Off sick and employer home visit?

MABLE

The company I work for will do home visits. Normally this is with a manager and a work friend of the person who is off sick. I have have been on them in the past and it is normally appreciated. However with my company you can refuse or can go into the office yourself rather then someone coming out to you. However with my company you can refuse a visit and they will respect that but I suppose not all companys are the same.

crazydaizy_2

sarah1975uk wrote: »

That in MHO they should not be contacting me whilst I'm off work, they are putting additional pressure on me that i really don't need at the moment. I feel it far more appropriate to wait until i contact them when i am ready to return to work and then conduct a back to work meeting. TBH the way things are at the moment I'm not in a position to give them answers on return to work or anything positive. So feel that the meeting at this stage is a waste of time. The whole thought of it fills me with dread.

I know exactly how you are feeling, i have been off for 11 months and have just been signed fit at the end of Feb to return on graduated duties. My employer offered to visit me at home in the first 6 weeks i was off but i believed then that it was to see if there was anything that they could do for me. The thought of the coming to my home was horrendous, with severe depression, the last thing i wanted was for my boss to see my house which was starting to fall into disrepair as i just wasn't up to living never mind cleaning. So i said politely no thanks and that if they needed to see me which according to procedures they should (to show they care and are supportive), i would come into work after office hours.
Anyway now the tables have turned and they haven't contacted me really in the last 10 months except to tell me that they had filled my post!

My advice is get yourself referred to occupational health and use them as an intermediary. Your employer or your line manager doesn't actually have a right to even know what you are off sick with (as you have a right to have your medical history private from them). They have to trust your doctor or occupational health consultant to judge when you are fit for duties, they do this by supplying the GP with information about what your duties require in terms of physical effort and mental stress. You can even insist that your doctor signs the sick note 'general debility' rather than the true medical diagnosis if you so wished, that is your right.

So if you really don't feel up to meeting them in work or another neutral place ask your doctor to write to them and advise them of your current health status and that it would be detrimental to your condition to be worried about such a meeting. This is exactly what the Occy Health Consultant advised myself and my employer even though i am due to return to work in 3 weeks.


There should be some information about your employment rights on a union website such as unison which are fairly generic and apply to all types of positions.
Don't forget that employers now have a duty to pro actively work in ways which are not discriminatory to people who suffer from mental health problems such as stress and depression, its the law.

Sorry for the long post i am still not as succinct as i should be.

sarah1975uk

crocodileshoes wrote: »

why are you off sick for that long are you getting paid

Stress and depression and no im not geting paid!

ohreally

sarah1975uk wrote: »

Stress and depression and no im not geting paid!

Is it work related?

sarah1975uk

bit of work and family

Alexandria

Having conducted home visits in my previous role I would say try not to get stressed about it. We always did it as a way of showing support. We tried not to discuss too much that was about them returning unless they indicated they were nearing feeling ready. If we did discuss return to work it would be along the lines of how we could accomdate them best..phased return, mentor system etc
What we would do is provide them with updates so that when they thought about work there wasn't a huge knowledge gap that made it seem more stressful. Often we'd have a card from the rest of the team to provide (if one hadn't already been sent).
Also we could arrange a neutral meeting if someone didn't want it to happen at their home address.

ohreally

sarah1975uk wrote: »

bit of work

Is the employer aware of this? If so it could change things significantly. The health and safety enforcing authority (i don't know who you work for so the enforcing authority could be the HSE or local authority) can issue issue improvement notices for work related stress...http://www.hse.gov.uk/notices/notices/Notice_details.asp?SF=CN&SV=10006638

The home visit could potentially escalate the situation and the employer could find themselves answering to an employment tribunal. One of the "tick box" words of the moment is anxiety, the employer is making a rod for it's back here, provided they know stress and work are contributing factors.

mayb_2

How much information are employers allowed to ask for in a report from the gp? Can they ask what medication you are taking for instance and when he thinks you may be well enought to return to work?

A friend of mine says that her company always go to a person's home for what they term as 'sickness absence' meetings with HR personnel. If they don't have a gp report or occupational health advice can they do that and take decisions about the employee based on their own assumptions?

ohreally

mayb wrote: »

How much information are employers allowed to ask for in a report from the gp? Can they ask what medication you are taking for instance and when he thinks you may be well enought to return to work?

If they don't have a gp report or occupational health advice can they do that and take decisions about the employee based on their own assumptions?

In the absence of an occupational health report it can be expected the employer will draw their own conclusions concerning your health/fitness to work status, therefore it's in your own interest that a review is carried out by a competent professional who is preferably independent. Remember a G.P. is just that, a general practitioner, who may not have the necessary training to carry out an occupational assesement.
As far as medication goes, i'd always advise that the occupational health practitioner is kept up to date with any meds you are taking and is aware of potential implications of you working while under the influence of prescribed medication.This is not something you should be looking to hide from your employer especially if something "goes wrong" and you have failed to disclose your meds.

JenniferJ

Hi,

Just wondering what everyone classes as long term sickness?

I work Mon - Fri, and was signed off sick last Tuesday, (today being a week, Wednesday) I have now been off for just over a week.

HR want to come and do a home visit already (ie: tomorrow). Is this normal?

Thanks.