Any thoughts on my risky plan of action?

[coocoocawhooOOOOO]

I'm currently on sick leave (work related stress due to issues with line manager), returning to work next week. While I've been off, I've been lucky enough to be offered another job, a really, really good job. I am waiting for a formal job offer in wiritng. The new job would like me me to look into reducing my current notice period (3 months). I have not disclosed that I have been signed off for the last 7 weeks.

There has been a lot of good advice on a number of threads that I've trawled through and I've put together the following two plans based on this:

Plan 1. Ask for a meeting in the morning of my first day back (which is the end of next week). Say, while I am fit to return to work, I don't feel that I have a place in the team anymore and would only be returning to put in a formal grievance in any event. On this basis, I propose to hand in my notice and would be happy to turn up each day for the next three months. Alternatvely, pay me in lieu of notice and I'll go now. I wouldnt disclose the job offer, but in the event that the job offer is withdrawn during referencing (seems that most advice given on other threads suggests that this is a real risk) I would at least have 3 months money to tide me over while I arranged something (anything) else.

Plan 2. Phone HR first thing Monday. Tell them I intend to hand in my notice as I have been offered another job. Ask them to let me go after a month or even immediately but also ask that a reference is agreed. Risk is that if I leave immediately this is going to look really suspicious to new employer.

I know that there are no guarantees that current employer will accept either plan. I think they would be quite happy to not have to go through formal grievance though and be quuite happy for me to simply trot off.

Does any of this sound realistic? WWYD?

What's your objective with these plans? What outcome are you ideally looking for?

Hi flowery, was secretly hoping you might be about too!

My ideal would be an agreed reference, as I already have the job offer. I just don't know if I can request that my sick leave not be disclosed.

If there is no way but for leave to be disclosed and a risk that the job offer will be withdrawn, then I will need to either work/be paid 3 months notice while I look for something else or face an exceptionally lean few months.

On what basis do you think the offer might be withdrawn? As long as you are capable of doing the job they can't just withdraw an offer because they don't like your sick record.

That's exactly what I've been hoping to hear. The new employer is a large organisation so I hope that means that they will not make up a spurious reason for withdrawing offer?

I genuinely can't think of any reason why they would withdraw other than sickness record.

I think I would still be more comfortable with an agreed reference though, I really don't trust my current employer. Hopefully I'm just being paranoid.

Apart from the sickness absence, which shouldn't be an issue, is there any reason you wouldn't get a decent reference without it being part of a settlement? Agreed references are all well and good but to be honest they often look like agreed references - and it's not clear this route is necessary in your case.