To think this doctors note is ridiculous

[Bluesjies]

Okay this employer has always been a bit lazy but we’ve just had to put up with it.
She does around half the work of other colleagues but we’ve never been able to do anything about it as she does just enough to avoid her being sacked.

Anyway we allocated her a few tasks to do which include several in person meetings (can’t be virtual on this occasion for various reasons).
We knew she didn’t like attending meetings as she prefers just working from home so wondered if she’d say she was sick on the day or say she was not well enough to not work from home.
We can’t avoid attending meetings forever. She’s more than competent when she is in them. I think it’s just she lives an hour from the meeting place and she doesn’t like the commute, getting up early etc.
We do try to have teams meetings where we can but it’s not always possible.

Anyway the meeting on Monday has been arranged and she informed me she could not attend as she was having pain and struggling to walk 🙄”. I replied the meeting isn’t for four days. Will the pain be better then? She didn’t reply but then a couple days later submitted a doctors note saying she needs to work from home until her maternity leave (in 4 months) due to pelvic pain.
There’s not much we can do here really if there’s a doctors note. Or so I thought.

I happened to see her walking perfectly well down a road near her home today so I do have evidence she’s more than able to mobilise.

AIBU to think her note is just nonesense and challenge her on her perfect walking ability? I don’t know why these GP’s write these notes out when it’s not the truth.

Or am I best to silently seeth and get on with it.

The OP thinks they know better than a doctor apparently.

To me their post reads like an unprofessional vendetta and I hope the pregnant woman on question has seen this and taken screenshots.

I'd certainly be messaging any pregnant public sector friends to see if anyone on their management team is this unprofessional.

@Achwheesht oh no don’t get me started on the socks😂! It was so much agony😔 it’s bad aswell because it doesn’t go after you’ve given birth either! My daughter is 2 and it’s only just started to heal and feel normal again! Safe to say another pregnancy would do me in😳! I was expecting to give birth and the pain to miraculously disappear! Oh no it didn’t, then it became looking after a newborn AND trying to move out of bed😂

Completely agree. I almost want the daily Mail to pick it up.

Well I hope she is and knows she's giving pregnant women a bad name if she's just at it and using her pregnancy as an excuse.

I have a chronic health condition. When it flares up I am unable to cope with the commute. I can walk to the village shop and back (about 400 yards) so I guess if any of my colleagues saw me they may think I'm skiving and there's nothing wrong with me. Doesn't make it true though, norr does it make my doctor a liar if they sign me off.

Just admit you don't like the woman @Bluesjies

Yabu - I had pelvic girdle pain whilst pregnant and it’s horrendous.
There can be good & bad days…
She has been signed off by a professional therefore what is your problem op? You might have seen her on a good day. There is absolutely nothing you can do & I don’t know why you would want to.

Exactly

If this is real OP - I am cringing for you
Please get yourself some training immediately
Refer yourself to HR and learn some management techniques

What's with the victim blaming? Also are you particularly dense and incapable of reading?
If you were then my sentence is quite clear, i did not get any appointment and there is nothing to mislead because it's them that refused to see me.
I didn't even want sick notes just proper medical care but there you go.

If this is unfathomable to you then congratulations, you live in an affluent area or are one of the lucky ones with good medical care. Sorry that the rest of us aren't as privileged.

I have. Go on.......?

Me too, and most of them are shite.

As someone who is 30 weeks pregnant and struggling with PGP I think you need to do some research into this condition. It can be excruciating and crippling.

YABU. Pelvic pain during pregnancy is horrible, she may be fine one day and another day may not be able to have any movement. You really shouldn't question/or bring it up

Seeing as you weren’t actually there in the GP surgery, I’m sure that a proper assessment was carried out.

I had pelvic girdle pain in both pregnancies. I could barely walk most days as I was in so much pain. I also had biweekly physio to try and improve the pain in my joints.

You don’t know if she’s been having physio or whether she’s complained about the pelvic pain multiple times to her GP/Midwife. Just because you saw her outside walking what does that mean? They literally encourage you to walk as much as possible despite the pain in brings about. It’s probably not worth her going through all of that pain just for a meeting.

You sound like you’re trying to catch her out regardless

Do you regularly discuss your employees’ (and you mean “employee” not “employer” in your OP, by the way) health issues on s public forum? Do you honestly think that’s appropriate?

As someone with a number of medical conditions that can vary no you do not have proof, you have no idea how much pain she is in.

I was 'seen' shopping once having been signed off sick.

I hade taken opiates.
I had no one to do any shopping for me.
I had no food in my home.
I came back, took more pain killers and went to bed for a few hours.

And anyway, it isn't "virtually impossible " to performance manage in the public sector, nor is it impossible to end contracts if managed properly. This is basic HR skills.

Well to be fair, they do. It's not their fault because what else can they do, they aren't mind readers. There isn't any proper assessment that can be done, that couldn't be faked.

When I was pregnant I asked my gp to write a note saying I can't do night shift for the time being due to nausea and exhaustion, and she did so without any further questions. Now in my case it was true, but of course I could have been lying.

Oh please. She was useless before she got pregnant. Get rid of her, start performance management and also seek HR advice so you do it by the book.

You have no idea she wasn't in pain walking around.

Anyway. A doctor has given her a fit note. Follow your procedures. If it's pregnancy related within a certain time of the due date I think it can trigger maternity leave early but you'd be stupid to do that If she's able to work from home as that's a reasonable adjustment.

Just stick with HR.

Good point

I had PGP when I was PG. fucking agony and it didn't get any better after birth, still suffer a bit 10 yrs later.

My manager wouldn't let me wfh. I was fit to work but couldn't manage the commute - long walk to station and then an hour on the train. He refused, so my GP just signed me off for the final 5 months. I got full pay, and because he was an idiot as well as an arse my manager didn't know he could have forced my mat leave earlier than I'd intended I ended up being off work for the best part of 18 months.

Managers like you are the reason pregnant women have so many protections in law.

This is a horrible post, I can understand the frustrations of having an employee with performance issues, I've been that manager. The part that stuck out most to me was the fact you all got together and allocated this employee tasks that she had to travel an hour to come in to work, you all knew there would be an issue and probably cackled about the employees discomfort and stress when she would have received these tasks.
What a toxic environment you have created.

You sound like a nasty, gossipy and pretty amateur ‘management team’. As a PP suggested, get yourselves some training and don’t discuss your co workers in a public forum.

Yep. I hear you.
She's got a note from GP and is pg. There's nothing you can do other than refer her to OH. They should be able to identify what she can do with reasonable adjustments e.g remote tasks etc.
Other than that you'll need to just document what you asked her to do and whether or not she did it. And I suspect just put her on a PIP when she's back after mat leave