Would you quit work due to ill health?

[Palmiers]

I suffer with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia and have been off work now for 6 months. I still don't feel well enough to return and have been thinking of just handing in my notice as I'm worried I won't be of much use. I'm also worried about finding another job in near future with such high sick days on my record. DP thinks I should extend my sick leave as I've always pushed myself and had very little time off in the 20 years I've worked for this organisation. GP is happy to extend my sick note but I feel really guilty about being absent. Our sick pay policy is generous - 6 month full pay then 6 months half. What would you do? Would you go back to work if you still felt poorly?

Pleased they reinstated it @Orangesandlemons77 its a disgrace that they put you through all of that stress.

Thinking about ill health retirement, do you know how much your LGPS is worth & if this would be enough for you to live on? It’s probably worth finding this information out, so you’re prepared to discuss if ill health retirement is realistic for you.

Thanks. yes both times, I have said paper appeal because of lots of paper evidence, first time appeals court re-instated it, second time assessor made lots of daft mistakes, asked for a paper appeal again but it never got to that stage as they actually called, apologised and re-instated it for 5 yrs!

So it is definitely worth appealing, and if you can't face it and have good paper evidence you can ask for on paper, which is also quicker as they do not have to use a court near you.

I know it is not usually advised to do a paper appeal though as they are less likely to win, but in some cases it can do the trick x

@picklemewalnuts Interesting enough that's exactly how I feel but I would struggle to articulate that as I'm so used to saying I will be back as soon as I can.

@RandomMess OH says I'm not well enough to return but the GP more or less told me that I should only return IF I feel well enough to return.

@daisychain01 I agree that public sector are normally flexible but unfortunately in my case, my manager seems set on convincing me to resign rather than considering flexible working. She's almost like a gate keeper and keeps saying HR would only authorise requests if she's in agreement.

@notyourmam I'm sorry you had to go through that awful experience. I need to toughen up and not care so much about letting people down.

Tell HR you are being pressured to resign and you only want to speak to them as it's delaying your recovery.

Where are HR in this process? If your line manager is blocking reduced hours or any of the normal accommodations for someone returning from long illness and is additionally suggestion you leave due to your illness then HR should be involved in that process (if only to protect themselves from a constructive dismissal case). 20 years of good service should count for something, even in these day of staff as commodities.

Is it really the case that your job can only be done on standard hours - do they have no part timers or flexible workers?

Another reason to wait until sick leave expires is that if you leave voluntarily you might be classified as voluntarily unemployed.

Sorry missed this before I replied - go to HR anyway. A manager who tries to deter you from going to HR whilst refusing to consider seriously any work accommodation and is telling you to take medical retirement is not a good manager.

Keep records of all mails/conversations where she tries to persuade you to retire, go directly to HR to discussed. Its possible work adjustments would only be made by agreement however they are the people to remind her of the various obligations to consider adjustments. I'm amazed that in a sector where recruitment is so difficult you have a manager who can dispense with experience staff willing to work part time.

Are you in the LGPS?

@Palmiers Flexible working there are two types of request, one under the right to request flexible working which can be refused for business reasons.

The second is as a reasonable adjustment which is much harder to refuse under the Equality Act 2010. If, and I do mean if, you feel able to work part time email HR and ask for an OH referral for reasonable adjustments to enable you to return to work. At the appointment be brutally honest about your worst days and what you are realistically able to do. State these are the part time hours I know (not hope) I can manage - days, start and end times, maximum hours etc. Also set out phased return.

Medical retirement, firstly google your current pension scheme and the website will contain guidance on medical/Ill health retirement and possibly dismissal on the grounds of capability/efficiency. You want to aim for the former but the second can be a good option. Get quotes for your pension if you take early retirement as this will give you a good baseline. The first step is an OH referral to consider medical retirement. Ideally you do one OH referral for both PT and medical retirement.

@Palmiers how are you ? I have cfs too

Hows things with you ?
Im a similar age
A wfh job would help me.. my pem aspect of cfs is bad.
My cfs is also v challenging in am

@worldwidetravel2017 hello, I can see you have resurrected this thread from back in February. I am not sure whether the OP gets a notification when someone posts on their thread or not but best to @ and then pick the username of the person you want to alert to this thread like I did for you. I will ping them now, @Palmiers @Devonhousehunter