NC for this, and some details vague as it is very outing.
I work in public sector, NHS but not medical staff. I've worked there for 25 years, and about 8 years ago I was diagnosed with a condition that is classed as a disability. Work knew about this. It's manageable and up until earlier this year has not caused any problems at work.
A few months ago a change in the job meant that we now have to do something twice a week that has caused my condition to massively worsen. I'm in a great deal of pain because of what we now have to do (it involves heavy lifting), and for the first time ever I've been hating going in to work. We have never had any training in heavy lifting.
I raised it with my manager, who said to me that he doesn't see what the problem is, and I've never complained about pain before. Er yes, like that's because I avoid things that cause pain! He stated that I have no choice but to carry out this new task in the job.
Probably stupidly, I did carry on, but it has become unbearable. I've now complained about this four times and the answer is always the same - I have to do it. I do have an email trail of all of this, including my manager saying I have no choice but to do this, and that I am letting my team down if I refuse to do it. He stated that if this task isn't done, it means that the department can't function properly and I would be letting our service users down.
I have also spoken to my doctor about this and he said I should not be doing it.
A few weeks ago I took it to the union, who were horrified. They had a meeting with my manager's boss, and basically laid the law down that this comes under disability discrimination. For a week, I was taken off the task. Two weeks ago I came in to work and was told I had to do it, as there was no one else available to do it that day. I refused, and went home sick. I saw my doctor the next day and I have been signed off until the end of next week with pain and swelling from my disability, and also with anxiety as a result of the situation.
I spoke to my union rep during last week, and my boss wants me to come to mediation about this. I do not want to do this, but I'm sort of stuck as to what I do next. My union has suggested raising a grievance, but the thought of that raises my anxiety sky high.
I'm pretty close to retirement age, was planning on retiring a little early in three years time. But I've lost all trust in management handling this situation in a decent way. They've been guilt tripping me about not wanting to do something that causes me days of severe pain, to the extent that I can't dress myself or drive, and I know from other colleagues that my boss has been painting me as being unreasonable and not a team player.
The pain that I had was originally restricted to one part of my body, but since doing this it has spread. On reading up about my condition it appears that this is something that can happen if you do things that make it worse. It's affecting my mental health too, and I've been prescribed antidepressants for the first time in my life.
Does anyone with a knowledge of employment law, particularly disability discrimination, know what would be my best course of action? It's made me really ill, both physically and mentally.