can they sack you, make you redundant with no warnings?

[mustsleep]

I really need some advice and quickly lol

Right here we go again, I have been off work sick during my pregnancy with a really bad back for about 4 months. I wasn't given a risk assessment even though I requested one on several different occasions and was put to work in an area that required me to lift several items a day even though puttig me in a different area could have avoided this

Afer I had my baby I discovered I had a hernia, brought on they think by the fact that my stomach muscles had seperated badly and it was said that the lifting during pregnancy wouldn't have helped

My operation to have the hernia repaired came through two months after I had gone back to work, I advised Hr that I would be having an operation what it involved and how long I would be told I needed off by the consultant, which was 8 weeks

had op done and then handed sick notes in etc, went back to docs to be signed off the sick so I could return to work and he said that I should have a minimum of 3 months off work to avoid it reoccuring and he signed me off for a further 4 weeks

right so now I have been summoned to the bosses office for a "chat" today and am obv concerned that they may sack me

what would be the best way to handle this

TIA

[flowerybeanbag]

mustsleep as per your previous thread, they can't just sack you straight off, no. Your pg-related sickness can't 'count' towards any disciplinary anyway, not that you've had one.

I don't think you need to be concerned that they are going to sack you today. They couldn't have any kind of disciplinary meeting or similar without letting you know what's happening anyway.

As far as I can tell there's no reason to assume this meeting is going to be negative. You have been signed off genuinely, there's no question that you shouldn't be at work, and no reason to think that in 4 weeks time you won't be back as before. I would think it's extremely unlikely they are going to sack you.

[mustsleep]

sorry for being a pita lol thanks again

[StealthPolarBear]

When's your meeting? I would hope it's a "how can we help you in your return to work" meeting, but if you're really worried you could ask them to clarify its purpose, in case you need to prepare anything.

[mustsleep]

Right well I've been well and trully screwed over!

got there luckily my friend took my two eldest wih her but still had the baby with me

got told off for writing in the date on my sicknoe myself, told tha I was milking the system and that there was nothing wrong with me

told that I was taking the mick whilst pregnant too, and I brought up the risk assessment and he just waved it away

he had a witness I had a one year old crying in his buggy. he told me that I had had 14 months off work (9 months of this was maternity leave 2 months pregancy related illness)

they said that they had spoken to the docs and they were angry with me for writing a date on my sicknote (but I was told by the office that they wouldn't take a sicknote with no end dae previoulsy)

I was told I was taking money for resources and that I had written on facebook that I was going to have as long as poss off...I have never ever ever said anything even vaguely like this (I am not completely stupid) I told him this and said he was more than welcome to look at my facebook account. He told me no to sneer at him, I wasn;t

I have been told to go to the docs and get another sick note and then after my time is up to get signed off sick to come back to work or else they will start disciplinary procedures.

He then said he would be writing this up!! I have seen no copy and signed nothing! I don't even know what it is I have just been given!!!!

I've been crying since I got home, I don't even want my kids to go there anymore after the way I've just been spoken to let alone return to work in 4 weeks

[flowerybeanbag]

Well a lot of that is completely unacceptable obviously.

He was absolutely right about you writing dates on sick notes yourself. That's potentially a pretty serious issue, so in a way you're quite lucky he didn't want to start disciplinary proceedings for that.

However obviously his comments to you were unacceptable, about you taking maternity leave, and 'taking resources'.

Did they speak to your doctor without your consent? If they did that's not on, and it's completely wrong of your doctor to speak to your employer without written consent from you as well, so if that's the case I'd take that up with them definitely.

Presumably you will see a copy of your boss's note of the meeting when he's typed it up. If you feel it's not an accurate reflection of the meeting you should ask for it to be amended. I also think in the meantime you should write down everything he said for your own records.

What do you want to do? You could consider bringing a grievance if you wanted to.

[mustsleep]

I think that's what I want to do tbh

I have written up what was said and the fact i had no witness apart from my one year old

I am off back tto the docs today to get another sick note and will be asking then if work have contacted them

I only wrote the date on cos I was so worried about losing my job in the first place and really didn't do it to scam more time off or take the mickey I did i so I could go back to work afterwards and I knew that I was already late handing in the sick note and didn't want to get into any more trouble....obv I've made things worse for myself

If I take up a grievence though I'll be dropping myself in it about the sicknote presumably, but I'm so shocked and upset about how I have been treated here that I'm willing to risk losing my job just so HR know exactly how the school has acted

Also the "witness" he had was the lady from the office whom I have never met and she was not impartial as it was her that apparently spoke to the docs and she kept sticking her oar in!

I'm comcerned though that if I do contact personell about this that it will just get
filed away

Also I am concerned that the doc will find in 4 weeks that I am not fit to return to work and then I'll be in more trouble

Either way really there's no way I can work there again without an atmosphere between myself and the other staff one of whom has apparently lied about me and with him as my boss after the way he spoke to me

[mustsleep]

do you know that if I had received a disciplinary for the sicknote thing and he had gone about it the right way and had not spoken to me like that and tried to intimidate me , given me a warning of what the meeting would be about and the option to get a siter for my kids and a witness for myself I would be totally fine

i hold my hands up I shouldn;t have written on the sicknote, however I have just been to the docs and he said well it doesn't mater that you've written on it and you'd still need a cerificate to say you were ok to go back to work. He said he didn't understand why they were being like that with me and that they certainly hadn't phoned up and spoken to a doc there!

He said I was obv very upset about it and offered me antidepressants and told me to come back in 4 weeks so that he could make sure I was emotionally ok to return to work.

[paranoidandconfused]

Hi I'm back again

right I raised a grievence about my boss and the way in which the meeting was handled etc

it got put to the school governers (as I work in a school) and obv they are all going to be chummy with the head whom the complaint was about

I have just rec'd a letter back this morning stating that I was infact informed that it was just a meeting and not a disciplinary (I was not this is a lie)
that they have seen stuff I have written about the school on facebook (this is a lie)
The the head was reasonable and that he has told them that I was confrontational (I am the least confrontational person I know and I was not at all in that sham of a meeting) a

Basically they have spoken to him and he has lied, I have yet again had no chance to defend myself and now I am at a complete loss of what to do

I feel that putting it to someone who is biased is completely unfair and I really really feel now that I just cannot return to work there

every morning he stands outside the school gates to "welcome" parents and either turns his back on me or just scowls at me

What can I do? I am going to contact Acas but will be on hold for at least 25 mins it says this morning and cannot afford that on my phone bill so will try Monday morning.

I feel that I have no option but to hand in my notice, and I am seriously thinking about pulling my kids out of a school with a head that is a liar and a bully

[ninedragons]

Are you in a union?

At this point, I wouldn't hand in my notice before seeing if I could get some legal advice either from a union or the CAB.

[paranoidandconfused]

I'm not in a union no...I really wish I was!!

but basically it's just my word against his now and they will and have believed him

The thing is no mention was made of the way he spoke to me, bringing up the sickness during my pregancy...I'm just sooo upset about all of this, I've spent weeks sick with worry and now basically they have turned around and said that yeah he was right