Serious advice/experience needed please

[Newjob24]

Hello
Hoping someone can come along and give any advice please;

So I am currently off work sick. NHS. I told my manager months ago I felt I was no longer fit for my current role and would need more desk based role. OHS also agrees with this and sent them recommendations for me. I am not wanting to be off sick but felt I had no other choice as my manager kept saying 'this is your job you HAVE to do it' i explain circumstances had changed over 3 years as I had a baby & things just weren't right with my body(excess weight etc). I have told them I want back to work but they just keep saying 'we have nothing you can do' i haven't done my own role in 3 years due to pregnancy/secondments & MAT leave. I was in a secondment when they called me back, which I loved and they wouldnt let me stay on (even after explaining that I really am not fit for my physical role)

Does anyone know what happens here if I don't get a sickline from my GP.. the managers are just refusing to help give me other duties in the office even tho people are being paid overtime and few others are off sick aswell. I desperately want back to work. My mental health has really declined over the last number of months. When I was pregnant with my first they gave me suitable duties. Im also pregnant again but not giving me work & are looking at redeployment. Anyone any help on this.. please?

It is you that feels you can no longer do the role you were employed for, if your employer doesn’t have anything else for you then they don’t have anything for you to do. I am not sure what anybody can say to help with that. I think it is time for you to move on. 🤷‍♀️

Move on and get another job if you cannot manage the one you have.

I hope you have a union?

Sorry, but the bottom line is that they do not have a duty to find you a job that you want to do. That is your responsibility - you need to apply for positions that better suit the kind of work that you are willing to do. If your doctor does not give you a sick note, then you are deemed fit to return to the job that you have - not to any other.

I'd suggest you start to look for another job if you are no longer able to do the one you currently have. The company have a duty of care to try and accommodate you, but if they can't and have no business need for a role that would suit you then they could manage you out of your role. A good company will try and help you, but it doesn't mean they can continue to pay you if you are no longer fit for your role.

I am fit for work.. I am just not fit to do the physical side of my role - which is what OHS have told them. I have applied for jobs and in the process of moving on but not sure how long it is going to take. I am qualified for other duties in that department.. they are being very awkward over it all. I've been told by many colleagues that they are swomped with work, understaffed... yet they have nothing available for me to do for a few weeks? BS! I do not want to be off sick. I gave them so much notice to help sort other duties for a while and was not supported.

I am in the union. It is all being dealt with through the union. I just want to be back working

I am fit for work.. I am just not fit to do the physical side of my role - which is what OHS have told them.

This is where your problem is. You are not fit for work unless you are fit to do ALL your job. You cannot simply pick and choose which bits to be fit for! Nor do they have to make or find you a job that you are fit for. OH can recommend whatever they like - they do not get to tell the employer what they must do. No matter what you think, the employer says that they have no other job for you. It also seems that you do not have a disability (although that wouldn't make much difference - perhaps slightly but not much) so you are not entitled to any adjustments.

If you are not fit for your job and there is no where else for you, you will be dismissed. Be clear on that. You are saying that you are incapable of doing the job you were employed to do. Dismissal is the natural outcome of that.

@Neriah sorry but I have been dealing with all this through my union, OH & GP.. circumstances can change. You can be fit for certain parts and unfit for other parts.. as I said I'm pregnant & was giving separate duties before. My role is very physical which i CANNOT do while pregnant. OH can advise employers on adjustments - but its upto the management if they can accomodate or not.. they said they can't... which is lies as they did before. This is where the awkwardness is coming in from them. The whole office is suffering due to others being off and extra workloads. I have said I can do X Y Z.. they just don't want to help but its ok for them to create roles for other people. They are wanting rid & especially cos im pregnant now too. Again i am going through all this with the union so I know what I'm talking about. I was just hoping if anyone had any advice or experiences.. also I do have a disability 🙂 unfortunately.. so please don't just assume I don't because of a few msgs I've wrote. Thanks for your replies

OK. Have it your way. I answered what you posted and legally correctly. But you know better. I wonder why your management don't realise that they have to do what you want?

Good luck with it.

I think it's time to move on, I don't know why you want to stay somewhere you're not well thought of.

The thing is they'll need someone to do your substantive role and can't just magic up the money for an extra job in the dept for you (no matter how busy they are there). Redeployment on medical grounds is likely to be your best option, but you need to recognise that your options might be limited.

I've been told by many colleagues that they are swomped with work, understaffed... yet they have nothing available for me to do for a few weeks?

Some of it will depend on your grade and salary, are people doing the admin/non-physical job on a different (lower) grade so they’d be paying you more for a job that pays less? Who would do the more physical parts of your job if you don’t do it?

The fact they could give you lighter duties during your last pregnancy doesn’t mean they can do that this time around - the demands on the team and balance of work may have shifted in that time. They’ll also not want to set a precedent of you not doing fulfilling your whole role given you’re saying you can’t do it at all regardless of pregnancy. It’s one thing making a temporary adjustment, quite another saying you never need to do a substantive part of your role on a permanent basis.

If you’re saying you’re permanently unable to do the job they employed you to, they’d be entitled to follow whatever process they have for capacity or dismissal/redeployment on health grounds. Paying you for your full role while also needing to pay someone else to do the physical part of your job has budget implications. Taking away the physical element of your job may not be considered a reasonable adjustment if that forms a substantial part of your job.

Have you told them you’re pregnant?

I'm confused by the timeline. Am I reading correctly that before your current pregnancy you were asking for changed responsibilities and they said no? You are now pregnant and they are still declining changed duties? Have you completed a pregnancy risk assessment? How pregnant are you? What does your maternity policy statue in terms of changed duties?

@Pacifybull yes they know I'm pregnant.

@Jellycatspyjamas
There is agency workers in at the min.. same grade or one above. But I have also asked if possible to let me do these duties whether its the grade above me or not.. I'd still do it as my own grade. They have had an agency worker in my post since 2020.

I have a new job in the pipeline. Checks etc being done at present. So if they brought me back it would only be for a few weeks & I'd need to use up my annual leave too which I have alot of. Redeployment is the more likely/easier solution for them.

@BritneyBookClubPresident yes that's right. I went off due to them having no work for me: as I am unfit for the physical part of role. I then fell pregnant (told them) but I'm still at home.. not heard a word from them since end of Nov.. My sickline is due to renew this week.. I have told them I do not want to be off sick, if they could help and give me some other sort of duties.. anything! Just to get me back into work. However now I am pregnant it's not possible for me to do my current role anyway.

I applied for loads of jobs. Got offered a new one which is going to take a while, as these things do. So I am looking to come back to work for a few weeks. So that I am no longer off sick. Its affecting me alot mentally

@BritneyBookClubPresident just to add they wont do a risk assessment until I come back to work🤷‍♀️ or employer well being meetings (which the union are saying is soo bad..) 🤦‍♂️. They should still be doing like catchup meetings.. but not happening