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.

Please refer this employee to an Occupational Health Advisor, via an official Referral Form, setting out the job role/hours/demands etc - with an account of the recent and current history. Ask for a report to help you understand what the barriers are and what, if any, reasonable adjustments could be suggested to allow the employee to remain working, safely and productively. A GP generally has no interest in the Employers position and wont suggest anything other than that which the employee tells them. Obviously you need Consent from the Employee to attend this OH review, but it is the sensible thing to do. Most importantly, it demonstrates that you are fulfilling your 'duty of care' as an Employer. This is important in regards to establishing your expectations going forwards. An Occupational Health Advisor can offer work focussed advice independent of the GP opinion, and it does give you the benefit of a possible alternative view with suggestions. A GP note is not a legal document and it is ONLY for Guidance....it is not your obligation to adhere to the GP advice. ( It is possible the OH Advisor will suggest same of course but at least you have an independent advisor, supporting both you, and the employee)HTH

How unprofessional of you!

As a mother I actually sympathise with the pregnant lady here - I worked in the NHS when I was pregnant and we had ‘flexi’ working hours, as in if we came in slightly late we could work slightly later in the day. Think admin rather than patient facing. Heavily pregnant (around 6-7months) I had to park on the total opposite side of the hospital site on the staff car park. I arrived in 10 minutes after my ‘start’ time as I literally struggled to walk and arrived in to my manager stood by my desk tapping her watch.

Id imagine your management style to be this

Have you experienced pelvic pain in pregnancy? Being able to walk up the road doesn’t mean you’re fine.

I mean my heart bleeds for those who have had the misfortune to work with lazy colleagues

But the whole attitude of "I know they're malingering even if they provide a medical note" towards people by those who make a split second judgement based off of their own ignorance from people "looking fine" really does make the world a whole damn sight harder to navigate for those of us who are actually disabled

I put on a brave face and smile - god forbid anyone sees me carrying a bag of shopping from my car one day when I'm feeling well enough to have gone out and reports me for "looking fine" to the benefit fraud investigators

Thankfully I have endless amounts of hospital appointments, reports and medication and the rest that I'd be able to prove I am genuinely disabled but not being able to afford the absolute necessities while it'd be suspended and investigated would really fuck up my entire life

Because she's angry and wanting to 'manage' aggressively a woman with a debilitating pregnancy condition

@DPotter this reads a lot like 'I constructively dismissed a person with back pain/mobility issues because they were seen walking once and I advise you to constructively dismiss someone you don't like when she returns from mat leave'

Middle management out in full glory today

This with bells on 👆

This sounds like an expensive way to find out someone has pelvic girdle pain and it hurts to high heaven. What's an oh going to do, you can't determine it from an examination? The company could fork out for girdles etc but that's an expensive way to buy a £10 girdle

Ffs

There are plenty of people happily putting the woman that the OP is complaining about into the same category of every poor colleague they have ever known though. There are loads of posts talking about recurrent episodes of sickness or long sick leave and even the OP has said perfectly clearly that this is not the case here and that the employee did not have any sickness prior to the pregnancy.
She's been described as "a bit lazy" by the OP who also recognises that when she has been on a performance management plan she has met the requirements, so that may or may not be true. But even if it is, that doesn't mean she is lying about her sickness. Even lazy people have been known to be ill once in a while. And she has been seen walking down the road, not running the London Marathon or taking part in a tap dance competition for heaven's sake. She's stated to be unfit for work, not unfit to leave the house, and she has a condition that is recognised to fluctuate in its severity so. She could be malingering of course, who knows, but the OP seemingly has no evidence of this and she should be very careful about making baseless accusations.

You need to speak to HR and get advice. An OH referral can and will override a GP note in certain circumstances - I've had to refer to them in a similar event (not pregnancy related)

She wouldn’t have been able to get away with this before working at home became so common and it’s situations like this that give pregnant women a bad name in the workplace and why employers will avoid employing a women that are likely to have babies when they can.

If her pregnancy means she can’t do her job properly she should go on maternity leave.

Im confused why people are saying you can't get rid of people in the public sector?! Follow the policy and manage them. it feels like those moaning haven't managed properly

Walking for brief periods of time near her home is VERY different to commuting. YABU.

Have you ever dealt with unions in the public sector?

Sounds like you really have it in for her. You say she likes to work from home so you decided to schedule her in for in person meetings an hour away from where she lives.
And you can't be sure she is lying about her pain. Also why were you driving near where she lives? I hope not trying to check up on her?

Pg with a doctor note,and a protected category.Can you managers spell Tribunal?

I hope this poor lady isn't on Mumsnet and works out who you are.

@Bluesjies I am very happy nobody I know works for you.
@Nahimjustaworm we will never get away from the derogatory use of 'Karen' being used against women if people are still using it to berate women on here!

@FloweryName before people were able to work from home she'd have been signed off work presumably. But she's somehow a scrounger for continuing to work?

And people who refuse to hire women of childbearing age are small-minded, discriminatory bigots who are crap at business

SPD is very painful but I doubt you would always be able to tell that someone has it by watching them walk.

Is this a reverse?

This situation has been managed poorly up until now. Pregnancy is not the time to start to proactively manage a return to the office.

Take the doctor's note at face value and support your employee's wellbeing.

I would say pelvic pain in pregnancy can be very sore and just because she has walked doesn't mean she is fine.....

Being able to undertake a short walk and standing on a packed train are two very different situations.

Public sector organisations have worked virtually for a number of years now. It may not be your preferred way of working, meetings should have a Teams or Zoom capability. Logistically it can work.

How did you come to that conclusion after reading the OP?

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).

AuntieJune
I suggest that it is a lot less expensive than the employer being taken to a tribunal and being found to have lacked a duty of care, or have been discriminatory. It may be that the employee isn't deemed fit to work in any capacity - or - she may be fit to work in the office/attend meetings with a flexible hours arrangement and ergonomic support. And you clearly don't understand what OH is - it is a lot more detailed than suggesting to 'fork out for a girdle'. It is a very reasoned, evidence based assessment process with professionally qualified advice provided, that seeks to protect the employee, and support the employer also.

Ffs