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

This. Even if you wouldn’t act on them. How are other people supposed to know? What if OP suddenly has a violent outburst at work? Even words?

The CBT and therapy should help with not saying these words inappropriately, I know it’s taken a while to get this though. Bit like bolting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

I do sympathise with you though OP. Mental health, especially in the workplace is still misunderstood.

In all honesty, why should they? They are in a professional place of work where personal stuff is just that, personal.

Nobody should be forced to deal with other people's crap.
For the record, been there, done that with a colleague. Some things, even if just in your colleagues head, are pretty disturbing. Nobody should have to put up with this in the workplace.

Christ on a bike the level of woeful misunderstanding on this thread is ridiculous. I am a psychiatrist and no psychiatrist would ever detain someone for having harm OCD like this.

OP does not have thoughts of ‘wanting to harm someone’ she has intrusive thoughts that she will harm someone involuntarily which are abhorrent to her and which she would do everything to avoid. That’s what harm OCD is.

There is no more risk (or probably even less risk) of her having an outburst and killing someone than if you or I doing so.

I can’t allow stupid statements like this to go unchallenged because if someone having. Those thought thinks they will be sectioned if they disclose them then how will they ever get help for what is a very treatable illness.

Poor OP. I hope she has hidden the thread long ago as it will be incredibly triggering to see at first hand the stigma she faces.

She did not tell a random person she told her manager who I think she had a right to expect a bit more of a compassionate response from and yes if you are someone’s manager (not a random colleague) I think it’s fair that you do inform yourself to a basic degree about an illness that affects their work and where you will be managing sickness absence, adjustments etc

There seems to be huge confusion over ‘WANTs to harm someone’ vs ‘HAD A THOUGHT about harming someone’

Do you never walk over a bridge and maybe have a thought ‘what if I jumped’ or see a cream cake and think ‘what if I just smashed it’ You don’t do it. You don’t want to do it. You have no idea why that thought popped into your mind. That’s what obsessional thoughts are and they are the basis of OCD.

It seems like people can understand ‘what if that’s contaminated I better wash it’ or ‘what if a bad thing happens because it’s Friday the 13th’ but cannot understand that the thought ‘what if I stabbed someone’ is the same kind of irrational, involuntary thought with no desire or intent to act that in fact the person is ashamed of and resists.

Well you can disbelieve it if you like but it’s the truth.

Well to be quite honest, we don’t know her state of mind, only that she’s on medication and has intrusive thoughts and thinks she’s recovered. As to whether she’d act on them or not, are you really sure she would not do so, as a professional?

Maybe I’ve just seen too many media stories about some people with mental health issues attacking others after being told they’re ok by their mental health team and indeed psychiatrist. Or will you tell me that never happens?

Clearly I cannot risk assess an individual person from a Mumsnet post but if the info she has given is accurate that she is correctly diagnosed with OCD (and what she has said about the thoughts and the treatment does seem consistent with that) then yes my professional opinion is that she does not pose a risk to other people.

’mental health issues’ covers a whole lot of stuff. OCD specifically is not an illness associated with risk of harm to others

Thank you @Shrinkhole. My first harm intrusive thoughts were around hurting my baby (who is now 30). I was petrified that if I went to sleep I would do something to him without knowing. Once that thought popped into my head it was a living hell. I had panic attacks and developed depression. I avoided being on my own with my child to ‘keep him safe’. I thought I must be evil, I really did.

I can remember the day I asked for help as vividly as it was yesterday. It was the day of Diana’s funeral in 1997 and I managed to get an emergency appt (on a Saturday 😲) with an awful doc who dismissed me and told me “everyone is sad today” and handed me a script for Prozac. Luckily I went back 2 days later, convinced I was still a bad person and that I was a danger, and that my child would be taken off me, and a different lovely doctor told me I wasn’t the only one and the fact that I was so scared of these thoughts meant I would never act on them. She gave me some different meds that had more of a calming effect and I was referred for therapy. It still wasn’t easy though, because this was back in 1997 with no easy internet access to see others going through the same, and the OCD worked hard to convince me these thoughts meant something. Nowadays, I follow a few accounts on and it’s such a massive help to be able to understand more about OCD and to know I’m not alone.

I’ve had periods of relapse where it’s been difficult but I’m mostly ok. And now when I get any kind of intrusive thought, I know it’s just a blip and it doesn’t hold the fear as it used to.

Might learn to quote a post. Like mine.

I love how that’s all you took from Shrinkhole’s comments. Says a lot really.

Surely OH have to give reasons for saying what they have. It isn't unreasonable for your employer to dismiss you if you have been off for an extended period with no real prospects of returning to you duties. They have to make reasonable adjustments to help you do your job bit if there isn't anything that will help, then they can't.

Businesses which include PHS with their pension schemes. Extended absence due to a major health crisis which may or may not result in a return to work could well be covered.

My company certainly does this in the hope that the highly skilled employee may be able to return once recovered or with adaptations. Sometimes this isn’t possible and they end up leaving but I can think of more than one who returned after a year or more off for medical treatment and recovery.

Clearly I cannot risk assess an individual person from a Mumsnet post but if the info she has given is accurate that she is correctly diagnosed with OCD (and what she has said about the thoughts and the treatment does seem consistent with that) then yes my professional opinion is that she does not pose a risk to other people.

But the manager is not a professional and is not qualified to give an opinion.

But he/she will have consulted with occ health, who I presume will know that OP has OCD and therefore the manager will be advised by them.

I agree. We don’t know what was in the letter as the details have not been shared but the OP initially said it was due to the OH assessment considering she could not perform the duties due to the time cost of the OCD.

That sounds like a proper process was followed. All the stuff about intrusive thoughts and knives is irrelevant to that process unless the OH raised it and could be shown to have misunderstood the condition (which seems unlikely since the reason given was time, not content of thoughts).

Maybe if those who are declaring themselves experts in OCD stopped being so abrasive towards other posters this thread may have gone better?
A self proclaimed psychiatrist calling others “stupid” for not having their knowledge and experience?

Where have they called anyone stupid?

10:57. - I can’t allow stupid statements like this to go unchallenged

They said the statements are stupid. Which they are.

What would we do without you keeping us all right thinking!

You’d just be ignorant about OCD, instead of wilfully ignorant.

I have this too and feel for you. Mine was at its worst when I was post partum. It was both the happiest and worst time of my life.

Certainly raise with your union, but you need to possibly argue with the OccHealth assessment. Wishing you lots of luck in your continued recovery.

I think it's irrelevant anyway as she told her boss not all her colleagues. As someone pointed out earlier, how would her colleagues even know? Presumably she told her boss in confidence.

How do you know her mental state of mind? Unless you’re her psychiatrist or doctor?

@Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain because she's already been diagnosed with harm OCD by a professional and it's obviously a manifestation of that. Why wouldn't it be?