AIBU to consider legal action after dismissal for long-term sickness?

[KittyCoo]

I’ve been dismissed from my job today due to long term sickness since August last year. I have crohns, ASD, and very severe OCD. I have intrusive thoughts and last summer I declared these to my boss who completely misunderstood me and was worried I’d act on these thoughts shock I told her they caused me immense distress.

Last month, I was confident I’d be able to return to work as I’m finally having CBT and on the right medication, now on an SSRI combined with an anti psychotic. My boss was supporting my return. But then a week later she decided to place me on medical suspension without any prior warning because occ health deemed me unfit to work due to my OCD still taking up a lot of my day. I then fed this back to my line manager saying I’ll beat this decision as in prove occ health wrong and that I am indeed fit for work. She arranged a meeting with me to discuss suspension and she knew my union rep was on annual leave but decided to go ahead with it anyway!!!

They dismissed me due to long term sickness and not taking into account what’s working well with my mental health!! I’m looking at finding a solicitor as I believe this is unfair dismissal due to my disabilities under the Equality Act 2010. I’ve contacted a few and had a few quotes back.

AIBU by wanting to take legal action and sue them because my OCD is deliberating and because of my ASD I have different communication styles that they’ve completely misunderstood. Do you think this is unfair dismissal ?

im so traumatised by it all and im worried ill be made homeless and have my property repossessed as I’ll have no money and won’t be able to find a future job

Fair, but this assessment should be done by a professional who understand OCD.

Absolutely. They're usually done by an outside agency, or internally with input from a medical professional.

However, a person with OCD can be harmed by an incorrect or unduly lengthy risk assessment

Employers should be making every effort to make any process of this nature as easy as possible on the employee. Another reason to have it led by a qualified medical professional rather than just management/HR.

In reality, there is no need for overcautious reactions.

A risk assessment isn't in any way an overcautious reaction.

People are entitled to not want to be educated in regards to a condition where someone expresses a desire to harm innocent people with knives, even if that desire leads to feelings of guilt on their part.

As for whatever his name is who apparently keeps a knife in his drawer to encourage people to hold it to his throat, he clearly has issues of his own which absolutely shouldn’t be encouraged or advertised on here or anywhere else.

If a woman posted on here that she’d started seeing someone who told her that he had thoughts of stabbing people but that that was harmless because he had OCD there is hopefully not one poster who wouldn’t tell her to run for the hills, and hopefully anyone who tried to guilt her through talking about non understanding of OCD in that context would be lynched.

It’s sad if anyone genuinely feels the wish to harm people and then feels they need to suppress those feelings.

But it’s not reasonable to expect anyone to be tolerant of those feelings when they’re expressed publicly because the truth is that no-one knows whether someone is a danger or not. no-one and no-one has the right to guilt people into compliance through accusation of non understanding.

Psychiatrists know.

Sorry OP but they pay you to work and do the job they assign to you. You are not fit to do the job and have not been for the last 7 months. While you may find a t they didn't cross or an i they didn't dot it doesn't sounds like they have done much wrong.

Even if you have professional expertise in this field, there isn’t enough information from the OP about her situation for you to pronounce this.

Best comment. 100% agree.

No, they don’t.

if that was the case no-one who had ever been deemed fit for release after committing a crime would ever re-offend.

Yes, they do. Psychiatrists know that someone with OCD and no other diagnosed condition will not harm someone.

And associating someone having OCD with criminal activity is exactly why we need more education.

@AnyoneWhoHasAHeart psychiatrists are highly specialised!!!! Do you think they sit around for 7-8yrs on their arses doing nothing ??? They’re consultants and doctors for a reason!!!!

@PhoebeBuffay1234 very well said again, thank you for advocating about OCD

@KittyCoo

Several people now have asked what you meant when you said that your OCD takes up much of your day.

It is that which will underpin the decision that you are not capable of fulfilling your role. And yet you keep ignoring it. Why?

Bet your colleagues love you for that. A real player.’

At times I was in hospital. I could not help that.
So DFOD

Because she’s convinced her disability will overrule the fact that she simply isn’t doing her job even when she’s actually there, which is seldom enough.

DFOD?

It’s a rude response used when losing an argument. Best ignored.

Don’t be so vicious.

The most ignorant comment ever. Recommend you read up on it. Absolute nonsense.

There was no argument. The PP was being rude so I was rude back.

This is a common and very stigmatising misunderstanding of harm OCD

People with harm OCD thoughts absolutely do not act on them. They fear that they will and they take unnecessary steps to stop themselves but they are not any risk to others.

You think doctors are all knowing? Why on earth do you think a GP would know better than an OT? A professional trained in assessing someone’s fitness for a specific job?

You said the reason for dismissal was that your ocd was still taking up a lot of your day and you were unfit for the role

We spend a lot of time in OCD therapy trying to get people to challenge ‘thought action fusion’. Having an unacceptable thought or even saying it out loud does not create a risk. Thoughts are not risky. I understand that the manager wanted to make a risk assessment but presumably that would be done by occupational heath and a a qualified professional would reassure them there is no risk.

I would 100% go out with a man who had thoughts of harming people even children in the context of diagnosed harm OCD for which they sought treatment. I would be happy for my daughter to as well. I advise my patients not to disclose their symptoms apart from to very trusted people however because of the attitudes on this thread.

Anyway it’s not the reason OP lost her job. That is more to do with excessive sickness absence which is factual and therefore hard to challenge.

It most assuredly is not “illegal to sack someone with a disability”, op.
If you mean sack someone because of their disability, then that’s correct, but it’s clear that that’s not what happened here.

I guess the worry is (intensified by the batshit responses on this thread) that they might not want to give OP a chance with a phased return etc because they are erroneously afraid of her like half the people on this thread seem to be. That might not be the case and it might be that she is incapable of doing the actual tasks but if she had been a good employee before and is engaged in treatment to get better it seems pretty harsh.