Contact by employer whilst off sick - URGENT - please help if you can

[tangerinecath]

I wonder if anyone out there has some good advice for my friend.

She is 17 wks pg and is having huge problems at work. I won't go into all the details in order to keep this brief but her boss and her boss's boss are being very unreasonable in their treatment of her and are making demands on her that she feels unable to meet.

The stress is making her ill, she isn't eating or sleeping, has constant headaches and is incredibly nervous and jumpy.

She has been signed off sick by her gp and is trying to rest at home. The problem is, she is being contacted at home by her boss's boss by email, phone and on her personal mobile (she does not have a work mobile). She did not give them this contact info, a so called friend passed her number on. The person who is trying to contact her is the person who has caused the problem and my friend really does not want to speak to her. All she wants is a total break from work in order to sort out her sleeping and eating problems.

Is it unreasonable for her to be contacted at home while she's off sick?

She has tried calling her HR department to ask to be left alone but they have said they are acting within the law and that she is overreacting.

Surely there is something she can do to make this stop. I am so worried for her, she is in such a state .

I have offered to call them myself and try and get through to them but she says there's no point.

Any advice would be very much appreciated

TIA

A friend of mine who was treated appallingly by her boss when she tried to arrange flexible working, suddenly remembered that she was paying a few extra quid a year on her home insurance policy to cover legal protection. She sued for constructive dismissal and won over £15,000. So it's worth checking your policy to see if you're covered.

meowmix, I emailed this person last week with my concerns and have received no response, I assume that this will be discussed again, when I get back to work.

But people like her don't change their minds, she was clear enough last time we spoke. So I won't be holding my breath.

Cath, If I lived closer to you, I would do a special deal for you...two for the price of one ;) If you can find another baby that is :)

I'm sure I could find one under a gooseberry bush somewhere

Arabica, that's a very interesting point about the legal protection. BE you should look into it, if you end up leaving you could perhaps do them for constructive dismissal???

Thinking of looking into it myself as I too was treated appallingly over a flexible working application.

"I'm sure I could find one under a gooseberry bush somewhere"

Tangerinecath: anything I should know? :o

BE - if you do decide to go down the legal route, check you home insurance policy and see if you have legal expenses cover. Mine did when I had a bullying issue at work 18 months ago and I was able to use a solicitor with all costs met. (Not that she was any good and it was actually "sis's" advice and support that got me the outcome I wanted).!

GA - long time no see (on here anyway!)

re. the gooseberry bush - I should be so lucky - would love to but can't afford childcare for two

Sorry BE for the blatant thread hijack!

Galaxy - glad you got sorted in the end.

Oh, and BE, you already know GA by another name....

Oops yes, sorry BE - I forgot you didn't know my mumsnet name... lol. Have emailed you :)

Hi
I'm an NHS manager and am astonished at this behaviour form both the Director and form HR I can't get my HR department to allow me to do anything,even legit stuff!! have you got a copy of the Maternity policy as if it is the same as ours I think you will find you are entitled to time off and you say when you start mat leave. You also need to look at the sickness and absence policy and the dignity at work poilicy. i don't know if you've got copies of these et home. You could ask HR to email them to you. This is bullying and harrasment no two ways round it.

Apologies for typos

poptot,

Thanks for the supportive post, whilst I am feeling bullied, I just need to return back to work and just count down to my maternity leave in peace.

I have to work with these sad ladies for another 4 months and they will not suddenly turn around and start being nice.

I have all the relevent policies and they all state that everything is at 'your line manager discretion' so as I have an idiot line manager and her boss is equally mean, I will never get discretion or approval on appeal...so I need a new job asap.

My major future concerns are things like time off for a sick child, access to breastfeed facilities, flexible working. All of which will either be denied or made as difficult as possible for me to access.

BTW Breastfeeding facilities is NOT A LEGAL RIGHT, hence I will not get it.

Quote from www.hse.gov.uk/mothers/faqs.htm#5

HSE recommends that it is good practice, for employers, to provide a private, healthy and safe environment for nursing mothers to express and store milk (but this is not a legal requirement).

Flexible working application must be 'considered' by the company but can be reject with a number of made up objections.

'Time off for a sick child' is discretiony to your line manager. I know I can get parental leave which is bookable only in advance and in one week blocks, this leave is used to cover holidays not sickness, as you don't know in advance when your child is sick.

My friends Cathy and Lisa both are allowed to leave work to pick up their sick children from nursery and both get paid, as if they were sick themselves.

With me - best case scenerio I might be allowed to use an annual leave day or just not to be paid for a day (unlikely with the trouble I'm having with unpaid leave and annual leave at the moment but possible), worse case scenerio I could be displined for leaving work without permission (as there is no one else to pick my child up except me, my DH works away, if they say no I'll have to go anyway.)

So I can see my work situation getting worse as time goes on.

Basically if they are being so unreasonable with me now, they are going to continue to be unreasonable in the future. At the moment they are only being unreasonable with me but a child can not wait for the right time to be sick etc.

Babies, I feel really really sad for you, I went through a really bad patch at work with some of the ladies I worked with being bitchy, commenting on how much time I had off, how much work they had to do and even telling me that I would have it easy after ds was born lounging round living off there taxes shock]

I told my HR department and they were as useless as a chocolate tea pot, I didn't even get my maternity rights off them untill I was 24 weeks pg (I told them at 6 weeks).

I felt depressed stressed and down right angry everyday at work, but I have the last laugh they are expecting me back at work in the next month or so and I'm not going, I have moved over 200 miles away and they have no idea, and I only have to give one weeks notice that I am not coming back and that is all they will damn well get, I couldn't care less how big the pile off pooh is I leave them in, infact I will sit giggling to myself once I know they have got the letter (I will send in recorded delivery).

Be strong and you will be fine, sorry for the long post.

If they are not going to provide breastfeeding facilities, you are just going to have to whip out your norks under their noses, preferably in meetings with clients.

sorry BE but lmao at the thought of you whipping out your norks in a meeting

BE, like me, is rather large of nork so the effect would be dramatic!

LOL, I may well have to do that :)