already and 2. It was custom and practice (if indeed it was.) 

Tough situation to be in, wish you the best 

Altior

An independent view is if I had a colleague working for me that had nearly a year off for illness, came back and soon acquired a mental health issue and then had more time off, that relationship might not last an awful lot longer. Of course it could well be absolutely genuine, but you can't practically keep someone on indefinitely if they aren't actually working. 

However, things still have to be done by the books. I'd be curious to know what the verbal warning was for exactly?

All the same, once you are on the disciplinary flow, pretending to be on the road and staying at home for Xmas eve is not the ideal strategy, whether all the others are doing it or not. They are not all on a verbal warning and had a very long time away from work. 

If the company is acting properly, your allegation will be taken seriously, and they will check/investigate the attendance of all of your peers. If they are all 'at it', it's highly unlikely you'll be summarily dismissed in my opinion (I feel it's not likely anyway for a first offence). The verbal warning is ordinarily only relevant if it's correlated with the new behaviour that's being investigated.