Partner always off work - referred to occupational health

[ThisPerkySheep]

My partner hates his job. He says his manager bullies him and is always really critical and harsh, so he has been pretending to have a lot of migraines over the past 6 months. He has spent a significant amount of time off work (honestly feels like he’s been off more than he’s been in). He is applying for other jobs secretly in the background to get away from this manager, but nothing confirmed yet.

Today, his manager told him she’s referring him to occupational health for his migraines. Is this her way of wanting to fire him for his time off, but having to look like she made an attempt to accommodate him? What are occupational health likely to say?

As far as I'm aware, employers have a duty of care to involve OH when someone is off sick long term. It shows they are trying to look after their employee and make changes where they can to get people back into work.... apparently. That's what I was told anyway 🤷🏻‍♀️

No it’s her way of saying you have a lot of migraines and we should get some support for that.

So it’s not necessarily because she’s hoping to get rid of him?

I'd say yes, they're probably at the end of their tether. OH will be able to help create a plan to get your partner back to work, OR will tell the workplace he's unfit for work.

Honestly with that much time off they'll be looking to make sure your partner has sought GP help for the migraines and will be interested in what he's done to help himself. They've (IMO) been round the block a few times and will quite easily figure out your partner has been lying - they won't and can't call him out for it but if they suspect it they'll push for heavy GP involvement and push to see documentation (hopefully your partner wouldn't carry the lie so far he wastes NHS time).

It's probably better for all involved for your partner to quit.

No, but if he keeps taking the piss, that may come a bit later down the line.

He does have a history of migraines, and has seen a doctor about them so he’ll have medical evidence for them. He typically gets them very badly about 2 days a month, but has pretending he’s been getting them badly much more frequently than that.

im hoping he’ll get a job offer for a new job soon, but worried he’ll get fired before that comes through.

Also, if he genuinely claims he's being bullied in the workplace, he needs to go through the correct grievance procedure.

How long as he worked there?

It’s standard in most workplaces to refer to OH when there’s a long-standing issue. Is he pretending to get help for his pretend migraines? They’re not going to put up with repeated absences indefinitely, does he think they will?

He’s been at the company for 5 years, but this particular department for 1 year. He says it’s the department lead who bullies him, so doesn’t think he’ll get any support from the company for it. This is why he’s been applying for jobs elsewhere.

Will his sickness record be a factor in getting a new job?

They will want to know what treatment he has sought for these migraines and whether he’s doing his best to get back to work. Possible outcomes include

1. you aren’t trying to be capable of working your hours, try harder
2. you aren’t capable of working your hours due to illness
3. you’re doing your best and we think you’re likely to be able to work normally in the foreseeable future.

1 & &2 are likely to result in a meeting with HR followed by a written warning setting out expectations, assuming some discussions with the manager have already happened.

I thought that was protected information? Is that something his current employers would share with a new company?

No.

My work have said they may refer me to OH in the future as I have cluster headaches. I'm waiting to see neurologist.

It's to see if there's anything they can do to support.

The problem your DP may have is if he has no medical evidence of these migraines. Someone who's been suffering them 6 months and not seen a GP ........ 🤔

He’s been suffering them for years, and has seen a neurologist about them. It’s just that he’s been claiming to get them more frequently than he actually does.

I'm surprised this has only come up now to be honest OP. One place I worked you had a meeting with management if you had 3 or more periods of sickness a year. It sounds as though your husband is doing this a month!

If there is bullying he should speak to HR.

If asked his current employer can give the number of sick days he had to his new one and they could decide not to employ him as an offer will probably be subject to references.
Some employers ask for detailed references to include sick days

I work in the NHS and when we get references for potential new starters it asks the number of episodes of sickness in the previous 12 months. Your DP isn’t doing anybody any favours by lying about his health, least of all himself.

OH are supposed to be there to offer support, what sort of job is it he does, how long has he been there. They will ask how he is, how's he coping, is there anything triggering the migranes, has he seen a doctor. If he tells them it's stress bought on by bullying they will address that, maybe suggest he gets reallocated to a different department. Is he taking frequent days off or a week or more at a time, it might be the amount of sickness episodes they are concerned about which triggers a sickness review. If I were him I'd say bullying and the stress of work is causing him anxiety, he can go down the grievance route if he's being bullied. Does he know what the sickness policy is for his workplace.

This is a manager problem and he needs to address it.

She has referred him to OH because he has had so much time off for the same problem and they will assess if its manageable and if they can put in any workplace adjustments.

They can however us this process to manage him out.

So it’s not necessarily because she’s hoping to get rid of him?

I wouldn't say that. They are following due process, so there is no comeback on them if they do indeed get rid of him further down the line.

If the manager is bullying him, he needs to collect solid evidence and put in a grievance, but if only do that if I had irrefutable evidence of bullying.

Well, I suspect that the company wants him in work more often. So, at this point, they'll be wanting to see what they can do to support him. Perhaps, if they believe there is a pattern of missing work due to migraines at a certain level, they might suggest that he consider working fewer hours in an attempt to miss less work. It might be that they will, pending investigation, need to decide whether or not the busienss can afford to keep him with this level of sick leave as the work still needs to be done.

If he is really being bullied, he's being very passive about it. What has he actually tried to do? For example, a converation with HR? Or perhaps, as he's moved within teams before, why isn't he loking for a different role internally?

If normally refer to OH if someone had had several occurrences of the same condition in a short time, I'd look to understand what can be done with the individual to improve attendance.
But I would be following a sickness management protocol, one element of which may be as a last resort to move towards dismissal.

Most people don't get to that point but lying about ill health due to stress or mental health is not good for your other half or the organisation and needs to be resolved.

I've never seen a reference request that didn't ask for number of ill health occurrences and total days, normally for the last 2 years. It doesn't cover the reasons, that would be personal, but factual data about attendance is the norm.

As your other half I'd be thinking about how I would justify my sickness history, and how to get the new organisation to believe that their attendance record won't be similarly poor in the new job

If it is really due to a feeling of being bullied then they'd be better to start that process and get to a resolution, the current approach isn't good

Well it is possible that down the line he may get dismissed on the grounds of capability. It sounds like this could be the first step but any manager would want to look at persistent sickness absence. He's not helping himself.

It's also possible that future employers could ask for sickness records

My experience of my workplace OHW was fantastic, although I appreciate others may differ. I was being bullied and had had a lot of time off due to stress. They arranged counselling and made recommendations to my management to support me, which was ultimately ignored, leading me to leave on ill health.

I think your DH needs to tell them about the bullying and say it is triggering the migraines. They might be able to get him moved to another department.

I would also recommend your DH not to hide behind migraines.