Come here please and make this request sound reasonable,to me

[HoneyDragon]

Employee comes into work. Is told which task he is rota'd to do, that the employee has been fully trained to do.

Employee then turns around and states

"I cannot do that anymore as I am stressed, I don't earn enough money and I have stress and cannot perform that task".

The task in question is not difficult, demanding or in any way different to any others that are required, and has always happily been done up to this point, without issue.

You then spend 15 minutes ascertaining what the employee feels they can do without being stressed for the remainder of their shift, move everyone else around to get other stations covered.

(So as not to be accused of drip feeding the employer pays all employers well above the minimum wages and believes in a living wage for all of its employees)

So, for what reasons would the employer NOT be allowed to me somewhat peeved by such a statement?

Bit difficult to say without knowing what the task is. Is it dangerous?

'I am stressed' is not a medical diagnosis in any way shape or form so YANBU to feel peeved. It very much depends on your work's policies and procedures wrt to what you can actually do about it though.

What task is it? I was extremely angry in previous job (and met with manager to tell him so) when I was being expected to negotiate time on tasks between various different projects with no assistance yet being paid only just above min wage despite postgrad qualifications, and being on a casual contract. I told him in effect that the pay I received was not commensurate with the level of stress and responsibility I was being expected to handle, and he agreed (I wasn't in fact meant to be doing any such work, I was meant to be helping out with lab work, but poor communication and personal disputes were meaning I was stuck in middle of a load of nonsense). If it's a management or similar task then I would say YABU to expect it off people paid near min wage, if it's something like answering the phone then he's being a numpty.

No not dangerous. Very straightforward. It is a factory, the task has NEVER been considered an issue by the employe in question or anyone else, in the history of ever

In terms of policy, we have handled it exactly how we should have, up to and including overing the appropriate help if required.

In terms of stress levels of the task fudge than it is the equivalent of being asked to answer the phone.

Is this a person who usually pushes to see what they can get away with? Do you have reason to believe they are stretching the truth?

Ask for a GP statement of this alleged stress.

Involve HR.

Tell the employee you consider they are raising a grievance with the company and put this in writing.

Invite them to a formal meeting with you and HR and state that they are welcome to bring a colleague or union rep.

jean , done all that, honestly, all the correct protocol have been done, and seen through.

I'm just curious as to what peoples initial reaction would be to that statement and what you think might be going through that persons head?

You have to be careful with work related stress. However, it is reasonable to ask if the employee is seeking medical advice about their stress. If it is preventing them from doing aspects of their job, you would expect their GP to issue them with a 'fit note' to that effect.

Any kind of qualification of the employee's statement is what is missing here.

Hmm, sorry just seen your last post Honeydragon.

If it was me I would base my thinking on known evidence. Has person previously been reliable, consistent etc? Any attitudinal stuff? Any known personal stuff going on at the mo?

Assuming this is totally out of character, I would be a bit worried about them. If they have previously shown unwillingness to get to grips with all aspects of the role, I may be a bit more cynical.

The employee's exact statement was that they were suffering from stress because they were not earning enough. The result of that stress was that they could not do the task they were initially requested to do. This all occurred wishing 10 minutes of starting that days shift.

Up until that moment they had had no issue, grievances or expressed and difficulties over the course of their employment to any of their supervisors.

*within, not wishing

So what came out of the grievance meeting?

Oh, weird!
If it is a waged job ( does piecework still exist) that is v odd indeed. Does the wage increase after probationary period, or anything?

My gut feeling is that they aren't stressed because they don't earn enough per se, ( because they knew what the pay was presumably) but that they don't earn enough for something else...my first instinct is debt.

Anyway, whatever the reason, the role has been valued at a certain level, that us what the skll, experience and labour is worth...if they don't think it is fair pay they may need to seek another opportunity.

I don't think there are reasons why an employer wouldn't be allowed to be peeved at an employee turning up to work and declaring they can't do the job for which they are paid.

But being peeved sometimes is part of the managers job.

If it's out of character and is quite short lived, then an employer should get over it and just put it down to their employee being human. If not, then it would be acceptable to get rid.

I'm just curious as to what peoples initial reaction would be to that statement and what you think might be going through that persons head?

Sad to say but from almost 20 years management experience my first thought is they are taking the piss.

This must be causing problems with the other staff who are having to take up the slack. I bet they are pissed off too.

In your case though it's impossible to say as I've no feel for the employee's attitude.

Can you tell us a bit more about what they were like beforehand? Always eager to do more or the type to do the bare minimum?

It didn't get that far

He panicked at the first hurdle when we went through the issues and agreed to work out a plan of action etc, and asked if he could medical back up from his GP so we could adjust his role accordingly to ensure he came to know harm etc. basically, we treated the issue with the respect, concern and professionalism from any decent company.

We now know why he said what he did (and its hilarious), but it was the initial sudden statement of stress due to lack of earnings that had us

Ha ha I knew he'd shit himself when you did that, I almost wrote it in my previous post.

Well, when things went pear-shaped in my life around 7 years ago, I found myself sometimes unable to perform apparently quite straightforward tasks while having no problems with other, sometimes more challenging ones. Things that I would normally regard as slightly miffing moved me to floods of tears. I went to the GP, got put on ADs and was signed off for 3 months (in hindsight should have asked for longer, but thought I should get back to work asap). More recently when I found myself unable to stand a job which was not paying nearly enough in my opinion, I politely resigned from it. Your employee may do well to consider one of these options.

Oh, x-post, you explored that then. Sorted.

Honey If it's hilarious are you going to share?

Stress risk assessment? There's a good tool on the HSE website.

I would assume they were taking the piss...."stress" is one of the magic words that some people can use as a get-out-of-jail-free. Though money worries can indeed be all consuming...

Ooh yes do share

Was he worried he might get an erection while on the phone?