Signed fit for work... but work are ignoring me.

[kirstysworld]

Hi guys, this is a sort of complicated one.

7 weeks ago I had a nervous breakdown at work, I was under a lot of stress and I was having 10+ panic attacks a day... I went to see my doctor and he signed me off, so I told my boss the situation and he said "come in to work and finish off this press release and we'll discuss that tomorrow" so I went in to work and when I got there I was a mess, I ended up being told by senior staff I shouldn't be there and I explained my boss had asked me to come in, they said go home and look after yourself, so I did.

The sick note was for 2 weeks, I ended up going to the doctor again and he said I wasn't fit for work and he signed me off for another 3, then he signed me off for another month after that was over. During that time my employer had requested me attend a welfare meeting which I did, and then they requested my medical record, which I didn't give them access to as I ended up losing the letter.

I went back to the doctors 10 days ago and he said he thought I seemed so much better and I thought so, too... so I rang HR at work and explained I was well enough to come back and that I was going to be signed back on the next week, the woman from HR said no, don't do that, I'll speak with the director of your department and let you know what they say... she came back to me and said they'd requested a meeting with me before I requested my doctor make me fit for work, said she'd email me the same day, she didn't, another 2 days passed and she still hadn't emailed me, so I called her and it seemed she was getting annoyed with me reaching out but I was eager to get back to work... she came back to me after 4 days and said "Hi, they've said if you really want to come back, get your fit note and then send me a picture of it so we know when to expect you back."

I did just that, I told them last Thursday I'd be back on Monday, they ignored my message.

I turned up to work yesterday morning, and the director of my department looked up and saw me stood there and he looked shocked.

They sent me to one building then to another before finally sticking me in a meeting with the department director who plain and simply said

"Are you fit for work?"
I said yes, he said do you have your fit note, I said yes, I handed it to him, he said well you can see how this is a bit of a problem for us as we weren't expecting you back until the end of the month and there's NOT MUCH on your sick note, you've been off for a long time now, yes a very long time, are you better? Do you feel 100%?

And then...

"You're going to have to go home, it was my understanding you were only going to come in today to give us your sick notes so we could review them..."

That was NOT my understanding at all, I was told I could come back.

He then said, "ok well I'm gonna review your sick note and then I'll call you this afternoon or tomorrow and let you know what's going on"

I explained there's nothing on my sicknote other than to say that the end of my sick period was over and I was fit for work. No notes. Nothing. What did he have to examine???? He says he needed to assess if I was fit for work. What is he, a medical professional?

I went home, deflated and feeling defeated. He didn't call me. He hasn't called me today. I've messaged him and he's read it but hasn't replied to me. I asked for an update and I haven't had one.

I'm now declared fit for work, and having to wait at home unpaid, on edge, wondering what's happening and why nobody's contacted me.

I'm at the point now where I feel I should be seeking advice from a lawyer in Employment law, as first I was signed off sick because of the amount of pressure and work they were putting on me and the way they've handled it every day since has made me not only cry (at the welfare meeting) but also made me more stressed than I should have been being off sick as it was.

What should I do? I'm losing all hope.

Definitely get some advice from acas. A lot of employment rules don't apply until you've been with a company for 2 years, but there are situations where you can take legal action regardless of how long you've been there. Unlawful deduction of wages is one, and there are probably others in your case since your boss doesn't seem to be following any rules at all!

A bit of an update, I received a letter today inviting me in to a "Formal Capability Hearing" which, legal people tell me is talk for a Disciplinary hearing.

Before I was off work this time, I'd had around 9 days absence over the last 14 months and I'm starting to feel like this is their way of firing me.

I called ACAS, they told me there's nothing to be done other than to file a grievance and claim that they've been discriminatory toward me because of my Mental Health.

It's sort of ridiculous, because there's nothing to be done to protect those in the workplace who suffer from Mental illness; some companies offer support and counselling through Sanctus which I think is incredible... but what about those workforces who don't?

At the very least this has opened my eyes as to just how discrimination against people with Mental Illness in the workplace really is, and that a lot of people really are just shitty and only care about making money rather than the people who put in the work.

Lack of absolute compassion at its finest.

Thanks for everyone's advice, time to start looking for a new job.

I'd had around 9 days absence over the last 14 months

Tbf that is a lot of illness, so I'm not suprised they are treating this as the last straw.

That being said, since you had a drs note and were then signed back as fine then I'm glad you are pursuing it as unfair as it looks like they're just trying to fob you off.

Unfortunately you have few rights if you've worked somewhere less than 2 years. It sounds like you could go for unlawful deductions from wages though, with the sick pay thing. Also I think (but not 100% sure) you can go for wrongful dismissal if they don't follow the correct procedures. This is different from unfair dismissal which you can't claim if you've been somewhere less than 2 years.

If your formal capability hearing is a disciplinary you are allowed to take a colleague with you who can help you state your case.

SilverBirch is right though, you need to put your MH first whatever else you decide

I called ACAS, they told me there's nothing to be done other than to file a grievance and claim that they've been discriminatory toward me because of my Mental Health.

I don't think ACAS are giving you great advice here. You can only claim discrimination for mental health if your mental health "situation" is covered under the legal term for disability under the Equality Act. You need to show that your mental health problem has lasted (or will last) for at least 12 months or that it is likely to reoccur. You also need to prove that you informed your employer of this.

But yes, file a formal grievance asap.

It looks like they are trying to push you out. You really need to speak to an employment lawyer asap and they can advise you the best steps and approach to take. Many employment lawyers offer a free consultation over the phone (with no pressure to use them) but one of the first steps they will tell you to take is to file a formal grievance.

Pragmatically, even if you raised a grievance and managed to keep your job, you're never going to feel comfortable working with these arseholes again. In your position I'd be negotiating a decent chunk of notice pay and a good reference in exchange for not making a fuss.

Do get proper advice though. It's good to know what you could claim, even if you decide not to. Knowledge is power.

I agree ACAS haven't given good advice.

There's a H&S angle you could explore if you can show they have failed to minimise the risk of stress-related ill-health (for example badgering you to do a press release when you've been signed off sick following multiple panic attacks).

One of the biggest problems is that we have a lot of employees with small children who are always bringing bugs like colds and stomach bugs with them, that collectively, we ALL end up catching, they literally call it "the suf" if anyone's ill, they generally know that it's because this one guy has been spreading his germs, he's always ill and were always catching it, so as a whole, everyone in that business has taken roughly the same amount of time off with sickness, and this isn't an over exaggeration.

We have an open-plan office with about 30 of us cooped up together and no windows as it's on top of a warehouse, so in that environment it's not surprising people are ill a lot.

Actually since you've been there less than 2 years you pretty much can be dismissed and have no rights from what I understand. You can also be dismissed for illness.

Have a look on the gov website for more details www.gov.uk/dismissal/overview

I'm sorry this is happening, unfortunately I've been though the same and lived 6 months of hell as my employer bullied me, triggered panic attacks and made my life a living hell. I was so low I didn't even think to get another job. I couldn't focus. I ended up having a few months off with stress and anxiety.

My advice is to focus your efforts into finding a new job, one which will let you have time off, appreciate you and not put pressures on when you are stressed, but instead support you with tools for you to build yourself up.

Do not give these idiots anymore of your thoughts, this is just a job, this is just a cloud. The cloud will pass and the sun will shine again. Sending hugs.

Hi everyone.

I went to my disciplinary today.

It turns out I hadn't had as many absences as I'd thought, and had only had 6 days off which all happened after April time and led up to me being off for this past 7 weeks.

They tried to make out I was incapable of doing my job because the changes I requested in regards to supporting my mental health were not "reasonable".

I'm not sure how they can determine if they're reasonable, if they haven't been put in place, so how they can say I would still be incapable is beyond me.

They referred back to my Welfare notes in which I stated I thought a 1-on-1 support approach from my manager would help me when I was feeling things were getting too much.

Apparently, it's not reasonable for me to ask not to be disturbed continually throughout the day, despite the fact that this contact breaks every policy in our communications policy because "there's always going to be some people who break those rules" then why not enforce disciplinary to those who regularly break it enough for it to cause interference?

Next thing is that my issues with my manager were not realistic, it wasn't realistic for me to expect "special treatment or help" from my manager despite having a mental illness that's lasted over 18 months because different managers have different styles.

I said just to reflect on that, and how I understood different managers have different styles, but there are still laws out there that say if I require help, those adaptations should be made. And they never have been. Not at all.

I'm being fully paid until I find out the outcome next Thursday, after which I will be resigning if they decide to keep me on which I doubt.

I could take legal action against discrimination, however, I feel having the person who's currently doing my job continue it, that would be far worse damage than such a case could inflict on them.

Thanks for everyone's advice thus far.

Basically they had a terrible case, and almost always had nothing to say.

My rep went as far as to say that it was like they were under the spotlight and didn't know how to answer me and were "cringing" when I mentioned how I'd been treated and how many laws it broke under the mental health protection and discrimination act.

My rep wrote more notes than the HR REP.

Don't resign OP. Sit tight and make them pay you off.

Did you raise the fact you've had no holiday for so long and even when you do request it your request is always turned down?

There's a reason that people are supposed to have a minimum amount of leave - it's really bad for them to not have it. I'm not surprised that you had a breakdown of you hadn't had a break; that would happen even if you weren't working in a pressured environment where the effect is likely to be worse!

Hopefully your office at least paid you for the days in lieu and doesn't have a use it or lose it policy... that would be one way to get a month of free work out of their staff.

How common was it that people didn't get to take holidays? Anyone else only given 1 day off in 14 months? (Hopefully you had bank holidays off...). What about your boss or the person responsible for approving leave - did they get their leave (at your expense?) or was everyone expected to work? And we're hr aware that you were unable to take it? Getting to the end of the year and finding you have up to a week left and trying to sort out dates so it works for everyone is one thing. Effectively never having any leave approved is very different and another thing they need to be seriously pulled up on. Hopefully one of the knowledgeable law or hr folk on here will be able to advise!

OP please don't resign for the time being. This will play into their hands.

I recognise that you have decided to leave, but I would take some legal advice before you do. In your situation, as your employers know of your MH challenges and did nothing to engage with the reasonable adaptations you had proposed, it shows they weren't invested or engaged in exercising their responsibilities to you as a good employer. If they felt your proposed adaptations were not reasonable there was nothing to stop them discussing with you and coming to a compromise over what they could support you with. Instead, they just harassed you in the hope you would resign.

I would get a solicitor's letter to them ASAP, explaining the above factually, referring to their obligations as an employer under the Equality Act You may find they offer you a Settlement Agreement with a reference which at least enables you to seek new employment in a stronger position - which could also help your anxiety.

If you have legal cover under your household or car policy, this type of employment dispute is highly likely to be covered, and they are very good at a quick resolution through a legal letter.

btw, I meant to clarify, wait for the outcome of the Meeting to see what decision they decide to take. They are probably, as we speak, consulting a solicitor themselves. If you are up to it, use the time you are off to start a new job search, take legal advice to see what a solicitor says, and be ready to send a letter depending on what the outcome of the meeting is. They will probably not dismiss you, they'll want you to make the next move, which is why it's worth getting the legal advice before you do anything.