....Between a rock and a hard place....

Fleago

Hi finnigan,

This must be a horrible situation for you and your husband. On the point of the consent form for OH, is your OH sure it actually says he's giving consent for all of his medical records to be sent to his direct manager? If it really does say that, he should speak to his Union Rep as this would be unacceptable and wholly inappropriate.

What I suspect it is actually asking him to sign, is his consent for the company to seek medical information from his GP. Once signed, the company's OH nurse or physician will seek a report from your husband's GP regarding only information that is relevant to his current situation. From what you say, I expect OH would ask questions of the GP such as "does this person have a condition which makes them extremely fatigued?", "is this person fit to work nights?" and "is this person fit to work in a chill room?".

Further, I would expect OH to ask the GP what other positions they thought were suitable for your husband, given his current health, and they may also ask for a prognosis of when your husband may be fit to resume his normal duties, if at all.

Your husband's GP would then return a report to OH giving their opinion on the questions asked. This report may not even mention specifically what his condition is, only the effects on work. Your husband would be entitled to see any report made by his GP. The GP will not put in any information that is not relevant to the current situation and will not make your husband's medical records available to the company. OH should then inform your husband's store management of the report and tell them what adjustments should be made for your husband. It may be that his manager will see the actual report, but there shouldn't be anything in it that would embarrass your husband and nor should the manager discuss it with anyone other than your husband and any other senior managers who are involved in adressing your husband's situation.

I know that your husband is worried about his manager finding out things, but I really would recommend he goes down the OH route if he wants to have this situation resolved with the best result for his health. If he's really worried about it, he should chat it through with his Union rep, but I suspect if he doesn't, then the company will do little to help him. Once they have information in writing from a medical person, they will have to deal with the situation your husband currently finds himself in.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

finnigan

Thanks Fleago, You have helped me greatly. DH now has confirmation of his condition in writing for the union rep so I'll ask him to discuss his concerns re this when he sees her. Thanks again,

Finnigan

Savvy_Sue

I'd also suggest that he talks to the union rep about raising a grievance against this manager: that with the car parking is just plain petty, and there must be evidence of that! even saying "oh it was a mistake" won't go down well, because presumably he doesn't make that kind of mistake with other people - or does he?

ohreally

As fleago has indicated, the health records must only be supplied to an appropriate person and that is certainly not his direct manager but an occupational health professional, even then you need to know the control measures for ensuring confidentiality. Ask for clarification where the records will be stored once on site and who will have access to them? e.g. they are not stored in a filing cabinet in the HR department or in his managers office.Also request you be copied in on the info to be sent to occ health from your GP and ensure this info only relates to his current medical condition and nothing else. Ask occ health to copy you in on any communications they send to your line manager as well.

finnigan

Hi, I haven't got very far with this as DD is in hosp so will update you with progress next week with any joy, Thanks again for all your help

Finnigan

Fleago

Sorry to hear that, Finnigan. Hope your hubby is soon out of hospital.