Does anyone work in HR? What happens if Occ Health say you're not fit for work?

[Greedybilly]

Just that really. Occ health at work have said im not fit and recommend reducing hours.( long covid ongoing nightmare)
Manager ( who has been great) saying this isn't possible or practical.

Do I hand my notice in or let them ' let me go' re benefit purposes? I've only been there 5 months and still in my 6 month probation period.
Any help welcome.thank-you

Sorry to hear your health is not great.

from my experience working in HR/with OH, we had a general rule of thumb that if someone was not well enough to work 50% hours (and be back to full time within 6-8 weeks) then they were probably better to be signed off by their GP until they were.

as the role is already part time, unless the recommendation from OH was for reduced hours for a very short period eg 2 weeks, then it doesn’t sound like it is practical anyway. Smaller companies would also likely find this much harder to accommodate than a big corporate.

policies and processes do vary between companies, so you’ll need to check what applies to you, however, I’d be tempted to:

• see GP and ask for fit note stating you are not well enough to work your substantive role/hours
• let your manager know, and advise that while you are not well enough to attend work, you are happy to be available for work-related meetings relating to your absence/probation (assuming that you are)
• it won’t feel great, but let the process carry on re your absence/probation, which if you are not well enough to work in the foreseeable future is likely to result in a failed probation - ultimately you are not able to fulfil your role/contract.
• them initiating the dismissal means that are you more likely to qualify for support than if you resign.

I do hope things improve for you soon

@cheeseomelette- yes yhe whole thing is awful ' im gutted that I need to give up my career but I know yhat LC is made worse by stress so I'm getting iller and iller. It's horrible. There's no big fight/dispute though with me and manager. She's been really sound but can't reduce my hours any further which I understand. It's a rubbish situation tbh

@NotEnoughRoom' thanku for all the info- im slowly getting my head round everything/accept things. Thanks

Did OH give any indication by how much you should reduce your hours?