Suspended due to illness

[Rachie206]

my doctors recently signed me off work due to a ruptured cyst and being ill with it my first day back at work was today and I have been suspended due to my time off is that allowed?

If I were you, I’d phone ACAS (free helpline) tomorrow and go through the full story with them. Definitely mention the endometriosis too. They will want you to have a copy of your contract handy if possible.

If you haven’t had a letter/email confirming your suspension and the reason for it, and you haven’t had a formal invite letter for Friday, contact HR tomorrow and ask for it - say as you are contacting ACAS for advice and they will require it.

Is your employer aware that you have an appointment later this month ref possible endometriosis? It will be helpful if they are.

Legally, you may not be in a strong position in all honesty but you can at least make sure your ducks are in a row for the meeting.

Besides which, even if you tried to take them to tribunal for disability discrimination, it sounds like they've already built a case for poor performance pre-dating your absence.

A formal absence meeting doesn’t necessarily mean any action will be taken - it could be company policy after x amount of days a formal meeting should take place. (Even civ service do this after a couple of weeks sick.) Absence meeting will be chance to review reasons for absence and any actions to be taken (absence management plan or similar). You would take your sick line and they would have to provide evidence of return to work meeting.

The dodgy bit is the suspension - I think they need to tell you why you are being suspended and it needs to be a decent reason - usually to allow an investigation to take place. I’ve only suspended people if they are posing a risk to the business or it’s a gross misconduct case.

No, but it might help her to negotiate a more favourable exit to bring it into the mix - if they feel slightly on the back foot they may agree to resignation rather than dismissal if the meeting hasn’t started, or more notice pay. Small wins, but longer term the resignation option would def be better.

Tribunal leadtimes are crazy at the moment too, something like 18 months depending where you are. And the stress wouldn’t be for me either! No expense to an employee though.

I would prepare to be sacked.

Start looking for work now.

Agree that suspension is normally part of a gross misconduct process. Did you do anything in the 10 days you were off that they may have found out about - on social media?

All that aside, a couple of months in an entry level sales job, you haven't sold anything and have been off for effectively 3 weeks of the 2 months... most places would just sack you on the spot.

Harsh and beyond your control but true.

Hope your meeting today goes OK OP.

Good luck I think you’ve been treated awfully,

Have you heard yet OP

I'm very sorry for your plight and hope you go on to find a better workplace.

Get onto Acas asap, chances are you should be covered by the Equality Act 2010 as you may have needed surgical intervention etc.

I think reading this you’re going to lose your job. They’ve basically paid you for 2.5 months so far to do nothing.

Only 20 odd percent of workers are in unions. Why baffled? It's generally a public sector thing.

I believe that this thread, and many others here, might explain the bafflement? The poster was expressing surprise at why people continue to think that their employment interests are best served by trusting the employer and their HR. Then when a problem arises, cue running to join a union (too late). Unions have been muzzled, not by repeated government attacks on them, but by the very people that they exist to serve - workers. If more were in unions then you'd soon see the pendulum of power swing back into balance.

@Rachie206

What happened at your meeting yesterday?

Hope you were able to explain

It isn't just the "first couple of months" though. Employment rights in current UK employment law come into play after 2 years.

Before the 2 years, an employer can part company with an employee (with notice) if they don't believe the employee is a good cultural fit, or if the employee doesn't show the relevant capabilities needed for their role, or if the employee goes sick for a disproportionate amount of time. The employer will want to ensure that there is no grounds for a discrimination claim by so doing.

the initial probationary period of a person's employment is completely irrelevant. It's just an arbitrary number of weeks or months that the employer decides as part of the contract of employment which is a trial period to see if the employment arrangement is mutually successful. It holds no legal weight, the employee can successfully pass their probation and still be let go of at any time up to the 2 year mark, after which time employment rights kick in and it becomes a more regulated process to remove someone from their post.

@Rachie206 Suspending you "because of your sickness time off" is not the same as a medical suspension which would be your employer proactively taking you off duty due to a risk to your health caused by some environmental factor in the workplace. I think you need to check the terminology to understand the basis of your employer's action, as it sounds like they are objecting to you going on sick leave during the Christmas break and so soon after you started work in October.

They sacked me on basis of not suitable for the position they said I could appeal it but I said I wasn’t going to but I did send a email to the appeals women and stated you’ve sacked me for not being suitable but I was also told full training would be given and it would start in January but basically they couldn’t be arsed to do the training is what they was saying and sacked me

But you've had a lot of time off before we even got to January so I can understand their point.

Why did you do that?

A person assigned to hear an appeal is independent and not involved in the process so you’ve sent a snotty email to someone who wasn’t involved.

Why did you do that?

Part of the suitability for any position is actually being there! Why would they bother to train someone who they don't believe will be coming to work regularly?

I suspect that you may have just blown any chance of a referenace you might have had. They didn't even have to offer you an appeal, but they did, and you used those details to slag the company off!

I don’t need them as a reference what if they employ someone else and doesn’t give them training the company needs to no!

plus I was off ill I didn’t not just go in

You won't change how they operate.

Yeah I know but I had to put my side across to someone higher and I was told my another employee I was going to be sacked before they sacked me my manager had told other members of staff

Op. It's fairly standard to sack people who have lots of time off in their probation period. Fair or not. The fact that the job hadn't been going well anyway just compounded the issues
Just walk away and start again somewhere else and hopefully the next role will go better.

The UK policy on sickness is ridiculous. If you were legitimately and legally signed off work by a Dr, surely that all that's required. You didn't self certify, and unless you're accusing the Dr of being fraudulent in their assessment, with a medical note, why is this an issue. I honestly can not believe the shite I used to put up with regrading UK sickness policies and attitudes. Now in Australia, where you oh one in, and that's it. No recriminations, no potential job loss, no level 1 warnings, you're sick, you get a certificate, then you come back. Sorry you're being treated like a fecking criminal, for having a certificate from a medical professional and good luck