Dismissed My Job Due To Absence linked to my Disability

[mummytippy]

Apologies for my lengthy post. I added a post (in May) regarding wanting advice for my employer to look to make reasonable adjustments for me due to my disability of hearing loss and Tinnitus. I had been employed by my ex employer 22 months. I had gone of work last November due to work related stress but was also waiting on an Audiology referral to come through. My employer was aware of all of my health issues. I had an attendance and wellbeing review (AWR) in May and was told I could discuss appropriate headsets at my next AWR which was scheduled for 18/6. I did contact the RNID and Tinnitus UK so that I could gather as much knowledge as I could prior to this. Before the AWR in June I had also bumped in to a colleague who has a similar hearing issue to me and he had recommended the headset he wears and sent me a link for it which I forwarded to my team leader. Just before the AWR, I then received an invitation for a capability assessment/attendance review to take place on 23/6. I contacted my TL and she said that it might not go ahead. It would depend on the outcome of the AWR with her. I had a fit note with a return to work date of 14/7 with recommendations from my GP. On the 18/6 I attended the AWR and tried to discuss my RTW but it was like the tone had completely changed. I took with me a proposed phased RTW plan to discuss, information from the RNID, Tinnitus UK and also evidence I had been speaking with an Employment Support Advisor via Talking Therapies but it all seemed to fall flat and was met with no interest. I was dumbfounded. I asked my TL to discuss my proposed phased RTW plan emphasising it would need to meet with her approval but she was not interested. She was really quiet. The note taker during the AWR was also a TL I knew (but not well) and he asked me questions which I felt were hostile. The whole experience was awful. I felt completely ganged up on. I did manage to show my white noise sound support and show how it sits behind my ear. The reasonable adjustments I asked for were: to sit somewhere quite on ‘in office days’ and for ad-hoc additional health breaks to adjust/remove my sound support. These were agreed to verbally. Where I raised the question about the link to the headset and the link I’d sent my TL, she said that she had been unable to follow the link and she asked why I had not just bought one. I explained that we were due to discuss headsets at this AWR. there was a cool response, my proposed phased RTW plan was merely photocopied and I was told the Capability/Attendance Review Hearing would still be going ahead. At this point in time I had 2 further medical appointments to still attend. One was my final session of CBT therapy due to happen the day of the hearing (23/6) and the other was with the Audiologist on 20/6 (rescheduled from 30/5 due to the Audiologist being ill). This was a follow up appointment to see how I was getting on with the sound support. Through my employer I had private medical cover. I had spoken with them at the end of May and a report was compiled. The report stated I have a disability and that my employer should allow me to trial a RTW after all my medical appointments were completed.
as I hadn’t like the time of the AWR and the Attendance Hearing was still going to go ahead, I sent a letter to my TL requesting a reasonable adjustment for the 2 requests above. This was never acknowledged. On top of this, when the notes from the AWR meeting were sent to me, they were inaccurate and incomplete. I replied to the email containing the Tale notes with my version of the notes asking for them to be recompiled. This was not done before the hearing. I had joined the Union but too late for them to represent me but they were able to give me basic advice which was if I wasn’t happy with the notes I needed to make this clear but I could attend the hearing to discuss my return to work. Unfortunately I didn’t receive a reply from the Union representative until after the hearing but the morning of the hearing I did send the hearing manager an email to ask her if it could please be rescheduled and why. She declined and because in the invite it had said that a decision on my employment could be made in my absence I felt I had no choice but to attend. My final session of CBT took place and ended an hour before the hearing. I did have a colleague attend and take notes. The hearing was a hideous experience. The hearing manager was very dismissive of my health issues and seemed to have an issue with my proposed phased RTW plan. I emphasised I was not happy with the notes from the AWR and that the RTW was a proposal. From the audiology appointment on the 20/6 the audiologist had put a new program on the device which was a hearing aid function and this was a significant improvement for both my hearing and Tinnitus. I was advised to have a period of ‘habituation’ to get used to this so explained this. In relation to the CBT my practitioner had advised a period of stabilisation following this (as she had also recommended I have some bereavement counselling too). I explained this and I must point out the final reports were not available at this time as still being typed up by the health professionals. I was just completely unheard. The hearing manager had also still been sending additional things into the appendices for this hearing on the 20/6 which was just one working day before the hearing (as a Friday) so I felt everything was rushed. The hearing manager ended the hearing at it was agreed I would speak with my GP to see if I could return to work sooner than 14/7 so I had agreed I would seek their guidance due to the recommendations above from the Audiologist, CBT practitioner and the companies healthcare provider which stated phased RTW at beginning of July after all appointments completed. About and hour after the meeting the hearing manager phoned me and asked if I could RTW on 30/6 and she would put 24/6 through to 27/6 through as annual leave. As I was away from 24/6 because my boyfriend had booked a surprise short break for me as I’d had a rough time and he knew I did not want to take any further time off work after returning, the earliest I could see my GP was on 30/6. I assured her I would seek their guidance on 30/6 and update her as soon as possible. I felt very pressured and told her this. I did this on 1/7 sending a revised fitnote in with a RTW of 7/7 with my GPs recommendations in the comments which included the habituation period and the stabilisation period and details of a phased return to work. I also added that I was open to speaking with my TL to discuss the plan for the following week during the course of that week. She acknowledged receipt, said she was still reviewing my case and that she would be in touch on 3/7 with her decision. I had logged in on my work laptop through the week, reading emails and preparing myself to return. On 3/7 I received her decision which was to dismiss me. She stated I had further delayed my return to work. I was distraught. I feel like I have been punished. I appealed the decision but the outcome remained the same. The hearing manager of the Appeal Hearing was a Customer Service Manager so I feel this wasn’t really appropriate either as no HR / Occupational Health element. I am now going through the Early Conciliation process with ACAS. I would like reinstatement as I do not feel I should have lost my job. My boyfriend (we do not live together) works for the same company (it is where we met) and I just feel completely isolated now as this has made things very awkward. I feel I have lost my career. My colleagues (our colleagues) who became friends now feel awkward. I’m now unemployed, obviously have outgoings and have gone from being in a secure position to the opposite and where I had improved my mental health to return to work, this has deteriorated again due to what has happened. If anyone could please advise me as I am so upset about all of this. TIA.

Sounds like they bent over backwards and OP shafted them and then is pissed off when they called time on this shit show
I really hope OP does not use public money to pursue tribunal ? Surely that is not going to be permitted ??

You seem convinced that you might have a case for disability discrimination. In which case, you’d need to speak to ACAS who can provide you with more comprehensive guidance.
Whether or not you do, ultimately will most likely depend on technicalities of how your case was handled, whether due process was followed etc.
Ultimately, your employer has policies and procedures which will have been available to you for browsing. This will include absence management policies and their ability to dismiss staff for breaches. Which it sounds as though is the approach they have taken.

If you feel that you have been dismissed because you have a disability, then that will need to be tested against all of the evidence available. If your absence is caused by a disability, then your employer should’ve played it safe and involved OH. They may or may not have an exposure here (we don’t have the evidence one way or another). Your best option is to speak to ACAS, and they will explain to you your rights and appropriate next steps (if they feel there are any).
Please note, I am not saying I think you have a case. The presence of a disability does not absolve you of the requirements to adhere to corporate policies, it merely protects you from discrimination for that fact.

“I had no choice but to delay the appointment with my GP as it was out of my control unless I was prepared to cancel the break my boyfriend had booked”

Do you not see why people are questioning this contradictory statement OP? You’ve stated the choice and control you had over the situation right there.

Has Occupational Health been involved in all this?

You were signed off for work related stress. That isn't a disability. You're trying to attach your hearing loss to that so you can make it about your disability. Sorry, but you're taking the piss. To put it into perspective, you're trying to make out that you needed 10 months off work to come to terms with the mental strain of having some hearing loss and tinnitus, I was signed off for 6 weeks (plus ongoing appointments) to deal with cancer.

Wow! That's crazy! Talk about taking the absolute piss!

I had no choice but to delay the appointment with my GP as it was out of my control unless I was prepared to cancel the break my boyfriend had booked.

"I had no choice... unless I chose to go back to work."

You chose to piss off your employer rather than your boyfriend, which is your choice. And sure people off sick can take holidays, but it's pretty dense to do so at precisely the point you're meant to be returning after months and months off, when the decisions are clearly being made as to whether to keep you on or not.

You can keep restating your case rigidly in the same way taking no accountability, but that's why I suspect you've ended up in this situation, unable to see the bigger picture and be part of the team rather being let go. Many people here have said this and you're still not getting it so I suspect you never will.

@DiscoBob I was only ever in receipt of SSP.

I have tinnitus and hearing loss, its very common as a disability and there are certainly some jobs I couldn't do due to it. But to be signed off for that length of time seems very unusual and I agree with PP I can't see why your employers would want you back, or that you have grounds for a real appeal.

You probably will be able to submit a claim - but you need to speak to ACAS first. Any preliminary hearings are likely to be 2026 at the earliest. I doubt you will win your case though, but it may give you some satisfaction knowing that bringing a claim will cost you nothing, but it will cost your employer quite a bit in terms of money and time in defending the claim. You never know - they may give you a pay out just to get rid of the claim.

I have chronic tinnitus and hearing loss, as well as several other disabilities and I suspect that you have played the system. Using meeting rooms as a RA impacts on colleagues who then can't use those rooms for meetings, so it's not very reasonable. You also did not need to get the ok from your GP to return to work. I have had several periods of absence due to chronic depression, but I've always been able to return to work on a phased return before the end of a fit-note without needing permission from my GP. Your fit note will say not fit for work with the following proviso -

"Your health condition means that you may not be able to work for the period shown. You can go back to work as soon as you feel able to and, with your employer's agreement, this may be before your fit note runs out."

I have no idea what your job was, but I have every sympathy for the company dismissing you for poor attendance. You have only been working for slightly over 50% if the time of your employment. I ma only surprised that took so long to fire you.

Six months of absence is a good chunk of the time you were employed there. Or was it even more than six months. If I was an employer and somebody prioritised a holiday over a doctors appointment I wouldn't be pleased. Maybe you have a case for unfair dismissal but that would be up to a court to decide. Lots of folk with tinnitus and hearing loss work.

That's almost half of your employment with them OP - a very poor attendance record by anyone's standards.
You say you originally went off sick with "work-related stress" - how is this related to your disability of "hearing loss and tinnitus"?

They agreed the RA for your disability.

You didn’t return to work. They got fed up waiting and dismissed you due to length of time off work. Which they can do, even if you do have a disability or stress or whatever else you have.

Holy shit, what a load of stress and misery for everyone involved… just find another job.

@Happyapplesanspears I did buy the headset myself. It was £29.99 and I bought it the day after the AWR when I felt my employer was completely uninterested in discussing one which is what that AWR was meant to be about (documented at the previous AWR in May).

RTFT. OP is in the "early conciliation" phase with ACAS.

Ok thank you. But who was doing your work? They had no choice to let you go. How do you think your colleagues felt picking up the slack for half your tenure?

That is a lot of time off. I should you work colleagues probably had something to say as well. How are businesses meant to operate if employees have so much time off.

Wow, that's so much time off! And I agree with others, a disability allows reasonable adjustments but you also needed to be reasonable.

And you're surprised you were dismissed? Jeez.

My DH has significant hearing loss and tinnitus yet somehow manages to run a very successful software company.

When you first started working there, you were there for four months, then took nearly three months off for work related stress.

I'd have sacked you then.

But it won’t be a job with her boyfriend there….

I had someone who had a similar amount of time off. They did the same as you WRT holiday just at the RTW stage. In his case he submitted a holiday request (still required to do if absent on long term sickness) which we denied but he still went away. Did you submit a holiday request that was approved?