What was your reason for being signed off with work related stress

[GardenTrees]

My work are being absolutely awful to me. I don’t want to go into too many details or be outed, but I’m seriously considering getting signed off with stress.

I’ve had to take some time off recently for a very sick child who has been diagnosed with a life limiting illness, although not imminent. It’s incredibly stressful.

my workplace have been difficult in many aspects since my return. I’m trying to get on with work as much as possible but they are making it very hard.

AIBU to get signed off work and try again in a few months? My concern is nothing will change while I’m away and the same problems will still be there when I eventually go back again. I’m going to offer to sort things out while I’m off otherwise it’ll never get resolved, but the way they are behaving is honestly making me making me sick with worry, stress, anxiety etc. or they’ll find a reason to sack me.

Any advice? Im already feeling guilty about taking time off, so I’m interested in hearing for what reason other people have been signed off for work related reasons? Hoping for some solidarity!

I got signed off after my boss started bullying me. She was trying to push me out to save her own job (there were redundancies and she was hopeless). When it became clear she wouldn’t stop I got signed off for a few months and got a new job.

sorry to hear about your dd op. Hope you get it sorted

Thank you. I had considered this but just don’t think I’ve got it in me to look for another job at the moment.

and sorry about your bullying boss. It’s horrible isn’t it.

I was being bullied. I was suicidal tbh but didn't think much of it, for some reason

Then i got pregnant - the bullying got so bad, I wasnt sleeping. So got signed off for two months before mat leave, then never returned

I'd say to get signed off op. Life is short and it's too short to be stressed and overthinking everything because you're being treated badly at work x

I was bullied so severely in my last job that I ended up with PTSD. I finally cracked one Friday afternoon when one of my managers scheduled another meeting with me for the following week and I just knew it would be another load of bullshit fed to her by the people who had been bullying me for months. I asked to speak to her there and then, told her the truth about what they’d been doing, cried a lot then got signed off the following week for the next two months. Handed in my notice on my first day back. Annihilated them in my exit interview.

Can’t remember what I said to the doctor but it wasn’t a long conversation, they signed me off for a month at a time. Renewed after a month without even speaking to me (joys of the NHS lack of appointments).

I really wouldn’t feel guilty about getting signed off if they’ve treated you badly. You have to take care of yourself. If my situation taught me anything it’s that.

Thank you for sharing your replies, and I’m sorry you’ve had such horrible experiences at work. I sincerely hope things are better for you now

Completely unmanageable workload (working 70 hour weeks and still couldn't keep my head above water) and a sociopathic boss who kept wanting more and more. I found a new job while signed off and have never looked back. Could you do similar?

What was your reason for being signed off with work related stress? I’ve had to take some time off recently for a very sick child who has been diagnosed with a life limiting illness, although not imminent. It’s incredibly stressful.

Is this not enough? Not sure what other reasons for being signed off for a limited time are required if you're unable to continue in your current role other than being bullied or feeling suicidal?

Give yourself a break... XX

OP, before you get signed off make sure you double check what sick pay you're entitled to and if you can survive on it. If just statutory at 110 a week you'll have a whole other stress on top of everything.

I was being bullied.
There were various straws that broke the camel's back, amongst them:

• up at 4am on Christmas Eve to complete a deadline at midday (I was a senior manager, had been given no resources to complete the job despite numerous requests, came back from holiday in early December to find out that no one had done ANY of the work in my handover)
• was subsequently hauled over the coals for the powerpoint not being formatted correctly - not my finest moment but I had sent the first draft in October
• Had a "disciplinary" meeting in early January and just crumbled at the unfair accusations

I was signed off for a fortnight - ended up being three months as I could not function, When I returned, HR sat in on the meeting with my boss and sensed the whole thing was so toxic that he was not allowed to speak with me without HR being there. Ended up being made redundant at my request with a full pay off and NDA (can share here as it's anonymous). It took a further six months for me to recover enough to work and, TBH, have never fully recovered my confidence.

I had a month off last year, just utter burnout from trying to juggle everything. Went back and now 3 months later it's about to be my last week. Sometimes it's just not worth the stress and being miserable all the time.