Forced to resign?

[Marshmallowbrain]

Has anyone here been forced to resign due to disability absence? Wondering what processes you went through and how you came out of it, and what financial package you received. Thank you

If you resign you won't get anything, unless you fight through tribunals for unfair dismissal. If you work through the proccess and they make you redundant on medical grounds, you are more likely to get a tax free pay out. But it may take awhile and be unpleasant.

You can’t be forced to resign, it’s your choice. They can dismiss you for absence. If you have more than 2 years service they have to follow a fair procedure and if your absence is relating to a disability then they have to consider reasonable adjustments.

you would normally be paid for your notice.

Do not resign!!
they can either make you redundant and give you a payout or can fire you and risk a unfair dismissal case.
Do not resign

I didn't resign on the advice of my union and followed the dismissal on ill health grounds procedure (I then used this as proof to claim esa/PIP and apply for my ill health pension). Get advice /don't just follow their instructions. If I'd resigned I'd have been given my annual leave paid, however I received 3 months pay plus annual leave owed which got me through till the benefits were sorted.
The process looked at if I could be redeployed/work in another industry and if support could be given to do this (it wasn't suitable for me but it's worth going through the process). I worked for the nhs so it may differ between employers but get advice before you do anything.

Thank you. I will not resign. Do you think it’s best for me to play it cool, bide my time and wait for them to come to me with options? What about meetings, should I keep them formal and ask I have a colleague with me? The last one I was ambushed and ‘off the record’ was being used a lot.

if none of this has already been mentioned at work, join a union now.
They will help you negotiate when you are ready. You probably need to be a member for 3 months before qualifying for help.

They said it will be a capability review which they said they know I won’t be able to manage or I should have a think of this is the right role for me. Nothing performance based, performance is very good despite everything. More based on me needing to wfh more than they would like for the role.

As with most threads, the devil is in the details, but I suspect will be less than forthcoming

Could it have something to do with on another thread you say you have “the odd productive day at work, about one day a week” that is the reason you find yourself being encouraged to resign?

@Productiveweekno, nothing to do with that. Productivity has got much better as my health has improved but it does correlate to the fatigue I experience etc. HR were very clear it’s not performance and that they are happy with my work, they’d just like me to be in the office more than I can manage at the moment.

Do not resign without another job to go to! it would affect your entitlement to benefits and you would get nothing from your employer.

I am in a similar situation.

I have been off sick for three weeks with stress and depression and I just developed shingles this week as it seem my body's immune system has been affected by the constant stress...Two years ago I had a complete mental and physical breakdown in the same job. My manager was awful about it and totally unsupportive.

For now I am going to focus on recovering and will not go back until I am better but I will not give them the satisfaction to resign. Last time Occupational Health got involved, reminded them that what I had qualified as a disability and that they had to look at reasonable adjustments.

If they want me to go they will have to follow the correct process when it comes to dismissing someone with a long term health condition who has been with the organisation for more than two years and offer me a pay out.

If the issue is you being in the office more then ask for occupational health to get involved for an assessment and ask for remote working as a reasonable adjustment.

If you are not in a union, speak to ACAS or Citizen Advice.

If you're still able to perform without attending an office then they will really struggle to say that that's not a reasonable adjustment. So I would stick around, ask for an occupational health assessment and ask them to recommend reasonable adjust. If you're dismissed you could probably take them to employment tribunal if that's the only difference. Maybe not if you can never go in at all, but mainly from home should be okay as a reasonable adjustment.

I’ve had an occupational assessment done and made recommendations and we have a plan for me to build up to the required 3 days in the office which will kick in on the 23rd. This is why I was a bit blindsided as thought we were all on the same page. I’ve been doing my bit and working towards my goals.

If you have agreed targets of 3 days in the office by the 23rd, then OH and you must have agreed this was manageable.

You either need to meet the targets ( as do your employer if there are other adaptations required) or you need to meet with OH to review the targets and put your case to them about why you can't meet the agreed.

ETA - if you repeatedly don't meet the agreed targets and your employer is providing all agreed adaptations to support you at work, but can't provide anything else, as it fundamentally changes your role, they will move to deciding whether you are capable of fulfilling the role.
In context, a colleague developed a serious back condition which prevented her driving. Her role involved driving to schools to carry out advice and support. In the short term her role was adapted so that she could work virtually, long term that would not be sufficient in the job role. Redeployment discussed to a role with no driving.

I have been meeting the agreed targets, currently doing 2 days in as agreed which is stepping up on the 23rd. I work a 4 day week so the standard company policy is 1 of your working days in the week can be wfh.

Your reply makes it sound like I’m not meeting the agreed recommendations but I am and have been.

Your title mentions being forced to resign.

But, your OP doesn't mention it so I'm a bit confused. Anyhow, don't resign.

It sounds like you're on some sort of performance plan/return to work. You feel like you're meeting your targets. So why do you feel forced to resign?

Is there a policy for this sort of situation. Have you read it. Are they following it?

Also, do they know you have a disability? Have they made reasonable adjustments?

Don't resign.

They can and will manage you out with a capability assessment where they are required to show that they have considered and found to be unworkable (not just "don't want to do that") all potential reasonable adjustments that would allow you to do the job, and that it is therefore impossible (not just inconvenient) for you to keep the job. If they do this correctly and they terminate your employment entirely legally having done everything possible to keep you, then they don't get prosecuted and you get state assistance/benefits until you can find an employment that is compatible with your needs. If they don't follow the legal process you bring a case against them for wrongful dismissal. Forcing you to resign is definitely wrongful dismissal and also would mean you wouldn't qualify for benefits due to being voluntarily unemployed.

Hang on so you are achieving all the functionalities of the role and their complaint is purely that your need to wfh is higher than they like? They are only allowing you the 1 day per week whf that everyone gets and aren't making any adjustments for your disability? That sounds like discrimination to me.

If you are sure you can actually manage 3 days per week in the office and the coming week (16th-20th) includes 3 days in the office it woukd be impossible for them to argue that the target of 3 days pw in the office hasn't been met by the 23rd.

Don't put up with that again. If you have a meeting unexpectedly sprung on you, tell them that either they agree to you calling in an independent person of your choosing to sit in on the meeting and take notes, or you will not participate in the meeting at all.

Don't resign. At present, you're following agreed recommendations with HR and occupational health. Your manager should be following these, and also formal policies at work. With any formal meetings on sickness reviews, productivity etc, you have the right to have a colleague or union rep accompany you.

A workplace (reasonable) adjustment can only be refused if it would stand up in court, in front of a judge, for good business reasons. Currently, it isn't impacting the business as you're meeting your productivity targets AND you're working towards the expected office attendance, as agreed.

Contact ACAS tomorrow. It does sound like your manager is trying to bully you into resigning. You can also raise a grievance on this. I've had to do this twice, both upheld, and my adjustments are in place and I've gained a promotion since.

Unfortunately, there are some managers who think they can ignore employment law. Who refuse to follow clearly laid out business policies.

Yeah, the title isn’t accurate as I’m not being forced to resign, I’m being constructively removed from the company.

thanks for confirming the reasonable adjustments need to be considered as part of the comparability review. He said the targets would be so hard I’d never achieve them.

I think for now I’m going to bide my time, keep meeting the targets and let them come to me but my questions now are:

1. my symptoms are extremely bad and I won’t get to the office, usually I’d wfh but feel like what’s the point and maybe I should call in sick and actually rest/ring doctors etc. when I say bad I’d present at ane of if I couldn’t get seen by gp due to breathlessness. Would that go against me? Struggling and wfh certainly hadn’t gone in my favour so far.
2. for when I am next accosted, should I ask the ‘off the record’ chats are kept on the record and I’d like a colleague with me?

Oh, and no more off the record meetings. If they have issues with capability, then why haven't they followed the formal processes for this?

Thank you for your reply.

Annoyingly this was all sprung on my late in the PM before I was on annual leave for a week so tomorrow is my first day back so need to get my ducks in a row.

If the adjustments are disability related, the organisation can refuse to implement them if they cannot support them operationally:

For example, your role involves face to face customer support and colleagues have to pick up the slack.

You wfh means colleagues have to work more from the office to maintain ratios.

Extra budget is required to cover some of your duties when you are not in the office.

Your absence means you cannot attend on site meetings and others have to take time from their working day to brief you.

Further, what does your contract stipulate about your principal place of work?

You haven't said what your disability is, whether you are receiving optimal treatment or whether it is travelling that krevents you getting to the office. If it's travel, consider an access to work application - they can help with taxi costs.

If you can do all of your job from home, with a computer, chair and screen, etc., what is it that prevents yiunfrom doing your job at work?