AIBU to want to quit my job over line report?

[schween]

I line manage someone with mental issues. I knew this when he became my line report, and I truly tried hard for 3 years to be understanding. (I am on medication for anxiety and have friends with greater mental health issues.) roll on year 4, and it’s intolerable. I doubt the medical issues, because it’s one after another, and it’s all so vague. Literally within a month he can be coughing up blood; passing out; cannot move for pain, etc. it’s never something mild - it’s death’s door or yet another best friend died. The sickness and lateness and compassionate leave is endless. He seems to use medical issues as a reason for his misbehavior- yet no-one knows what they actually are. Team morale is an all time low. I cannot convey the weirdness of it all - he has made complaints to HR that we do not acknowledge him; yet he walks in every morning, head down, miserable, will not acknowledge our own hello. He has point blank lied about work issues, then when I try to speak to him about them; he walks out the room. Last time I tried to ask him to remain, he told me I ‘thought I was royalty’ and told me essentially to eff off. I asked HR about putting him on a performance plan 18 months ago, but nothing has transpired - they always have something else to deal with. It feels like they’re protecting him. I appreciate the medical issues but it’s gotten to the point where I cannot cope myself. I cannot rely on him as a team member because he’s not capable yet i’m told i’m not to ‘stir it’ by pulling him up on his nonsense. My other team members are also all suffering mentally as a consequence - and my husband is telling me to hand my notice in because it’s affecting our home life so much. But I feel frustrated that I (or my other team members) should be the ones to leave... i otherwise love my job but have started to hate it due to him. I constantly get complaints about him from colleagues around the company (he has a very aggressive email tone) yet everyone seems to sweep it under the carpet. Argh!!!

Does he actually do the job he’s paid to do?

Leave......Your organisation has a culture of spinelessness that means they are able to screw over their clients and staff because of their own ineptitude/fear of a tribunal... It's not going to change... Leave

You need more input from HR. Nag them incessantly until they step up.

I agree with @31hettie it sounds like your HR team are weak and afraid and likely this won't change. I'd leave, not quickly, you find something that suits you but yes goal to leave.

You need to get an occupational health report and do an absence review with him. You also need to read your company policies and stick to them.

• has he hit a trigger for sickness?
• has he used all paid special leave, if so he should be on unpaid
• is lateness now a conduct issue due to frequency?

Have KPIs/ performance goals been clearly communicated and is he meeting them?

You have to follow the processes to the letter, it's reasonable to give adjustments for someone who has a mental or physical health issue. However it becomes unfair to the rest of the team and the business if you have no boundaries and he is not performing so creating more work for others.

If his medical issues are affecting his work for example sickness or time off or special allowances, what are your policies for this? Can you ask for a letter from his doctor? I would have thought that was standard for a condition requiring any special treatment

He should have been referred to occupational health ages ago. HR are not in a position to deal with this without an OH report.

Also remember that HR are there to advise, Managers are there to manage.

You should not need permission from HR to start a performance improvement plan, you just need to ensure your are following the company policy and procedure. If you don't have one, follow the ACAS guidance.

Step 1 - call a meeting with the employee and establish your ground rules.

• layout your concerns
• remind him of the company values/competencies/behaviours
• provide him copies of the policies
• establish what his performance targets are and what his current performance stats are, the same for absence etc
• set objectives, clear timelines and a follow up date for review. This should be at least once a month, more frequently if possible.
• be very clear about the consequences of not meeting the objectives
• put it all in writing and email it to him.
• KEEP TO IT! If you say you will vie in a month, then do it, if you say you will call a stage 1 disciplinary, do it. Do not miss any steps, make sure it is documented.

If he then raises a grievance, you can demonstrate you have followed policy and kept him fully informed.

No, he does not do the same job that his counterparts are paid to do. He cannot manage the same workload and needs hand-holding too much...

@amirughtoramerimgue I asked HR to get a doc’s note or look into it, and they were given a doc with a hotmail address! And a phone number. They did call but we’re tild to butt out that there was no obligation to speak to them; and they accepted that!

Surely HR can't communicate directly with someone's doctor? What about patient confidentiality?
Have you got an OH service?

Thanks @Lwmommy. A friend in law advised similar, I may have the balls to follow through but there will be fall out 🙄

@endofthelinefinally I thought we were allowed to just at least confirm they were a patient and all the appointments were legit - that’s all I was asking for confirmation on - no details.

The advice above re sticking to processes and keeping evidence is spot on.

In terms of the leave and absences - most employers have triggers for absence, after which you can refer for an occupational health assessment and/or trigger the inefficiency process. Likewise paid compassionate leave is limited, after which it's unpaid. Paid or not, there's usually provision to enable you to require reasonable evidence.
You have my sympathy though, I have a similar situation. I've sorted the absences, and the rudeness/attitude, but the laziness is much harder. In my case the person is smart enough to just about hit targets, so it's incredibly difficult to pull them on performance. For now I'm documenting everything and trying a softer approach. Fingers crossed! Good luck op

Sod HR. Who is your line manager? You need to escalate this up through your line management.

Can you go above HR? When I went through something similar-ish I did.

Good luck xxx

i wonder if he has disclosed a disability to HR and they're concerned about a disability discrimination claim.

HR would never have contacted an employee's GP back in my day. Maybe things have changed. I wouldn't want to work for an employer who did that. I haven't worked in OH for 30 years though. We had very clear policies and procedures around confidentiality.

Keep records of every single time he fails to do his job, every time he’s late or takes compassionate leave or has a mysterious medical problem...

Then get him on a performance plan. If HR know he has a real medical issue, they should share that with you so you can make allowances etc.

Sounds like a lazy, selfish irresponsible dick. Nothing to do with mh issues.

Have you spoken with your own line manager about the situation?

@AJPTaylor tried that 😕

@Timandra have met with HR several times and I get the impression no, they have no idea either - at least that’s what they tell me. It’s obviously all a bit effed up. But they did warn me I need to be careful because of ‘undisclosed’ medical issues and because of their race, which I found frustrating.

@Gazelda yep. Nadia. Told they would escalate it but that was 18 months ago. They don’t have to deal on a daily basis so they don’t truly understand the mind fuck that it is.

Do you need HR's agreement to put him on a performance plan? Can't you take that decision yourself?