AIBU to consider legal action after dismissal for long-term sickness?

You could not be more ill-informed if you actively tried.

And in this case the tragic event could be the OP stabs a colleague.

And the Op did confide in her boss

and political correctness can go jump if y safety or that of my team is compromised. And someone expressing this threat - compromises safety. I would want them out.

Anyway the Op is out. She’s very sketchy on what has actually been stipulated in the dismissal letter. Nothing will come of any legal nonsense

So much for society trying to destigmatise mental health issues and get people to open up...it's always pointless or worse-actually detrimental to mental health. Of course when something tragic happens people will always say "why didn't they confide in someone?"

Unless it affects your job I would not mention it. Sorry you’ve been treated badly though. Workplace’s still don't understand mental health issues.

Her work are not there to be her therapists. Yes they have a duty of care and some can pinpoint counselling in or out of work if it’s offered, but if she is off for a long time, nothing appears to be being done with her mental health issues and then there’s the knife comment, then yes it probably would be escalated. HR afaik only deal with getting doctors reports and other documents relating to her returning from work/being off sick, from a GP and maybe another consultant in this case. Or maybe counsellors reports could be shared but unsure re GDPR confidentiality issues.

I have ADHD which youd think isnt that weird or wonderful these days but I've been treated like shit whenever I've mentioned it so I don't bother now.

I stupidly told a place where I worked (as a temp) that I had mental health issues. I thought they’d understand as it was NHS admin. Next thing my contract ended.

@Crwysmam that must have been such a difficult phone call to have, glad to hear your son had that good support around him and is doing better

Maybe every person who jokes they could strangle their colleague today should be escorted off their work premises too...I mean all that matters is the words not the context or anything!

We can’t train people for every eventuality. Unless you specialise in OCD and have the relevant psychiatric or psychology qualifications, have a full diagnosis of the individuals condition then you couldn’t possibly dismiss this revelation. The manager will hear “knife” and “ intent to use it” and will do what is needed to prevent a potential injury.
My DS has suffered with poor mental health recently ( totally expected after some major family events) but to all of us around him he seemed fine. Until he rang me and said he “ didn’t want to be here”. He wasn’t referring to his location. Since he’s 90 miles away at uni my first response was not to brush it off and carry on with the house work. I contacted Wellbeing at uni and set in motion the response needed. Within an hour they had contacted him and talked to him. I had had a long chat with him and asked him to tell his flatmates, who are very longstanding friends, so that they would keep an eye on him. He is now in a much better place and is aware of the support available from friends , family and professionals.

For the OP to disclose her intrusive thoughts to a work colleague does suggest that she was reaching out for help. The only action that member of staff should have taken is to take the OP out of the situation and seek help. Spending 3 hours on the internet depp diving into OCD and whether the OP is likely to act on her intrusive thoughts is inappropriate and frankly dangerous.

We have to take what people say at face value because if we don’t we may regret it. Very few of us are qualified to do otherwise. Our primary objective is to safeguard ourselves and those around us who could be at risk.

I’m sure that there are a lot of people who wish that parents, teachers and health care workers had taken the actions and behaviour of those who have acted on their intrusive thoughts more seriously.

This is a thread. People have opinions. They answered based on what OP posted. What do you expect, only professionals to be able to give an opinion? That is ridiculous. Why the OP is not answering pertinent questions though, like how is OCD is taking a big bart of their working day? Because this is the mostt important part that could prove or disprove if she is able to do her job. OP also said there is no end in sight, if this is the case how can she do her job in the future? I'm waiting

The reason given by the company is that OP is not capable of doing the job she was employed to do. She has been off for seven months (so not doing the job at all), with no timescale for return, and when she is in work much of her time and headspace is taken up by intrusive thoughts so she is not giving the time and attention to the job that it needs from her.

This is the crux of it. The nature of the intrusive thoughts are neither here nor there.

Moral of the story, if you have a complex mental health condition that only trained professionals understand, don't tell anyone especially your manager any details of it, as it will be used against you.

It’s probably a bit of both but they’re not saying.

This. You cannot have possibly violent employees in the workplace. What if there was an attack?

More than likely.

Be aware that even if this does go to tribunal and you win or not, if the media picks up on this (and they could) you could either be very employable or very unemployable.

Having said that I know (was in same building as my sol’s place of work), a highly renowned legal employment solicitor if you need his details. Pm me.

Try acas first though.

A legal case will be hard to take forward, even a tribunal. You have to be an incredibly strong character to even consider it.

I would also think about job hunting like now and maybe retraining.

Charities can be nice places to work and some employers give priority to applicants with a disability eg mental health. I myself am recovering from mental health issues, used the employment service within my mental health support team and got a permanent part time job last week. My first perm job for a few years! For a housing association. Before that I was doing continuous contract work which though nice wasn’t stable.

This won’t go anywhere. There will be an enormous back story which we are not privy to

Well according to the thread title it’s because of “long term sick leave”.

Well then you and all your colleagues could do with a bit of training (or just normal human empathy). But it's irrelevant in this case as there is no suggestion that OP's employers' concerns are that she'll hurt other people, it's that she can't do her job.

If i knew that a colleague had expressed such sentiments and i knew that they had ocd - I would still refuse to work in the same work environment as them, and I believe my colleagues would do the same.

If i was the manager, and a member of my team came to me and told me this thought they were having and I knew they had OCD, I would ask them to stay in my office for a minute. Meanwhile I would leave my office, call HR, explain situation and say that I want them off the premises as I believe they constitute a possible threat to employees

That the dismissal is in part due to concern for the safety of other staff has come entirely from PPs.

The reason given by the company is that OP is not capable of doing the job she was employed to do. She has been off for seven months (so not doing the job at all), with no timescale for return, and when she is in work much of her time and headspace is taken up by intrusive thoughts so she is not giving the time and attention to the job that it needs from her. The reason seems watertight to me, as long as they have followed the correct procedure. While it is a reasonable business decision, if it was implemented without compliance that would give rise to a claim however valid the reason.

@KittyCoo

You are wrong to say someone with a disability cannot be ever sacked. They can- including because of the impact of the disability- it is just a lot more difficult and the employer has to show they have followed correct procedures in order for it not to be deemed discriminatory. I’m not saying your employee has followed the correct procedures, as I don’t know and I suspect nobody on here will be able to be 100% sure either. I think you should speak with your union for advice, and perhaps see if your house insurance covers legal advice.

However, I would say that if the occupation health doctor’s assessment/report was that you were not fit to return to work, your employer will have had to abide by that decision- they have not got discretion to ignore it. The recommendations are usually deemed binding in most workplace guidance/policies, unless it is something like workplace adaptation or adjustments where they can be set aside if the employer can satisfactorily prove those adjustments are not manageable within the organisation. If the employer dud chose to ignore the assessment/recommendations made in that report- and something untoward happened that could be said to be due to the condition(s) that the report stated were causing you to be unfit for work- it is almost certain that they would be held responsible and deemed negligent for ignoring the OH report.

I know you don’t agree with the outcome of the OH assessment, but that does not mean your employer can ignore it and chose to go along with your assessment of your health- regardless of your psychiatrists opinion (though I’m not clear that they have said you are fit to return to work, or not).

in terms of dismissal, they can terminate a contract (even for someone with ASD or any other disability) if that person is proven incapable of doing the job permanently, or after a certain period of time without any prospect of improvement. If the reason for the person being deemed permanently unfit is not linked to the disability, it is slightly more straightforward. As an extreme example, a lorry driver with ASD who unfortunately became blind would not be protected from dismissal on grounds of incapability because there is simply no way of that person being able to fulfil essential duties and no adaptation which would make it possible. The ASD does not negate that fact, and so it would be hard to argue discrimination in that circumstance.

The question, therefore, becomes one of whether they have followed the correct processes and procedures? It seems they have at least partially done so, as they have gone down occupational health assessment route and abided by their assessment. Whether they have stuck to the letter of the rules, none of us can say. I think that if you’ve been off for 7, heading towards 8 months, with no realistic prospect of returning to work “in the foreseeable future”- according to the OH assessment- you might find they can start the process. It is less clear if they followed correct procedures throughput, so you need to get proper legal advice.

I keep getting notifications and im being hopeful thinking its an update from op. Nope. Its always someone who thinks their knowledge or experience trumps everything.

@MrsBrendaFarfetched that's a fair point. Although it's not really up for debate any more than the definition of diabetes is up for debate, it's a medical diagnosis which folk are misunderstanding.