Employment anxiety and work settlement - help

[falaff]

This is really long, sorry :/

SHORT VERSION: I suffer from anxiety and my boss is aware of this. My boss has not followed company policy on grievances and has ignored issues such as bullying and has made my work very stressful. This has exasperated my anxiety to the point where I am off work sick. I am negotiating a settlement or a return to work. My boss will not reassure me that he will approach things differently and therefore I feel forced into a settlement. Do I have grounds for unfair dismissal because of disability?

LONG VERSION:
I am looking for advice on how to proceed with a settlement. I would like to know if I have grounds for a case based on my disabililties - anxiety, depression and ADHD. I have been with the company for 16 months so not eligible for unfiar dismisal.

I am currently off work sick with anxiety (3 months) due to how work (boss, other colleagues) have treated me. I have told them this reason. They know that I have anxiety and this is not the first time that I have been off sick frof work-induced anxiety.

My boss is the CEO so I find that I have noone to escallate this to. He is also the cause of many of my grievances but is handling my settlement/return to work with legal and HR advice. Is this right or should someone else handle it?

Some of the issues:

• A colleage shared private information with my boss about my relationship with another colleague (this is allowed). In a catch-up meeting, my boss told me that he had heard that my relationship was affecting my work (untrue), but had not investigated first. He did this in front of other staff members including my partner, which humiliated me. I was then forced to 'make up' with the person who 'reported' this in a meeting outside of work and was verbally abused by her. This caused me to take several days off because of anxiety. It was agreed that she shouldn't have shared private information, but this wasn't acted on, and she has since said other inappropriate things in work emails that has caused me to be picked on.

• I am being intimidated and picked on at work. My boss is acutely aware of this, being included on emails where this has happened. I have written a grievance. This staff member has previously bullied other staff who have resigned because of this, whilst they have been promoted. He has taken no action nor replied to my greivance. I have been encouraged to 'drop things' to not upset company dynamics. I feel physically sick with worry when I think about working with this member of staff now.

• None of my formal grievances on the above have been dealt with in line with company policy. I have had no feedback and no investigations have been made. Basically nothing, and as a result, nothing has changed or things have gotten worse and I haven't been able to appeal. This has caused me to be anxious about them remaining and reoccurring and I am fearful about returning to work. My boss is refusing to give me any evidence that the correct proceedure has been folowed despite me asking.

• In comparison, complaints raised by other members of staff are treated differently. e.g. staff have ganged up to issue false complaints about me. Instead of identifying this as the bullying that it was, I was dealt with a zero-tolerance approach (think: leaving a dirty mug on my desk = immediate banning of tea), which caused me great upset. My boss failed to act on the bullying despite agreeing it was happening. When I raised a similar issue earlier, it was not dealt with and has therefore continued. I was told not to pursue it as it would upset company dynamics. I believe that me raising it led to the petty retaliation from other staff.

• My boss hasn't considered my anxiety-related requests. For example, when the above happened, I was dealing with a difficult deadline. The 'dirty mug' issue wasn't urgent and the bullying/zero-tolerance approach was upsetting, so I asked my boss to pick it up after the weekend so I could still work and not be affected by the anxiety. He initially agreed but then ignored this and emailed me about it the next day, which caused me to have a panic attack and be phyically unable to work, miss the deadline, and spend the weekend in bed.

• I am paid less than both other people at the same level, who are both men. I have asked this to be reviewed complete with requested information 4 months ago and this hasn't been looked at, with the reason that I have been off sick. However, they have contacted me about other trivial things whilst I have been off sick.

• My work is given lower priority than other work and I keep having resources taken away despite my workload increasing. This has caused me a huge amount of stress, but my boss has not resolved any of it despite me asking many times.

There are so many other things but I just can't list them all or this will be an even bigger essay.

WHAT TO DO
I honestly cannot face going back to work because I know my boss won't address these issues properly based on past experience. The damage has also already been done and the issues won't go away.

They are offering 2 months notice plus another 2 months in settlement. I highly doubt that I will be better and be back in work in 4 months and that's if a suitable job comes up.

I am very angry that I am being essentially forced to leave a full-time permanent job on which my house depends and be unemployed during an economic crisis. My job is rare as hens teeth at the moment and I could be unemployed for a year. I am also still sick and can't imagine being able to hold down a full time job now.

What do I do?? Do I ask for more so that I don't suffer financially? What if I don't get another job for 9 months?? should I take them to court? Can I take them to court? I don't think I could bear the stress.

Have you contacted ACAS for advice?

I would absolutely get some solid legal advice, the best you can afford. The costs are taken from the other side if you are successful. Personally when I was in a difficult situation a good lawyer made all the difference. Even the free half hour consultation will let you know if you have a case that is worth pursuing, as long as you speak to a reputable legal company.

I actually think 4 months is pretty ok unless you have a very solid discrimination case (no idea if you do or not, no legal background myself). Obviously not following company policy is bad; but isn't breaking the law. Also worth noting if you can't come to an agreement with them through negotiation going to court takes years to get any money out and can become very expensive, high risk high reward strategy.

If you genuinely believe you would be unemployed for a full year I would personally see if there was some resolution that could be found with the company. Is there a different department you could transfer to? Sounds like your boss has completely checked out of the process unfortunately.

Sorry you're going through this

You might want to post in Employment Issues, as there are HR professionals who may be able to advise. However, I think you should take the 4 months you've been offered as I don't think you will get more and I don't think you have a strong case for a tribunal.

@MrsRockAndRoll not yet but I will ring them tomorrow. I am confused about who I need to speak to and who will give me advice without it costing me a lot of money.

@Doyoumind thanks, I have done. Do you think I need my disabilities directly referred to for the bad treatment to count?

@LovingLivingLife I am going to look at my options again tomorrow and ring a few more people. I don't want to spend lots of money at this point so I am struggling to know what to do. You are right about a case and I don't want to cope with that. But I highly doubt that I will be able to get a similar job in 4 months. Why should I work hard and do nothing wrong and have to pay for their poor treatment? It's just seems so unfair.

I am also in a crap state of mind to be dealing with this. I just want it all to go away so that I can get better.

THe statutory minimum for unfair dismissal is lower than you think (1.5 weeks per year you are there) so I dont think taking it forward given the amount of time you have been there.

Big payouts simply dont happen as much as you think they should.

Tbh, 4 months doesn't sound unreasonable.

Thankyou @Quartz2208.

I don't think that the settlement is fair because I will almost certainly be unemployed for longer. They have asked me what I think is reasonable but I am struggling to find this apart from a suggestion of 6 months.

Does their settlement offer need to relate to my circumstances at all? When I asked how they had decided they said that they have just used the same offer that they gave another employee. However, she was not made to be ill and was choosing to leave to be self employed, but had worked there for 5 years.

@IndecentFeminist this is what I initially thought. But giving it more consideration, it almost certainly means that it will cost me money, and possibly my house if I cannot pay the mortgage, to leave the company. Yet I have not done anything wrong, and they have acted terribly. Plus I have been ill for 3 months, which doesn't seem to come into consideration.

I am not trying to be greedy - I don't want a big payout or whatever. I just want to get on with my life and not lose my savings or house that I have worked really hard for.

remember a settlement is likely to be tax free. so three months would be more like 5 months take home.

i think you would have a difficult road in front of you at tribunal. it's important to remember they won't look at the morals or the rights and wrongs of the situation. they will apply the law.

and others may bring a different perspective - the company would probably make a defence along the lines of reasonable adjustments etc

lots of things are considered when coming up with a tribunal award - and they will not look at your circumstances beyond - have you done all you can to find another job. if not, they will reduce your award. and they can be harsh - i have known people have awards stripped due to not taking a job on 10k less a year... it's honestly not an easy road

i would think 3 months is a good offer. It gives you a bit of a buffer, gives you chance to negotiate a reference and leave date too. but i don't know the whole facts. do you have legal cover as part of your home insurance? they will help unpick this if you have

the other thing to explore is equal pay claim. that is probably what the company should worry about most from what you have said.

good luck. please get in life real advice and look after yourself

I think that for 14 months service, a 4 month settlement is actually very generous.

It sounds as though you believe the ceo is at fault. Have you a copy of the grievance policy? Could it be shown thay you had not followed the initial steps which require informal addressing of the issues?

Having dealt with a lot of grievances in a previous role, some of what you allude to sounds as though they were damned whatever tbh. And that at points you have been very heavy handed to go down the grievance route to start with, which doesn't surprise me that things have then escalated in this fashion.

You could try to pursue. But, you're really unlikely to receive more than what you have and the stress of doing so would surely have more of an impact on your MH than walking away and would be something no doubt brought up. Eg how come you can manage to pursue that but not manage to discuss the mug issue?

Likewise, unless you have definite proof of different salaries and exact job roles, length of service, qualifications and experience that's another red herring as justifiable if not.

I'd be focussing on how you will manage this condition in your next role and job hunting. Perhaps a wfh job with less people contsct could work better for you?

You say you haven't done anything wrong, yet have made countless grievances and that's not the way employees move forward if they wish to remain employed there. It's certainly not harmonious.

As for your mortgage that's irrelevant. Not for them to consider.

However, you could be sacked for sickness and capability if off too long and then have no payout. That would be hard and legal.

The biggest difference is the other employer had 5 year service and you have less than 2 years which automatically affords you less rights
Doesn’t mean you couldn’t but you would need a watertight case and the end result in terms of payout wouldn’t be much more

You may not feel it because of your circumstances but the offer they are giving you (and as a PP said it two months should be tax free) is a pretty good one and once the time and money and stress involved you would end up with less

But if they have asked you by all means ask for another month or two to see if you can get it

If you take the settlement you have four months pay. If you go to tribunal you get nothing now and a wait of at least 6 months to even get to preliminary hearing, then longer for the case to be listed, if it gets that far, and with no guarantee of a win. If your immediate concern is having money to live take the settlement.

Equally any claim needs to be on the basis of disability discrimination due to your length of service. You will need to make a very clear case indeed that you have been unfavourably treated as a result of your disability. Simply having a disability and being badly treated isn’t a case, you must convince the tribunal that they are linked, and that someone without a disability wouldn’t have been treated that way.

Finally you need to demonstrate that you were either dismissed from your role because of your disability or that you were treated so badly that there was a breach of contract and you had no option but to leave. I would imagine (although of course you haven’t said, so can’t be certain) that the conversations you have been having with your employer are Without Prejudice conversations which are likely to be inadmissible in a tribunal.

OP i think you have some really good advice here on the challenges and timeframe of even getting to a tribunal. Remember you would need to support yourself financially until and after that & you may not win.

On the Employment Board there's a couple of threads about people who have successfully went to a Tribunal / it's been an incredibly long & stressful road for them.

Remember your health & wellbeing is the most important thing - the existing settlement agreement affords you to walk away & move on

The biggest issue you have is that most of what you are bringing up are 'he said she said' scenarios with a lot of emotional disputes that the court won't care about.

Such cases have a very very low success rate. It sounds like you didn't fit in this environment and it became conflictual very quickly. This happens, it doesn't mean that the company broke the law.

I think you should count yourself lucky they are agreeing to this settlement considering you don't even have 2 years service. They could have got rid of you months ago without good reason and proving it was discrimination would have been even more difficult.

Thanks for all the responses.

@MotherExtraordinaire the CEO has admitted fault of both the company and the employees but only in writing during this discussion, which is a reply to his 'without prejudice' record email, so I expect doesn't mean anything. Everything else is verbal.

I do have a copy, yes. I don't feel like I have been heavy handed - I've asked my employer to deal with things informally and then when things haven't happened I've put them in writing. We've then had meetings about it and then nothing has been done, and they've resurfaced.

I don't want to pursue. I also don't need a less people-facing role - I have done very well in past roles and this is a key part of my job. But the impact of bullies and poor management has had a really bad effect on me and on others. 3 have left in the past year for these reasons, which were discussed in their exit interviews, yet not dealt with.

@KatyaZamolodchikova yes I cannot cope with a tribunal and want to take a settlement, but I want it to be fair. They are putting me out of a job and caused me to have a breakdown. I don't think many people really appreciate how difficult that is and how hard the past 3 months have been.

I don't think I can prove my disability as a cause as I don't think this is true. They just haven't addressed the issues that have aggravated my condition despite being aware of the effect on me. e.g. intimidation has a very bad effect on me because of the anxiety.

I feel like I have no option but to leave because if I stay my mental health will be impacted to the point where I can't work.

@dontdisturbmenow the company have acted very poorly to a number of employees which has resulted in them leaving. It's really not about me not fitting the environment - I have tried very hard to make it work and ultimately done a good job. But by having mental health illnesses means that I don't fit the environment then that makes me think that the employer hasn't made reasonable adjustments.

Thanks again for all of the advice. I think the next step is for me to get more advice if I can to see if this settlement is the best that I can get. Again, I am not being greedy, but it is likely that this will not cover the period of unemployment that I will now face.

I am getting so worried about all of this now. I can't sleep or eat properly. It just feels so unfair but also impossible to deal with. I don't know what to do, I haven't got the energy for a fight and it sounds like it is going to be really hard. But I am so angry at how this has cost me my job, I've done nothing wrong and have tried really hard to make things work and it's just ground me down. The thought of having to find another job in a time limit with my mental health being so poor right now is very scary.

@falaff

Thanks for all the responses.

@MotherExtraordinaire the CEO has admitted fault of both the company and the employees but only in writing during this discussion, which is a reply to his 'without prejudice' record email, so I expect doesn't mean anything. Everything else is verbal.

I do have a copy, yes. I don't feel like I have been heavy handed - I've asked my employer to deal with things informally and then when things haven't happened I've put them in writing. We've then had meetings about it and then nothing has been done, and they've resurfaced.

I don't want to pursue. I also don't need a less people-facing role - I have done very well in past roles and this is a key part of my job. But the impact of bullies and poor management has had a really bad effect on me and on others. 3 have left in the past year for these reasons, which were discussed in their exit interviews, yet not dealt with.

@KatyaZamolodchikova yes I cannot cope with a tribunal and want to take a settlement, but I want it to be fair. They are putting me out of a job and caused me to have a breakdown. I don't think many people really appreciate how difficult that is and how hard the past 3 months have been.

I don't think I can prove my disability as a cause as I don't think this is true. They just haven't addressed the issues that have aggravated my condition despite being aware of the effect on me. e.g. intimidation has a very bad effect on me because of the anxiety.

I feel like I have no option but to leave because if I stay my mental health will be impacted to the point where I can't work.

@dontdisturbmenow the company have acted very poorly to a number of employees which has resulted in them leaving. It's really not about me not fitting the environment - I have tried very hard to make it work and ultimately done a good job. But by having mental health illnesses means that I don't fit the environment then that makes me think that the employer hasn't made reasonable adjustments.

Thanks again for all of the advice. I think the next step is for me to get more advice if I can to see if this settlement is the best that I can get. Again, I am not being greedy, but it is likely that this will not cover the period of unemployment that I will now face.

Requesting reasonable adjustments and need for them is your responsibility.

Whether or not there was bullying, could come down to perception and given the number of grievances you've mentioned, you could find that others also submit grievances against you in a worst case scenario saying that you're using the system as a means of bullying.

You may feel you're not the problem, and may well not be, however , not all work environments are right for all of us. So really, the onus is on us removing ourselves from situations that are unhealthy for us.

Again, you feel you deserve more months pay out, but have only 16 months service and could still easily be dismissed as under 2 years service, be that for any justifiable reason or due to capability as a result of your extended sick leave.

Whatever happens you need another job. Preferably with the 4 months pay, but if you don't act swiftly it could be with none.

I think the phrase here is ‘don’t look a gift horse in the mouth’

What they owe you £0
What they must offer you £0
What they are offering 4 months pay
What you think is fair £??

OP, as gently as possible, take the money, leave the job and focus on your recovery and future job prospects. I know you want what you feel is fair but they are under no obligation whatsoever to offer you anything, they have already done what they feel is ‘fair’ by offering what they have. You have no basis at all on which to ask for more. You could ask for more and they could say no, or you could ask for more and they take the offer off the table. Or they could say yes. You have no way of knowing which, although reflecting on the kind of company and their culture and behaviour so far may give you an inclination. You don’t have an argument for a higher payment to prevent you taking them to tribunal as by your own admission you don’t want to and you don’t have a case if you did. You don’t have a great deal to bargain with here and it’s causing a lot of stress you don’t need. Take the money and focus on getting yourself back to a good place.

I'm just coming back to the thread to suggest you look into a mortgage holiday, OP. I'm not sure what the situation is now but earlier in the pandemic many lenders were offering a mortgage holiday with no questions asked. That might help see you through if you are worried how quickly you will get another job. Though the extra savings could impact on your eligibility for benefits.

I do not think you have a strong case.

I do not think they owe you anything financially. I think 4 months is generous, and if they want to play hardball I don't see any legal barrier to them dismissing you on a capability basis, leaving you with £0.

I think you should take the four months, focus on getting your mental health back to a good place, and move on.

If you have only been there 16 months, and they are offering you four months pay, grab it quick while you can, that's a good deal

If you want to know for sure you need to consult a lawyer who specialises in employment law. They will tell you if you have a claim for discrimination and, if so, what a reasonable settlement would look like.