Signed off

[hnr]

I’ve been signed off work for mental health issues, the first note was for 4 weeks and my doctor has now extended it for a little longer now.

When I first informed my manager, the first question they asked, was let us know what we can do to help in the workplace and when you’re coming back. But this was 2 days into my sick note and I wasn’t in any fit state to say when I would be back, so I made this clear in my emails to them and told them that I would inform them when I was feeling back to myself.

Then 10 days later I get another email asking when I’ll be back, even though they knew that I had been signed off sick. I once again explained how I was feeling and also that I was waiting for medication and therapy (it took quite a while for the doctors to get the ball rolling, and I was chasing them up every week).
I then sent an email saying that I had an extended sick note and went into detail about how this is a long process and that obviously my mental health comes before anything else.

I’ve now been asked to come in for a meeting and it’s making me feel really anxious, I sent a huge email with every detail in about why I can’t currently come back into work, etc. But now they want this meeting and it’s making me wonder what else they want to know. The thought of going in to see someone face to face is making me so nervous.
my boss is a little patronising and I think that’s why I’m so worried as they have fobbed me of in the past when I’ve tried to let them know when I’m not coping or struggling with the work given, so I am dreading going into this meeting as I feel like my boss is going to make me feel really bad.

I'm sorry things aren't good at the moment

You have a note from your GP, you don't need to send detailed emails about what is happening. Has your boss referred you to occupational health?

I'd advise getting a copy of your sickness absence policy. That will detail the stages the employer needs to follow. A face to face meeting in my organisation would be formally written to me, with my right to have representation (union) present and would have reference to the sickness policy about that stage and what will happen next. So I don't think this sounds like a formal meeting, so wouldn't attend without further detail of what it's about and how I'd be supported.

Do you have a HR department?

They are probably following guidelines, to see if your MH can be helped with anything they can do to help, try not to worry about it and if you don’t feel up to it just cancel the meeting. You’ve given them everything you can, but your health has to come first.

I don’t have a HR department. It’s a small run business, I was told it would be beneficial to come in and talk. I don’t know what else they want me to say, I’ve just got this feeling they’re going to make me feel bad. The last email I received, my manager really laid into me how everyone had had to take over my work, as if to guilt me into the fact that I’d become unwell and as if it was something I’d chosen to do. I’ll be taking a friend with me tomorrow for some moral support, but I’m just getting huge anxiety as to what else they will ask, as I covered everything and some in the previous emails over the last few weeks.