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?

I was off 8 months last year, company policy is, after 4 months OH had to be informed to see what can be done to best support the employee and if any changes can be made to help said employee get back to work.

Why doesn't he tell oh admit the bullying? He could say he thinks that might contribute to his migraines that way at least he's giving them a chance to resolve it.
I would've referred him to OH long before doc months OP, they're there to guide the employer with regard to any reasonable adjustments, it's not about getting rid of someone

He is applying for other jobs secretly in the background to get away from this manager, but nothing confirmed yet.

Some employers ask for the number of days sickness absence in the reference. They are allowed to ask this as it's factual information.
He needs to be careful as his poor attendance could affect his ability to get a new job.

Occ health will want to go into the migraines in more detail. They'll want to know what treatment he's had and what steps he's taken to manage his condition better. They'll then make a recommendation to his manager on his fitness for work and for any adjustments needed in the workplace .

His manager is following the correct steps for managing recurring sickness absence

This is a good shout. If your husband has been happy in this workplace but just not thus department they might move him to another department and he can try a fresh start.

There's a few things here OP.

Occupational health should be involved in there is a pattern of absence related to the same health issue, and from your posts this is clearly a pattern. They can help with reasonable adjustments to get someone back to work/make their work-life easier.

There's every chance this is the first steps in managing your partner out. If I'm reading correctly and your partner is having multiple absences a month, this is making them hugely unreliable to the business, especially if they have any kind of responsibility to clients, projects or employees.

If they're being bullied as you say, they're not going to have a line manager fighting to keep them in the role either.

They need to tell someone the real reason they're taking time off. Have they mentioned it to their GP? OH involvement could lead to a request to see medical records/contact your partner's GP for info on their condition - at least they would have some backup/evidence should things come to a head.

Finally, not to add to your stress, but future employers can and do ask for information regarding absences. The previous employer won't disclose the reason for the absence, but will give info on the number of days/instances, and it's the instances that raise red flags.

If I had a reference for someone with repeated short absences over a long period, I couldn't take the risk. I completely understand why they haven't done so already, but I'd strongly advise your partner to get the bullying on record and look to resolve this rather than leaving it to get worse...as others have said, they could perhaps offer a move to a different department, which seems like it would have a huge impact.

Good luck ❤️

There’s a measure called the Bradford score for sickness. I imagine he’s crossed the boundary between ‘acceptable’ and ‘non-acceptable’ sick leave. I’m not an expert, but I believe that one week of sickness gives you a better score than five individual days, so the fact that he’s been taking off days every month, has meant he’s passed the acceptable threshold, and has probably triggered HR into taking action.

IME an OH review is a first step to managing someone out. It's purely about being seen to make accommodations for the issues that a person claims to have so that when the poor performance continues you have grounds for getting rid of someone on a capability basis and can't be accused of not making necessary adjustments. I know of only one person with an OH review that's lasted beyond the 6 month review period.

OH may ask GP for a report. If GPs notes aren't consistent with what your DH is telling his work then he will run into problems.

They may be looking into OH to support him or they may be starting a capability procedure.

If it’s the latter, he probably has a couple of months while they go through all the steps to improve his attendance. And given his manager seems to dislike him, I would err on the side of them using OH to work him out.

The best thing to do would be to improve his attendance - ostensibly under the guise of the OH recommendation working.

Out of interest is he being paid for his time off?

Some employers will only use OH when they are actively trying to manage someone out of the business, but many companies will use it routinely when some has, e.g. a long-term absence, or lots of shorter absences for the same reason. It is so that they can understand more about the underlying reasons, when they can expect the level of absence to improve, and if there is anything they could do at work to help reduce the absences.

It's a shame that he has not been honest with the business about the nature of his absences, but this would be a good opportunity to discuss with OH- i.e. that he has a history of migraines; and that the situation at work is a significant factor in his increased absences (even if he didn't actually have a migraine on some of those days). Is there a clear pattern, e.g. he has a meeting with manager on x day, and is then off sick the following day?

Sometimes OH will make recommendations, e.g. for a change of line manager/department - they are only recommendations, and the business don't need to accommodate them if it is not reasonable/feasible to do so, but can be a useful starting point for a discussion on what is not working.

He should be asked if he wants to see the report before it is released to the business. If there are any factual errors in the report, he can ask for them to be corrected before it is sent, but if its just that he disagrees with the medical opinion of the OH assessor, then there is not much he can do about that.

If he is worried about his manager receiving the report, he can let OH know, and ask if it is possible for the report to go to either to his managers' manager, or directly to HR - I'm not sure if his company's OH provider will do that, but ours used to.

Thank you everyone for answering my questions. He’s been worried about reporting the bullying from department lead because he fears retribution - department lead brings in a significant proportion of the revenue into the business so he suspects that leadership with side with them.

but I’ll suggest to him that he is honest with occupational health, and ask that they send the report to someone more senior than the department head. He’s got some job interviews lined up this week for different companies, so fingers crossed something works out!

They probably will side with the manager @ThisPerkySheep. I have never heard of the junior winning in these case unless something gobsmacking has taken place like overt racism.

Your DP sounds like a dick, all of that extra work that he is purposefully putting on his colleagues shoulders.

OH are there to help him get back into work so it doesn’t mean he his on the route for dismissal. If they figure out he is lying or he won’t work with them it will lead to dismissal.

some references have the number of days you have sick in them so it could be his downfall in getting a new job

This.

The way he's acting isn't fair on his colleagues.

IMOH as a solicitor for 20 years they lining up to get rid of him