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?

Also your attitude of I'm of until surgery date TBC "what is so hard" quite frankly, stinks.

Get a copy of sickness/absence policy and clue your self up on the procedures!

Call HR or OH or your line manager for support in following the procedure or you'll find yourself going down disciplinary route I'm afraid!

Personally OP, if I were your manager I would have started ill health capability / disciplinary dye to your seeming lack of cooperation and attitude.

@PeterOhanrahahanrahan he was contacting me a bit more until I was referred to OH and since then he hasn't contacted me at all, the only contact is when I give my sick note. Im not sure what my company sickness policy is, hope I have been following it though I don't need anymore stress in my life 😟

How long have you been off work OP?

As pp says, check your sickness absence policy. There's usually guidance about how often employees need to contact their employer when off sick.

It's not necessarily 'harassing'. Employers have a duty of care. If you have disclosed your anxiety and depression to your manager, it's actually right that they're in contact with you.

You do need to speak with them and supply them with any info you have ie current sick note, if you have a new op date. Also, you can negotiate how and how frequently you would like to be contacted within reason.

But do check the sick policy OP. You may be heading towards capability or performance measures.

Are you off purely because of your foot or is your anxiety on the sick note?
Like most businesses, I have to call daily when off sick and the same for my team to me.
I’ve had staff like you who are shocked that we aren’t keeping them on forever, with shoddy contact and little respect for the people covering in your absence. Companies will have sympathy to a degree but you can’t just say you’ll be back when it suits. You need a plan agreed,
Being too unwell to work is awful, I genuinely don’t want people dragging themselves in if they are unable but as a pp suggested, perhaps there are other duties? Offering may show willing in the current job market.

BliMEY OP - your attitude is really off!

Work aren't harassing you, and you need to communicate with them. A sick note isn't a long term meal ticket.

A brief regular call between line manager & signed off employee is standard. Five minutes maximum routinely once a week is plenty good.
‘Hello, how are you? Any developments about your condition. Anything I or we can do to help you? Just to bring you up to speed on what’s going on at work...’ is the basic script. If you cannot speak because you are unwell for that slot, email & say so.

HR will be checking in with the line manager to check that the call has taken place, & will update your case notes accordingly.

Being recalcitrant or awkward about returning calls or maintaining regular contact is not managing your own reputation at work well.

You have a contract of employment with your employer & maintaining routine contact whilst off sick is standard practice. It is to your advantage to manage this relationship & situation well.

Have you been in touch with your Consultant who is doing your surgery to see where you are on the waiting list? Our Trust has been back doing routine work for months. If they know you work for the NHS and are off until you get the surgery they might expedite your operation. It’s all hands on deck at the minute and we can’t afford to have staff off on long term sick if it can be avoided.

I’m not a clinician but I do work in a hospital. I can’t imagine my manager being happy with me being off sick for that long without me letting them know what is happening! They’d be looking at roles for me to do where I’m not on my feet all day / something I could do WFH to help things along as the second wave picks up.

I work in the private sector. After 6 months sick pay would run out. After 12 months my employment would be terminated.
Does your fit note not have a date or have to be renewed every so often? If you speak to your manager, surely you can agree a plan to communicate about this. You are expending far more mental energy wondering what they want than you would if you just spoke to them.

Is there not work you can do that doesnt require you to be constantly on feet? Admin? Filing?

You can't just submit a sick note and not engage with your employer. I work in HR and we have a policy stating that employees must maintain regular contact while off sick.

Have you read your policy?

The manager needs to maintain a record of contact with you. This is used as part of formal stage meetings.

Is there no way you can actually perform tasks that don't require you to be on your feet? Staff with a broken leg can wfh, if their role allows it in my organisation.

If you’ve purely been signed off with your foot then I don’t see why you can’t be given light duties or admin to do. You could be dropping to half pay, any number of things. It will be in your sickness policy that your manager has to keep in touch. They have a duty of care regardless of what you think of them.

Reality check OP
You are not following their sickness policy and thereby risk having your contract terminated for misconduct.
If there is a year wait for surgery you will probably be fired on incapacity grounds if you cannot do your job in the meantime.

I informed that I wouldn't be back until after surgery. I will let them know when surgery is booked. ?? What's so hard?

As an employee, you don't get to do that. You can't just declare you won't be back and stop communicating. As many pp have said regular contact with employees who are long term sick is part of their duty of care. They want to know how you're doing and understand from a workload perspective how long you are off so they can organise cover.

I don't know what to do.

You call your manager and bring him up to date i.e. the latest news on when your surgery might be scheduled and agree a keeping in touch timetable.

Was just thinking the same @Spidey66

I was off work (NHS) for 3 months. I sent sick notes in electronically and my line manager rang me every couple of weeks to see how I was, she would tell me early time when she would ring next.
She was lovely and said its part of the long term sick policy . She wasnt spying on me or trying to catch me out, just keeping in touch.

*every not early

I came on this thread to probably say yanbu but now I have to admit I feel for the manager.

And where do you get a sick note that leaves you off work 'until further notice'. How long have you been off? Is there a different role you could undertake in the meantime (office based)?

Sounds like someone doesn't want to work...
Ffs contact them.

I am sorry but if someone is signed off sick they are not meant to respond to employers' random calls every five minutes especially if that employer is unable to state what their actual purpose is for wanting to contact the employee while they are meant to be off work...

If this lady has provided the right sick notes alongside an email each time stating that she is still not fit for work and her GP has extended her sick leave as time passes, that is all she needs to do.

She cannot be forced back to work while she is legally signed off and should not be 'harassed'.

I would simply write the manager an email saying that she would like al correspondence to be in writing from now on by email and remind the company that she is currently not fit to deal with general work queries and copy HR into it.

It is better for her to have a written trail as well of asks by the employer if things turn ugly.

If the employer then wants to schedule a formal meeting to discuss her return to work or the next step they can do so by clearly stating their purpose and booking an agreed time.

I am always surprised how meek people can be and how quick they are to think that employers always have the rights to do as they wish....

It doesn't sound like OP has been submitting sick notes, just one open ended one and saying I'll be back when I have had surgery, no idea when that is. In their minds she is off purely because of her foot, therefore it's not unreasonable they want to see if there are other roles OP could do seen as though surgery could be up to 12 months away or more. It's not about employers having the rights to do what they want, it's about being a responsible employee and ensuring you have a job to go back to; it's reasonable to keep in touch.

requin, where did you read that the OP has handed in the correct sick notes. She merely wrote I informed that I wouldn't be back until after surgery

It really doesn't work like, does it?

@Requinblanc I work in the private sector, and sick pay is a 2 way street. You have to follow the sickness absence procedure or the employer has the right to stop enhanced pay.

Also failure to follow the policy can result in disciplinary which can ultimately end in dismissal. On top of this we have termination on grounds of ill health due to being incapable of performing the role you have been hired for.

To hand a sick note in and then ignore all contact is irresponsible and immature. In all likelihood will have negative consequences depending on the length of time this has been ongoing.

You are not I'll in that you can't do any work. You are signed off because you can't do heavy duty work.

It's perfectly reasonable that they should call to ask if you've heard about a date for your surgery. When surgery is cancelled a few days before it was due, you are supposed to have another date arranged within a few weeks. Since you are not taking any steps to keep them informed, 5bey have to call to find out. That's because they are expected to do every thing in their power to support you to get back to work and also so they know whether to recruit someone to replace you via agency with the knowledge that this costing much more.

Your attitude is appauling and one of the reasons why the NHS is struggling. It comes across that it suits you just fine to be off for weeks.

Requin we don't know why her employer is trying to contact her. OP refuses to engage. It could be "there's a key missing....did you go home with it by mistake?" Which is perfectly reasonable. Or they may want to know roughly how long her wait for surgery is, which is also reasonable. They maybe thinking they have to get a bank or agency staff to cover her shifts, and need to know if this is worth offering as a temporary contract.

Personally I think the OP is behaving extremely childishly and unprofessional in her complete refusal to engage with the process.if I was her manager or colleague, I'd be fuming.

It would clearly be different if, for example she was in ICU or something but clearly she isn't.