Feeling Harassed by work

[SortYourLifeOutMate]

I don't know what to do.

I currently work as a Nursing Assistant at a busy hospital. I've always worked 12-13 hour shifts.
I have a serious foot condition that requires surgery. I had surgery booked in that was cancelled 3 days before due to covid.
Since then I have been off work sick, due to doctors saying they don't want me working and making my feet worse before surgery.

Since handing in the first sick note, I have been non stop pestered by work to call, email etc.

My boss knows I suffer extreme anxiety and depression. Is this fair or should I call? Bare in mind my boss is very intimidating and hard to talk to. The constant 'asking to call' is not making matters better.

I don't know what to do. I just think if if was that 'urgent', why not email me to explain?

Could you email your boss and ask them to email you back with whatever the queries is?

Sorry, how long have you been off work?

Your employer is entitled to contact you whilst you’re off sick as part of their absence management process. If you don’t want to talk on the phone, why not just drop your boss an email and say you’d prefer to us it as a method of communication. They probably just want to get an idea of how long you might be off for but ignoring them never goes down well.

Are they pestering you because you're not getting back to them? If so, the solution is simple, you need to get in touch.

Have you spoke with your boss at all since handing in your first sick note OP?

What are they calling you about?

Why are they calling you....do you know? It may just be something simple, e.g. a piece of equipment or a key or something has gone missing and they're wondering if you went home with it by mistake.

I have made contact since the first note, I'm not sure what the issue is... Surely once I've provided a note and told them I will be off until further notice, that will be it, right? What else is there to discuss?!

Have no clue what is so 'urgent'!

“Have no clue what is so 'urgent'!”

Call back and find out

How long does the sicknote run for? At my work I’d be contacted before the end to see if I was likely to return.
What are they asking you when they call?

I’d be emailing to say ‘my note runs out on x date however I’ll be speaking to be dr on y date and it’s likely to be extended. I’ll be back in contact on x date to confirm the outcome of my appt ‘

Email your boss

That way there'll be a record of everything said.

As I said above OP, they likely want to have a discussion with you about your condition, how long you will be off and whether they might be able to make any adjustments to enable you to go back sooner. Or as others have suggested, they may need to clarify something with you. But until you get in touch with them you’re not going to know and they are going to keep contacting you and will get increasingly frustrated with you. Worst case scenario they could reach the conclusion that you’re never going to be well enough to return to work and terminate your employment on health grounds! Or they could decide that failure to cooperate with their sickness management processes means that you don’t qualify for company sick pay.

Just email them!

Are you off because of your foot ir your mental health?
If foot then I don’t thinknir’s unreasonable for work tobwant to maintain contact with you.

If you’re off with stress then it’s a different kettle of fish.

Have you just not contacted them since handing in your sick note?

It's perfectly reasonable for them to contact you while off sick for updates/find out if your coming back/talk about any adjustments you might need if you do return. Simply ignoring them with the excuse of anxiety isn't going to help you, call or email back.

Yes you can't just ignore them! If you ran a business, you'd need to plan for when someone is coming back. They could have someone in on a temp contract filling your space. You need to contact them and discuss. YABU

Why haven’t you just answered the call? Then you can stop wondering why it’s “so urgent” and actually know.

They’re not harassing you; you’re ignoring them so they need to continue trying to ring you.

Is it possible they are looking to redeploy you to a desk job if you are saying you have no idea when you will be back? Clerking or front desk?

I've already said I will contact when I will come back, have just emailed to ask what is so urgent.

Could they be looking to make redundancies? Even when on sick leave you can be made redundant. Not wanting to worry you more or anything but just email them and ask them all communication to go through that channel and ask what they want. The longer you leave it the worse you will feel OP

@SortYourLifeOutMate

I've already said I will contact when I will come back, have just emailed to ask what is so urgent.

No, you need to answer their call. You’re ignoring them.

When does your sick note run out, OP? I may be wrong, but from your post it looks like you've ignored a request to contact them via email and not taken their call. They shouldn't be harassing you about going back but you are still an employee so there may be something around your employment that they do need to speak with you about. Especially with COVID, need to do risk assessments etc.

My boss knows I suffer extreme anxiety and depression. Is this fair or should I call? Bare in mind my boss is very intimidating and hard to talk to. The constant 'asking to call' is not making matters better.

That's like when a man accuses his wife of 'nagging' because he hasn't done what she's constantly having to ask him to do.

If you had called when asked the first time, you wouldn't be in this position now and nor would your manager.

Btw, how long have you been off and how many sick notes have you handed in?

I would imagine after a period of long term sick your manager needs to know the prognosis and a plan going forward. 10months is a long time for a department to be down a member of staff and your manager is probably under pressure from HR to find out what is going on with you.