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

Its hard to say without knowing all the legalities but im sure you're employer has looked into what he can legally do? The union will help you discover if hes breaking the law or not, from what you have said though it seems like he is in within his rights to let you go.

I fully understand what you are saying, and I genuinely do empathise. But you need to be honest with yourself, if you aren’t able to work due to your mental health then you are medically unfit and their ill health dismissal is correct. They can’t keep a position open for you indefinitely and you can’t give any answers as to when you can return. Your energy is better spent working on your health and getting to a position where you feel capable of working again.
If that is now, then you can certainly appeal their decision and seek a new occupational health report and any supporting evidence that you are medically fit for work. But getting yourself caught up in stressful and potentially long and expensive legal action (especially if you don’t have a strong case) I’d argue is counterproductive to improving your mental health.

I don't have advice about work, but sending love. I also have OCD, and I've had periods off work due to it. I get thoughts about being a serial killer, what if I harm my toddler, what if there's a body in my car, etc, that kind of thing. The difference between OCD and psychosis is you are fully aware of these thoughts, KNOW they are not real/that you don't want to do it, but they're there and distressing, and the OCD makes you feel like the worst person in the world, because a 'normal' person couldn't possibly have those thoughts.

Harm OCD is not remotely the same as someone with something like a paranoid psychosis who has genuine thoughts to harm others. Luckily I'm a MH nurse so my team just get it (my OCD got bad through pregnancy, but I'm doing very well now and have been doing for almost a year!). OP hasn't been so lucky.

OP, you'll find another job. Unfortunately, mental health remains stigmatized. Genuinely, next time, disclose you have OCD, but don't explain what thoughts you have. It's actually no one's business, but also, people don't understand.

If occy health deemed you unfit for work, I'm not sure you'd have a legal case. Wishing you well in your recovery.

@Avslighthead long term sickness was the reason why

@Itsmetheflamingo Thsnk you very much for helping me to clarify the reasons why I was dismissed were unfair and explaining that it’s illegal to sack someone with a disability. It makes me feel like absolute shit calling me dangerous and my psychiatrist has confirmed it not dangerous to my boss but she’s still having none of it!!!

the documents they have issued explicitly uses the wording that you have been dismissed due to “long term sick leave”?

and your ocd… are the thoughts regarding harm to yourself or others?

It's not illegal to fire someone with a disability

It’s not illegal to sack someone with a disability. There are rules that need to be followed but it’s not illegal at all.

Sorry so hypothetical scenario: person A says to management I keep having thoughts about stabbing person B. Management do nothing and A stabs B... replace management with police and think again.

Or person A is a driver and tells managers that they have tunnel vision. Person A crashes into a bus queue killing 2 people....

The op is unfortunately unfit for work if the job requires her to be there 9-5 and her OCD means she cannot be there 9-5. The company are within their rights to sack her. They only have to make "reasonable" adjustments to employ her. Having someone unable to do the hours required is a valid reason.

What was the 'thought about the knife' and how much time were you spending on your OCD after returning?

What has been misunderstood?

I'm having a hard time following this.

Please refer all this back to your Union asap. They will be the best ones to advise you and will take Legal action if company have acted illegally. This is what you pay your Union fees for. You don’t need to go to a solicitor.

If there is truky 'no end in sight', you are not capable of returning to work (as per OH assessment) and your company have a right to end your contract. They employ you to do a job and, sadly, you cannot do that job.

Op has told her manager she has thoughts d harming her colleagues with a knife?

This is not a question of whether or not you are being reasonable. It is a question of whether or not they have acted lawfully. You union or a lawyer will be able to advise, and also on on the best way forward ie do nothing if they have acted lawfully; otherwise ask for a settlement or go to tribunal.

It’s illegal to discriminate against someone with a disability and fire them when you would not fire someone with no disability. But, it’s not illegal to fire someone with a disability, provided reasonable adjustments have been attempted, if they are not capable of doing their job.

After 7 months it may be reasonable for them to conclude that you are not capable.

If occ health says you aren’t able to do your job (and can’t recommend reasonable adjustments that work for you and the company) then any decent company would go with their report unfortunately.

It’s awful but I can’t see what you can do. I was injured last year but still wanted to work but occ health had to confirm that they were satisfied that I was fit for work with no adjustments

Can you really not see the difference between sacking someone because you have evidence they can’t perform their job through disability vs sacking someone because you’ve made a discriminatory assumption about their disability?!

the law doesn’t find it difficult to differentiate

Well that’s the reason then

Id have had the op removed from the premises by security had she said this to me as her manager

@Avslighthead Please do some research on ocd rather than making me feel like shit.

Just had to jump in here as it sounds like you have (a common) misunderstanding of OCD mentioning the safety of other staff. People with harm OCD are not at risk of harming others-OCD causes them huge distress because they have worrying thoughts they might harm others. They have no intention of hurting other people and in fact drive themselves into severe mental health crisis over being so horrified by the thoughts. Just wanted to clear that up.

Except the OP has said that she had thoughts of harming her colleagues with a knife.

An employer can’t take the risk that these are just intrusive thoughts. Those thoughts mean that she is considered a danger to others, regardless of the cause of those thoughts.

People who are considered a risk to themselves or others through mental illness are regularly detained, sometimes for their safety, and sometimes for the safety of others.

It would be irresponsible of an employer to keep someone employed who poses a physical risk to other people’s safety.

People are often too quick to throw out the equality act as if having a disability or illness absolves them of any consequences. Sadly it doesn’t.

The employer should make reasonable adjustments, the emphasis being on the word reasonable.

It’s not reasonable to employ someone who is a physical threat to other employees, and that’s before the fact that her OCD takes up so much of her day that she’s not deemed able to perform the job she’s employed to do.

OP you need to think about what you want to achieve by taking legal action.

It’s a myth that people make loads of money through taking employers to court. They rarely do, and you almost certainly don’t have a leg to stand on, in which case you will be stuck with not only the stress, but the legal costs, and the potential reputation which comes from losing a tribunal.

And if you ever want to work again forget getting a reference from them.

So much misinformation about OCD here. I can’t help with the legalities OP but wanted to say I understand. I have OCD too and mine centred around harm. I say centred as opposed to centres because I’m mostly well now. I do have the odd flare but they’re few and far between these days.

Sorry so hypothetical scenario: person A says to management I keep having thoughts about stabbing person B. Management do nothing and A stabs B... replace management with police and think again

The thing is, if management are aware that person A has OCD, they should be aware (via Occ health) that person A will no more carry that out than any other person without OCD.

If someone has been diagnosed with OCD then having these thoughts mean they are no more of a risk to others than anyone else.

It doesn’t matter whether they will or not.

The instant they express the thought the danger exists.

In the same way that if someone mentions the thought of harming themselves or suicide it has to be taken seriously.

You can’t just say “oh, they’ve got OCD so it won’t happen” when someone has expressed the thought of taking a knife to their colleagues.

How much crime could people get away with then? They could just say “oh, I’ve got harm OCD.”

I really don't, I suffered from intrusive thoughts myself in post partum. However if it is severe enough to 'still take up a lot of her day' even with anti psychotics AND the thoughts she had involved harming I presume colleagues with a knife then an assessment of risk must be undertaken.

And people DO actually on I rrusive thoughts, rarely but they do

Contact ACAS first. There are rules about how long you have to keep someone on sick leave which can vary depending on the employment contract, the type of work and the type of illness, and possibly other things. ACAS would be best placed to determine whether your dismissal was fair or unfair and if it was unfair on exactly what grounds.