Two jobs can I be on sick leave from one

[Picklepsych]

looking for some advice please to check I am right! I have 2 NHS jobs two different organisations. Each know about the other role and they never overlap
in job one I have now got unbearable work related stress due to managerial mismanagement of a colleagues under performance for many years.
colleague goes on extended sick leave but
each time leaves 6 months where he does not write letters or notes leaving me carrying a lot of risk. This is about the fourth time and I’m at the end of my terher
job 2 no such work related stress
my GP has done me a fit note saying I am fit for job 2 not job one and I asked for a referral to occupational health. Now a message has come via HR of job 1 to say they think this is fraudulent and I should be off from both jobs
I’m 99% sure I am right but do not know what to do.OH can’t see me till 1 October. Do I just go back to job 1 and suck it up? I am genuinely worried if I do this my stress will increase further to the point I cannot do job 2 either
I feel I am being scapegoated to a degree despite me raising concerns over many years about the colleague
WWYD

They can, just as the OP’s GP has.

In my last job I was in an out of different schools eAch day. I had to be signed off from 3 schools, have a ground floor only requirement for another and was fine in my others a couple of years ago.

Both my GP and the two LA’s checked and double checked and it was absolutely possible

Yes you can be off one job and fit enough to do the other if the demands of the jobs are quite different eg one is more physical than the other, one has driving and one doesn’t.

However if you are suffering from stress to the extent you are unable to function at work (however it is caused) it is likely to be affecting your whole life. Usually people have poor sleep, cannot concentrate, cannot maintain focus, have difficulty taking in information, can be anxious and on edge, have impaired decision making. I would expect someone who is ill with stress to be experiencing this to some degree 7 days a week. If the duties are similar I’d be surprised if OH passed you as fit enough to perform your duties safely on some days and not on others

Call ACAS? Or take sick from both?

Well that’s annoying. It was very boring for 8 weeks.

Fraud investigator here, with NHS experience.

The case law in your favour is here:

Perry Vs Imperial

You can be signed off work from one employment but not another assuming hours do not clash and the sickness reason wouldnt be made worse by continuing to work the second job.

You say you have declared both jobs to each other and the hours never clash, so you should be fine.

Definitely get the Union on board and they may assist with legal advice/solicitors too.

If hr are mentioning fraud this is incredibly serious. You need to get legal advice right now from a lawyer otherwise you could end up in serious shit. If you are off sick from one job then you cannot still work at another job because that demonstrates that you are not sick. You are not thinking straight at all. Get some legal advice asap.

I was pondering this last week as someone with 2 jobs.
Day job pushing me to the edge but evening job is OK. I said to a colleague I would go off sick from day job if it didn't affect evening job too! I didn't look any further into it just thought if GP said not fit to work that would mean both!

It’s serious for the HR department yes. Because they are wrong and have opened the doors for harassment, discrimination and even constructive dismissal should it end on that path.

very expensive mistakes indeed.

Wrong.

Surely they're obliged to accept what the doctor puts on the note. So you are medically capable of one but not the other. As the other is actually causing the illness, which is work based stress due to actions of that specific employer?

As PP say you could also be incapable of a physical or driving based job for sickness reasons but not a sedentary one.

I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed to do any paid work at all while you’re off sick. Can you check on Agenda 4 Change T and C online?

That's completely wrong in any circumstances. If you want to work and your employer agrees you can, you can work when signed off sick. Prudent employers would undertake a risk assessment before allowing it, but there's absolutely nothing in law to say you can't.

I work for the nhs
we have a lady who had a car accident and broke her leg very badly and her elbow. She works for me for 15hrs a week doing admin, sat down and then she does 2 x 12 hr long days as a healthcare support worker on her feet for 12 hours.
she came back to us 6 weeks after the accident but she has not returned to her HCSW role because she physically can’t.

she has 2 contracts and is on sick pay from HCSW and allowed to work sat down in an office with me as occy health said it is 2 differnt roles.

The trust are supporting her with physio and helping her to “get back on her feet” literally!! But I asked if she could do all her hours with us temporarily as we could do with more
people anyway and they said no extra money in my budget but her other role are obliged to pay her sick pay as she physically can’t do the work.

We are exploring the idea of her being seconded to us, but HR and Payroll need to sort this out but she has said that after this she’d like to come to our team full time.

so yes 👍 it’s possible

I feel there is a lot of misunderstanding here. OP has work related stress and anxiety, that is directly caused by job 1. OP you absolutely can be off. Take the time, engage with occupational health, be really clear about what worries/concerns or triggers you. If it is systemic mismanagement you may end up looking for a different role but you don't have to put your health at risk in the meantime.

You’re describing a totally different situation. I am saying that if you are off sick from an NHS job you cannot then do any paid work WHILE OFF SICK - not while signed off but while telling your employer you are too sick to work.

I think you need advice.

As to the general principle, I think it can happen, say if one required you to be physically present or wear certain clothing that an injury prevents, but the other job does not.

But you also can be signed off sick from one job and working in another, for the same employer or different ones.

I can’t see how you can be fit enough to do one job but not the other. You are either sick or you are not.

My sister and a lot of my friends work for the NHS. I firmly believe one of the reasons the NHS is going bankrupt is because the sick pay policy in the NHS is so generous and so many staff seem to be off sick. I’m sure this is because it’s a stressful job, but can the NHS endure the strain? Why font you just resign from the job if you hate it that much. As the first person who replied said, you’re not sick, you’re sick of that job.

Yes you can .
I worked 3 jobs at once . I went sick from 1 but carried on with the other 2 . I even got SSP

Can't you? I can.

What if you had one job as a postman and a second job as a call centre worker?

Or one job as a nurse in A and E and another job as a nurse on the 111 line?

Or one job as an accountant working from home, and a second job as a lifeguard on the beach?

Or one job doing data entry with no deadlines or external stressors, and another job doing hostage negotiations.

Obviously some of those are extreme and absurd examples, but they prove the point that it's certainly possible to be fit for one job while not being fit for another.