Dismissed from work.

OP I think what would help everyone understands is if you explain your absence a bit more. You've explained you'd been back working FT for 4 months when dismissed but what had happened before that? How much absence had you had, was it in a continuous block as signed off by your GP as unfit for work, or were you taking a lot of ad hoc days?

I worked for the police and suffered anxiety and a breakdown.. if you are visiting occupational health and explaining the reasons why you’re anxious, providing doctors notes and fully co operating they should be putting things in place to ease your anxiety, for example re deployment. Unison didn’t do a fat lot for me tbh..
have you had a phased return? Been offered psychological help at all? If not I would be going back to the union rep to see if they can fight your corner in that respect..

I am sorry this happened to you.

Before the 4 months, were you performing well? No absence?

I thought this research may help you be kind to yourself

Police officers are exposed to a high volume of traumatic events, with estimates ranging from 400 to 600 over an average career, compared to only 3-4 for the general population.
Approximately 90-95% of officers report exposure to such events, resulting in PTSD rates nearly five times higher than the general public.
These traumatic experiences, including violence and accidents, often lead to higher rates of mental health difficulties, including depression and anxiety.
Unlike single-event trauma, policing causes a "dripping tap effect" of daily, minor, and major incidents that accumulate over time.

Be proud of all you have done, all those you have helped and then be kind to yourself with the same compassion and patience that you, showed to others when they called for help and spoke with you. Be grateful that you no longer have to work in an environment which puts your mental health at risk every day, and rejoice in the fact that you are now free from the traumas which you were continually exposed too. Maybe you could reframe the dismissal. You could have quit a long time ago but you didn’t, and maybe you should have done to protect yourself. Be thankful the police recognised it was no longer the right job for you, and dismissed you to release you from the ongoing trauma you were experiencing as you would have continued to expose yourself to that if they hadn’t.

This is what I wanted to say.

I have no knowledge of employment law but morally this feels so wrong. I feel you were let down.

As a society we need to look after those who experience terrible things to look after us all.

Thank you. You are truly awesome. Xxx

Sounds like a capability issue. If someone is not able to do the job anymore for whatever reason then employers can let them go.

Unfortunately you'd probably heard and absorbed too much to function anymore. The only thing I wonder is if you could sue them for failing in their duty of care towards you.

Do you have Legal Cover on your house insurance? I was in your position and did. I had a 51% chance (or higher) of winning an unfair dismissal case, so they took it on, I think in the end it cost me around £100.

Note: cover has to pre-exist dismissal.

I won.

When this happened is also a key question as the time limits for bringing employment claims are both limited and strictly applied.

Experienced HR bod here, a few questions to consider:

• Were the absences documented clearly as work related anxiety?
• Were you signed off for any of these periods by your GP?
• Do you have a diagnosis of anxiety disorder or depression? Or treated medically for these e.g. antidepressants/anti anxiety medication and/or referred by GP for talking therapy/CBT.
• Did you request/were you offered any reasonable adjustments?
• Were you offered appropriate support within the role e.g. debriefing, buddying, mentoring
• Did you have a return to work meeting following each period of absence?
• Were you allowed a phased return following any periods of absence or offered reduced hours/redeployment?
• Were you given a structured plan of expectations of attendance at each stage AND details of support/training etc that could and would in place to help you achieve these?
• Did you have an occupational health assessment?
• Did the OH assessment report say you were or were not fit for work? Did OH provide indications of likelihood of future absences? Did it provide your employer with specific recommendations to support your attendance at work or sugestions for redeployment to an alternative role etc.

I would expect all of these to be done and every avenue exhausted before you were dismissed. Especially as they are following a graduated process with HR and your union was involved.

If your absences were clearly recorded as work related anxiety and an OH assessment wasn't carried out, you may have a case for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination, and potentially work injury if improper support in the role has caused disabling anxiety!

However you would need to get proper advice from an employment lawyer as to whether you have a case and what the next steps would be.

It is highly unlikely that you will be reinstated, (if you even wanted to go back after this!) but if you have been wrongfully dismissed and your anxiety could be considered a disability which hasnt been taken into account, you may be eligible for compensation etc.

However IF they have followed the processes to the letter, AND it has been determined by appropriate medical professionals that you are not fit for work in that role, then this should have been explicitly explained to you, compassionately, by HR and your union rep.

Another q is were you still in a probationary period in your new role or was it considered continuous employment? This MAY be relevan IF your appointment into that role was contingent on satisfactory record/recommendation/reference from your previous role.

Something has gone awry somewhere - whichever it is and I am so sorry you've been through such an awful experience.

Definitely seek legal advice and good luck x

Experienced HR bod here, a few questions to consider:

• Were the absences documented clearly as work related anxiety?
• Were you signed off for any of these periods by your GP?
• Do you have a diagnosis of anxiety disorder or depression? Or treated medically for these e.g. antidepressants/anti anxiety medication and/or referred by GP for talking therapy/CBT.
• Did you request/were you offered any reasonable adjustments?
• Were you offered appropriate support within the role e.g. debriefing, buddying, mentoring
• Did you have a return to work meeting following each period of absence?
• Were you allowed a phased return following any periods of absence or offered reduced hours/redeployment?
• Were you given a structured plan of expectations of attendance at each stage AND details of support/training etc that could and would in place to help you achieve these?
• Did you have an occupational health assessment?
• Did the OH assessment report say you were or were not fit for work? Did OH provide indications of likelihood of future absences? Did it provide your employer with specific recommendations to support your attendance at work or sugestions for redeployment to an alternative role etc.

I would expect all of these to be done and every avenue exhausted before you were dismissed. Especially as they are following a graduated process with HR and your union was involved.

If your absences were clearly recorded as work related anxiety and an OH assessment wasn't carried out, you may have a case for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination, and potentially work injury if improper support in the role has caused disabling anxiety!

However you would need to get proper advice from an employment lawyer as to whether you have a case and what the next steps would be.

It is highly unlikely that you will be reinstated, (if you even wanted to go back after this!) but if you have been wrongfully dismissed and your anxiety could be considered a disability which hasnt been taken into account, you may be eligible for compensation etc.

However IF they have followed the processes to the letter, AND it has been determined by appropriate medical professionals that you are not fit for work in that role, then this should have been explicitly explained to you, compassionately, by HR and your union rep.

Another q is were you still in a probationary period in your new role or was it considered continuous employment? This MAY be relevan IF your appointment into that role was contingent on satisfactory record/recommendation/reference from your previous role.

Something has gone awry somewhere - whichever it is and I am so sorry you've been through such an awful experience.

Definitely seek legal advice and good luck x

Sounds like they may have based their decision on what went on before. Maybe you have a case against them.

Can you not just apply for other similar roles if that’s what you enjoy? I think I would put my energy into my recovery and my future as I don’t think it will help you to keep dwelling on what’s gone before.

How long is “a good few years”? You worked there for 25ish years, how long before your dismissal had you stopped working as a 999 call operator?

Have you thought about making a SAR request?

I’m sure your employ did follow correct process, but it doesn’t read right to me from what you have shared. That isn’t me saying I think you’re making anything up, just I work in HR and what you have experienced doesn’t fit with best practice based on the information shared here.

This doesn’t sound fair at all. Did you leave the roll within the last three months? If so, you can take it to acas and potentially take it to court. I would fight this because it sounds like you gave pretty much your whole adult life for them just for them to treat you like absolute shit. Of course you’ll be traumatised from being in that job. I hope you get a resolution that you’re satisfied with.

If your employer followed procedure and your union couldn't find a reason to fight the result.....might it be that the dismissal was fair?

If you don't feel that the dismissal was fair you could speak to CAB, ACAS, the union and/or a solicitor

I'm very sorry to hear of your work troubles, OP.
You have done an incredibly emotionally demanding job for years, it's not surprising it has taken its toll.

I worked as an HR specialist for some years, so I know a little bit about employment matters. Hence my questions...

If you were dismissed for excessive sickness absence, how much time off sick had you had in the 12 months before your dismissal? What does the employer's policy say about the levels of unacceptable absence?

If the reason given was capability, does that mean you were deemed incapable of carrying out your job tasks? What were you not doing that you should have been?
Or were you just not doing things at a high enough standard?
Were your shortcomings explained to you, and were you given an opportunity to improve, with clear explanation of what that should be?
Were you given full training when uou started your new role?

What actual reason did they give for your dismissal?
Did they follow their own disciplinary procedures? (you should have been aware of the procedure, and understood the progression).

Sorry, that's a lot of questions!

I’ve had this situation. A staff member I really like. Great at job; really good at ir. She had personal issues too causing stress. We did literally everything we could to help her. But if she’s saying she can’t work and work triggers her I can’t force her to come in. But I can’t have someone off forever

If this was fairly recent it might be worth getting a free initial appointment with a solicitor who deals with unfair dismissal and see if they think you have a case

I’m unclear as you say you were in work for some time with no issues then dismissed?