Manager did not acknowledge sick note - general hostile work environment

[Greenartywitch]

My GP signed me off last week for a month. I have a long term health condition which I declared a while back to HR & my manager and that qualifies as a disability.

Two years ago that needed almost 2 month off to recover from a life threatening event linked to my condition. My manager was awful about it until occupational health reminded them of the requirement to put in place reasonable adjustments on my return. I was then excluded from meetings and had spurious criticism from my manager, given without any concrete examples of what I was supposed to have done/said. I think they expected me to quit by making my job difficult but I stayed on...

Now my health has nosedived again (in large part due to the chaotic and toxic work environment).

I have had so far no acknowledgement to the sick note I emailed to my manager. This make me worries I can expect to be again met by a hostile environment when I go back to work.

Am I unreasonable to be hurt by the lack of response & concerned about what comes next?

Has anyone had similar issues with a workplace that is not supportive of people with disabilities/long term health conditions?

I will job hunt when I have managed to recover and I would be very happy to be 'paid off' to leave the role but I absolutely will not give them the satisfaction to just quit & risk putting myself in financial difficulty.

Public sector?

No I work for a charity @MyKingdomForACat.

This is unacceptable.
Your manager should acknowledge the Fit note and arrange to be in touch fur a contact meeting.
Sounds very toxic and unsupportive.

@Middleagelady

Thank you for your comment.

I must say I was surprised she did not even take a few seconds to at least acknowledge that it was safely received and I even double-checked that I had correctly sent the email.

At least I have done everything I needed to do on my side and will focus on getting better and try to keep them out of my mind for now.

Your Manager should also be asking if you need any support, an OH referral and agree how you want to remain in contact whilst off.
I manage a large team and this is the very least I would do.
Employers have a duty of care towards all employees.

I do wonder if your HR department should think about training managers on how to respond in various workplace situations. A business that doesn’t take proper steps can find themselves on the back foot if a grievance is lodged.

@Middleagelady

Thank you for your comment.

When I went back to work two year ago after a really bad episode, I made sure that I had emailed her my GP's fit note in advance that stated the reasonable adjustments she wanted to be put in place (such as remote working) and that I was only fit to return if that was addressed.

On my first morning I had a meeting with my manager. She had not even bothered to read the fit note before the meeting and when I told her what was on it she asked me to ignore the GP's recommendations which I refused to do. She did not discuss any support or phased return. Occupational Health only got involved once HR took over from my manager and handled things more professionally.

So she has a history of being truly unsupportive.

@Overtheatlantic

Indeed. Unsurprisingly a team member made an employment tribunal claim against her and the organisation last year when they were dismissed after being off sick with mental health issues, although she was a recent employee so had less legal protection. They don't seem to have learned anything from that...

I have little energy right now to plan for this but I am thinking that taking this to an employment tribunal might be in the cards for me too.