Formal meeting - off work with depression

[Pippalove82]

I’m currently off work with depression and have been signed off by my GP for another two weeks. I’m on antidepressants, sleeping tablets and waiting for CBT, and honestly I’m struggling to function day to day at the moment.

My employer has asked me to attend a formal absence meeting and I’ve been told the outcome could be either a written warning or a referral to Occupational Health. I’m really worried about getting a warning as my absence is due to ill health and not something I can control.

A few years ago I had a long period of sickness absence after being hospitalised with a serious illness. When I returned, I still needed occasional time off because of ongoing side effects, and Occupational Health said my health issues would likely amount to a disability. Following this some adjustments were made to help me.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? What happened, and is it normal for employers to consider a warning when someone is signed off sick by their GP? I’m finding it really stressful and scary on top of how I’m already feeling.

I'm not 'spouting off' about anything. How rude.

You're absolutely right and I'd like to see employers have specific policies and procedures for mental health sickness than 'physical' illness. But it sounds like they are treating this as a box-ticking exercise and the letter you got, mentioning warnings, was just standard wording.

Is there an employee assistance line you could call?

True though

“that breaches employment law…….”

”do not go without a witness”

Your lack of actual knowledge is crystal clear. So yes, spouting off.

How long have you been absent for? They will refer you to occ health is very likely.

Agree entirely.

They will most likely be handling your absence under a Capability policy - this is not the same as a Disciplinary process.

As you are aware, you have triggered the threshold for absences (which vary from employer to employer).

If you are invited to a formal Capability meeting, there must be proper notice given and you are allowed to take a companion with you (usually a colleague or a certified trade union representative - your employer is entitled to check the latter's credentials)
Your employer can, in certain circumstances, hold a Capability meeting without you.

How much your employer adheres to a tight Capability process and how much discretion they apply varies from employer to employer.

Ultimately, if your sickness absence goes on, you could eventually be dismissed on capability grounds. It's a long process, though.
Occupation health will not definitely say you have a disability or not - that can only be formally tested at an employment tribunal - they can only say it is "likely". You should also know that an OH report is advisory, it is not legally binding.

You may get to a point where reasonable adjustments may be considered - but also know that these too can vary. An employer does not have to agree to all of your requests if they are not reasonable - eg the costs are prohibitively high.

Phone ACAS and join a general union - a union doesn't have to be formally recognised by your employer to be able to offer you support. (With that said, a union may also take the view that this particular issue is pre-existing, or there may be an "introductory" period after joining whereby you cannot access support)

What's wrong with saying bring a colleague or union rep to the meeting?

Sorry if the first part wasn't fully accurate. No need for a pile on.

You didn’t say colleague or rep. You said witness. Companions are not witnesses. They are there to support.

What’s wrong is that the words you are using are not the right words and therefore your “advice” is unsound.

You must be public sector if off 3 years. Are you still getting paid?

Private company. Getting company income protection insurance payments, ESA and PIP.

In previous job role…I had two operations in a year. Signed off sick. I got a formal warning for sickness levels which I found so bloody unfair.

OP as a manager I have chaired a few of these meetings. Be clear that you intend to RTW, that you like your job, will work with managers and do whatever you can to get yourself better. That’s what they will want to hear.

OP this will be a first stage in the absence policy, in some jobs this meeting happens after four weeks off sick with something. How long have you been off for? It’s because statistically, the longer someone is off for, the less likely they are the return. People can also end up very distanced from work as they miss out on a lot with being away for longer.

They will want to check in on how you’re feeling and what steps you’ve taken to get better, plus how they can support you to do that. Going to the GP, getting on medication and organising CBT are all really positive things and you can say you’re expecting it to take x weeks for the antidepressants to work/stop side effects and what the timeframe is for CBT starting.

They might also update briefly on any changes at work or ask how work can support you back to work eg by gradually building up hours or reducing workload. That might also mean a referral to occupational health.

The meeting looks a bit intimidating because they have to inform you of your right to be accompanied and there might be someone from HR there - but it is intended to be supportive. Well, certainly the ones I’ve chaired!

Good luck!

wrong
every company has to have a sickness policy you can’t have uncontrolled sickness it can cripple a business
its never about if it’s genuine or not it’s frequency or capability

every one has to be treated the same and meetings like this are documented to protect the employer and the employees
if it did get to the dismissal stage that’s when they look at the full picture and discuss and evaluate the reasons your of sick and make a decision based on that which can go ether way

get yourself a copy of the sickness policy
also a lot of the correspondence is quite frightening as legally there’s a lot off stuff they have to put in there including how the could end your employment

OHS is not to be feared they can be extremely helpful and a positive for you
one thing people misunderstand about OHS is there recommendations THEY DON’T have to follow or implement them it’s advice

you can’t just rock up with a witness it’s generally a union rep

No.

You don't need a court to 'confirm' a disability. That's nonsense.

The UK legal definition of a disability is set out in the Equality Act 2010: you are considered disabled if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and 'long-term negative effect on your ability to do normal day-to-day activities.

And yes long term depression is covered by the act.

Hi, I recently had a long period of absence, and had to have a formal meeting which I found challenging and upsetting, and it then when to final review which could have resulted in dismissal. However as part of that I agreed to an OH referral and the OH consultant was fantastic, determined I would qualify under the equality act and advised of fantastic next steps which included amending my trigger points temporarily in the absence management process. As a result I am now out of the process, and supported even better by my manager and my symptoms have improved. For the record I have fibromyalgia, suspected long covid and have suffered depression for 20+ years

Might this be a capability-type meeting. Perhaps your employer feels they have reached the point of having to consider whether you will ever be able to return? Or whether they need to consider letting you go? So not a disciplinary? You can contact ACAS for information.

It’s a lot more nuanced than that.

https://my.ucu.org.uk/app/answers/detail/a_id/127/~/does-depression-come-within-the-definition-of-disability-in-the-equality-act

It wont be disciplinary process because you cant belp being ill, but it might be capability because yoiu obviously cant do the job if you are not there.

It really is not.

OP hasn’t indicated the likely timescale of this bout though so you’ve no way of assessing whether it’s likely to have a significant impact for more than 12 months.

The employer can treat it as a disability if they like, but if they don’t, determining whether any action they take is discriminatory in line with EA2010 (eg failure to make reasonable adjustments around triggers or accommodating therapy appts etc) would be tested by tribunal. Ergo the majority of occ health providers use the phrase “is likely to meet the definition” for anything not specifically covered by the EA2010.

Sorry I am only just looking through these messages now.
Thank you all for taking the time to give me your advice, it’s been really helpful.
For context, I have been off for 6 weeks so far and I am signed off for another 2 weeks so 8 weeks in total.
When I last saw OH and they said the symptoms I had would likely amount to a disability under law, this was related to ongoing physical symptoms I had from being very ill in 2024 and had nothing to do with my mental health. My mental healtn has been massively impacted by my physical issues I have though so it is linked.