Terminate contract due to long term sickness

[Judii]

Any advice welcome. I’ve been on long term sickness, depression and anxiety since the loss of my dad. Work was looking to medically retire me but I requested redeployment to a less stressful role! 6 months on, they have a meeting with me to say it’s down to myself to find a new role within the company within a period of time , if am not able to find a position, they will look to terminate my contract! I can’t see the internal jobs board because am LTS. Is this fair?

A similar thing happened to me when I requested to go from full time to part time.

Part time roles were never advertised but many people worked three days a week in various depts. after putting in their time there.

It’s frustrating but it is their way of getting you to leave ‘voluntarily’…..

Ask them to share the jobs board, formally in a letter to HR and your manager?

I feel like this is so unfair. It’s like they do want you to just walk! Surely if that’s the case it should be medical redundancy don’t you agree

Doesn't look like this though - sounds like OP has just asked for a 'less stressful role' which is going to be subjective.

OP could you check out the companies external job board for now, and get back to them with which roles sound like they may suit you?

Many many questions...

Have HR or occ health been involved at all? Is there not a return to work plan?

Why can't you see the internal job boards? Is it only something you can see if you're physically in The office or is there an intranet you can log into and look on?

"medical redundancy" as you put is wouldn't apply OP. Dismissal due to medical inefficiency, yes, but medical retirement is only for those who are no longer able to work at all or in that industry e.g. a surgeon with Parkinson's who can no longer operate.

Surely if that’s the case it should be medical redundancy don’t you agree

There's no such thing as medical redundancy. Redundancy means the job fails to exist. Do you mean ill-health retirement? If so then that would need Occ health assessment and they would need to recommend you would be permanently/long term unfit for any work.

Have you had an OH assessment and have they recommended exactly what job tasks you can and can't do? That would be the first step

6 months of sick leave (irrespective of if the company tops up your ssp) is a long time to be off and most employers would be looking to end your employment, it's completely legal to terminate on medical grounds at this point. If they offer a one off payment then it's more than they have to. My contract is max 6 months off, my previous job was 3 months max

What did they say when you pointed out that you were unable to see the internal jobs board? It should be an easy matter for HR to send you any vacancies - but did you ask them to?

I am not sure what you think is unfair. If you've asked for vacancies to be sent to you and they refused, then yes, it is probably unfair (but not necessarily unlawful - not enough information here to guess at that). But if you are expecting them to do the job search for you then no, I don't think that they are being unfair. Given your circumstances there are complexities which it is not up to them to solve. You say you can do a less stressful role - what exactly does that mean? It isn't up to them to decide what that looks like. You have already been off work for six months, and with something that may be so serious as to warrant medical retirement (and that is pretty serious) - if they actively look to redeploy you and it negatively impacts on your health they could be held responsiible for that if you then went on to suggest that they pressured you in to a downgrade.

There's really not enough information here to say whether it is or isn't "unfair", but equally you need to understand that "unfair" and "unlawful" are very different things. What does you best outcome look like? What are you wanting from this? And if you are that ill, is medical retirement really a bad option - it's not easy to qualify for, so if the company are even suggesting it then there must be a fairly serious health problem so how confident are you that a downgrade would be the better option or something that won't land you back in this position in another six months?

One last thing that I have to say, but it won't be popular. However it is true so you need to consider it - what makes you think any managers want to take on someone who has been off sick for six months and therefore may be a sickness risk to their own team? It may be an unpalatable truth, but it is a truth, and many managers will look very poorly on taking on someone who has been off sick for a lengthy period. What would you say to that scenario - because managers might not say it out loud, but they'll think it and if you have a shot at a job intenally you need to raise and tackle that barrier.

I agree. Doesn’t sound like they are being unfair at all.
You are the one who doesn’t want to return to your role, they should have to open a less stressful position to you. Obviously they should share the opening with you if you can’t see them but apart from that, the situation is fair.

So would you apply for the new role and work it or go straight back onto the sick?

They offered you ill-health retirement and by saying you were fit to work in some capacity, you took that option off the table.

It makes sense that you find the “less stressful” role because you are best placed to know what less stressful looks like. HR can’t guess what you need. If they offer jobs you don’t think you can do, you’ll be outraged at their insensitivity. If they don’t offer you jobs you think you could do, you’ll accuse them of working you out the organisation. It is a minefield.

All they can do is give you access to the jobs board or email you every vacancy as it come up. Have you asked for this?

Hi, OH/AXA have been in regular contact with me and been informing the company of my situation with suggested changes to my role to return. I was informed it was down to the business to try and accommodate this! Now told it’s down to me. I can’t get on the internal jobs board because am locked out the systems when LTS. It’s an impossible situation for me to resolve. It’s taken them 6 months to inform of this too. Where I could have been proactively seeking advice in this timeframe if I’d known

I declined ill health retirement. I wanted to continue working but management kept saying I needed to be 100%!! Who is ever that in the workplace! Not working is only making my mental health worse. I’ve been honest with the company and told them I’d be a detriment to the business if I continued working the same role in my current health. Am willing to take a pay cut for a less demanding position

Am willing to take a pay cut for a less demanding position

I think you need this more clearly defined, preferably by OH or an HCP involved in your care.

What aspects of a job can you not do due to your health eg customer facing, working alone, line-managing others etc? Then at least everyone will have an idea of the roles which have to be ruled out and you and your employer can then consider the others on an individual basis.

I'd ask for the vacancies to be emailed to your personal email every week.

How long have you been off work for? And have your symptoms not improved at all since? It does sound like a long time to need to be off following a bereavement, unless it was under particularly traumatic circumstances?

I don't think you are being realistic. You told then you would be a detriment to their business then expected them to find you a job. It isn't about being "willing" to take a pay cut for a less demanding job (it goes without saying that a step back would be paid less) - you basically informed them you were a liability to their business. The fact that you meant in your current role doesn't matter. Why would they want to take on a potential liability whilst you decide if you can do whatever job you end up in.

I recently retired but I was until then a pretty decent manager. Disability, poor sick record etc - even criminal records - happy to have a look and consider the circumstances. But based on what you say you've told them, I wouldn't have taken you on! Already six months off sick, and no matter what you meant by it "a detriment to the business" that is what is stuck in a managers head. You can't even say that a step back will solve the problem. It's a guess. This is too big a risk for the business.

It was a really bad idea to decline ill health retirement. Did you take advice from your union before doing that? Is it possible to reconsider that decision?

Your posts are a bit confusing.

I would have expected your employer to:

• involve Occupational Health
• then discuss reasonable adjustments that would allow you to return to your current role (reduced hours, home-working...)

I am not clear as to why you are instead discussing moving to a completely different role.

Also, if your anxiety/mental health issues are likely to be a long term problem that affects you daily then it is considered as a disability which means the employers has to consider reasonable adjustments.

I think that you telling them you can't do your current job at all was a mistake, you should have first gone back with reasonable adjustments and then look at what other internal role you could apply to.

I think you’re unrealistic. A company doesn’t have to find you a new job and most managers would be really nervous taking on a candidate with high sickness due to the impact on the wider team. I understand it feels unfair but they gave you a job and that’s not working for you. If you want a didn’t job, it’s completely fair you’d have to apply like everyone else.

I was devastated when my father died relatively young, but you can’t expect a company to keep you on indefinitely if you’re not working.

I had 3 days off to arrange my Dad's funeral following his horribly traumatic death. I run my own business and there was no cover, so life had to go on. I managed to cut back to the bare bones for a few weeks and tried to start later/finish early but I still went in every day. I wasn't sleeping well either and have a long term medical condition to try to maintain. Looking back, I'm so glad that I had that focus as I think I'd have gone a little mad at home with my thoughts. I also went for bereavement counselling.

In the kindest way, OP, 6 months on, you need to start living again. Grief is a life companion to be lived with, not an illness to get over.