My dad was injured in an RTA at Christmas resulting in severe damage to his leg/ankle at the time. He has been off work since, but after 2 operations and not being able to walk with out crutches until a couple of weeks ago he now has been signed fit to go back to work on the 28th May.
He works as a car mechanic, so it is a pretty physical job. He had a meeting today with his boss regarding going back to work. He has been told verbally by his boss that he will be back to full duties straightaway (I'm not sure he can physically manage that, although fit to work he may need a little leeway in some of the more physical aspects for a couple of months), that he will be expected to turn over the same amount of work regardless of the number of hours it takes him, for example that if a job is allocated to take 2 hours and it takes my dad 3 or 4 because of his difficulties, he will dock his pay accordingly i.e. only pay him the 2 hours hourly rate unless he is prepared to work the extra hours unpaid. He then went on to mention redundancy, but apparently was vague and non-specific about this. (It sounds like it was almost a threat, but I wasn't there so that is just my secondhand impression).
My parents are distraught, and this is just more stress on top what has already been a very stressful time as they have been surviving on SSP. I've advised them to get the boss to put all of what he said in writing. It is a private firm, so I feel ill placed to advise as I have only ever worked in the NHS so my terms and conditions are pretty clear.
I'd be grateful for any advice that anyone has that I can pass on to my dad. He is in his fifties and panicking that if he loses this job that will be it for him.