Off sick and manager wants to have a catchup?

[Applerumbles]

I’ve been off sick from work with MH issues for well over a year.
My line manager has just emailed to ask tor a catchup call to see how I am and what they can do to support me.
I can’t face talking to him (or anyone really) so would it be ok to say that I’m not well enough for a call and that I am still getting medical treatment for my illness?
Im not sure he should be contacting me if I am off sick and providing fitnotes?

Until they retire - by the sounds of it.

Even the liberal public sector have monthly meetings with staff off sick. After 6 months the tone of the conversations change and it becomes about the possibility of returning to work. After a year occupational health will have been asked to determine if the individual is capable of returning. Even if your protection scheme does cover you until retirement it is more about being able to fulfil your contract and come into work. A conversation after a full year is entirely reasonable and they can't support you if they don't know the details . Even long term illness doesn't give you a free pass, the.company need people in work and they may not be able to recruit with you still on the payroll.

My employer doesn’t offer ill health retirement which is why they have the income protection insurance until retirement age as the alternative.

How long have you been in the role?

20 years

What needs to be cleared up is who assesses if you’re able to return to work with reasonable adjustments (it sounds as if you’re not currently) and then your company policy on how long they keep jobs open for.

If they terminate your employment based on you not being able to do your job, is the sickness insurance then guaranteed to keep being paid until state retirement age?

Use your union to help you negotiate this. You might also need support from friends or family.

What you really can’t expect is for the insurance to keep paying and your job to ge kept open if you do not engage with your manager / HR at all.

Best of luck as you negotiate this xx

Would you like to go back to work eventually?

Either way you should speak to your manager. They can’t support you if you’re not (at least a little bit) honest with them.
I can understand why you wouldn’t want to tell them something that’s private and probably still very painful to talk about.

Do you have a good relationship with them?

Then a mutual dismissal should be arranged where they pay you off x amount. Or, you need to clarify how long they pay this income protection for, before your job goes.

Honestly, it really isn’t that difficult !!!

people with the most severe mental illnesses rarely are so catatonic that they can’t communicate -

what you mean is - you don’t want to / would rather not or whatever -

just communicate with your manager - they are just trying to do their job -

it will do u good to push yourself to communicate - maybe this is part of why you have found no progress in your Mental health recovery, you are not working at it ?

I’ve never spoken to them and only heard bad things about them from others so that probably doesn’t help either

For over a year? Without any sort of catch up or engagement?
I have a member of staff off with work related stress and we are encouraged to gave regular catch ups.

often these insurance policies have conditions attached to payment including keeping your employers aware of your health and wellbeing and fitness or otherwise to work. It is best practice for employers to ask for catchups to see if they can do anything to make your return to work a possibility. The on the surface statement that it pays until retirement will have caveats and you want to make yourself aware of what they are.

You absolutely can be relieved of your job if you are physically or mentally incapable of performing your duties after a certain amount of time, it makes no business sense to finance someone who will never return to work. For many employers the point at which they activate termination policies will be at the one year mark but others do so earlier or later. Make yourself aware of your sickness policy so you know what’s coming.

i have been in your position OP so I am talking from experience and you cannot bury your head in the sand indefinitely no matter how ill you’re feeling. They have a business to run and you have a duty to inform them of how your recovery is going and your likelihood of returning to work so that they can do what is best for the business. No legislation protects you from that process, they just have to do it properly. If you’re seen never to engage then they may instigate the termination procedure without your involvement.

It feels unfair to you but that is the nature of working for others.

Thank you, that’s good advice

Yes your manager should be contacting you, that’s part of how managers
“ manage” LTA. Have you had an OH assessment? You should have had plenty within the year.

What do you want to happen OP?

Just to offer another perspective of the employer, presumably they may need to cover your job while you’re off, and that’s much easier to arrange if they know how long it’s likely to be. Otherwise it can fall on your colleagues, so they might just be trying to plan from that side of things.

When you first put in your sick note surely it said the reason you was off?. I think to be fair 1 year is very long time to be off work. Do the catch up and bite the bullet. Could you go back part time?

I’m sorry that you are so ill . It’s a very sensitive situation but your employer has every right to catch up with you to get an update on your illness/ recovery. They are holding your job open and even if they are temporarily covering your role it could be having an adverse effect on the business .
At some point ideally with medical & occupational health reports to inform them , your employer will need to decide if there is a reasonable prospect of you returning to work. If they conclude that there is then they have a responsibility to make reasonable adjustments . If they conclude there is not a realistic prospect then, as a last resort they can dismiss you
Contacting your Union for advice would be a good move. They may advise you to cooperate with your employer as fully as you are able otherwise your employer may have to base any decisions they make on the information that they have available but rather than speculate why not give them a call.

Was that really your only response to my message saying I’m seriously suicidally unwell with bipolar psychosis for much of this year, inpatient ward, a lone parent, had my pay halved after 6wks off sick, have had to work from my BED to keep money coming in, am on suicide watch from the crisis team? Plus my good advice to you to keep engaging with work however you can, as because I’ve done that they’re allowing me a hugely supportive phased return (so I could go back before I was well, in order to keep the roof over my head)…

….. I took the trouble to share my private personal and very raw current situation with you to try to help and advise you.

And your response… “Well done you 👏🏻 “.

You respond with zero compassion, sympathy, solidarity or gratitude for the advice. Just bitter, snarky, self-regarding & cruel. I dunno why I bothered. I’ve got the crisis team due in 5 mins and yet I bothered to try to help you and got a snarky one-liner in reply.

You’re no loss to the workplace.

So youre expecting to stay employed by them forever? But have no contact with them?

exaxtly! The OP is able to communicate to everyone on here, so the least she could do is update their employer via an email!

You have communicated your point of view quite clearly on here so why not email the relevant staff at the company? That would at least show willingness to engage in the processes they have to follow. If they didn’t follow due process, people off sick would rightly complain!

I could be wrong but even if the insurance policy technically covers you till retirement, it’s unlikely an employer would keep you on the books as an employee until then (assuming you’ve got a good few years till you retire).

You’ve had some unnecessarily snarky responses on here but really, try and maintain an open conversation with your employer. If you can’t do it yourself, ask a union rep to do it for you. Without knowing your plans, they can’t plan for the future. For example, if a temp is covering your role, they can’t offer permanent employment until a decision is made. Everything is in limbo until they figure out the best thing to do.

They can dismiss you under capability, as long as the proper processes are followed. I’d imagine that if you have no idea when, if ever, you’ll be able to return, they’re unlikely to keep this arrangement going indefinitely.

Best thing you can do is find a way to engage with them.

I must admit, I found that response quite nasty too. The OP is fortunate to be able to stay off work sick for over a year without financial hardship or having to communicate regularly with work and seems unable to understand that other very sick people don’t get such favourable conditions.
Poor mental health is no excuse for zero empathy

I know tone doesn’t always translate online but I took the OPs “well done” in a positive way 🙂

Ultimately none of us has access to your contract, company policies & insurance terms. So best to take advice from your union who will have this access.