back to work monday

[hostaman]

hi,, i;m mike from leicestershire, as you may know ive been off work for the past six weeks with work related stress and anxiety after being singled out for suspension for possibly potentially thinking about doing something, ( i know that sounds odd), i have been cleared of all and any wrong doing, but the action by the company lead to me being signed off work, the company has now siad they are enforcing my contract and only paying me company sick pay for 4 weeks, so ive had 2 further weeks off at ssp, further adding to the stress by adding financial hardship, so ive decided to return to work,, ready or not, now the company has said that it wants my fit note to be unconditional, so ive said this to my doctor today,, he was most unimpressed and has said he's never heard of such a thing and wont put anything on a sick or fit note just becuase the company wants him to, he has said he is there for my health not an employer, monday appraoches fast now,, and i;m terrified, feel like i;m right back at the beginning,, any advice how to deal with this would be gratefully recieved, thanks,,mike

[Sunshine77]

Mike that sounds like a completely unreasonable expectation from your employer. I went back to work on a phased return and it was absolutely a condition that I stuck to the hours the GP and Occupational Health had both suggested. I was off for 6 weeks too and I think after that period you need a phased return. What has your GP suggested as an alternative?

Who's said they want it to be unconditional - is it your manager or HR? I found HR very supportive whereas my manager was not at all. Are you in a union or do you have a OH team you can speak to?

You risk putting yourself back under unnecessary pressure and your company has a responsibility for your welfare especially as your illness was directly related to work. Don't take any crap!

[Col]

Mike that sounds like a completely unreasonable expectation from your employer. I went back to work on a phased return and it was absolutely a condition that I stuck to the hours the GP and Occupational Health had both suggested. I was off for 6 weeks too and I think after that period you need a phased return. What has your GP suggested as an alternative?

Who's said they want it to be unconditional - is it your manager or HR? I found HR very supportive whereas my manager was not at all. Are you in a union or do you have a OH team you can speak to?

You risk putting yourself back under unnecessary pressure and your company has a responsibility for your welfare especially as your illness was directly related to work. Don't take any crap!


Absolultly agree with sunshine , don't take any crap from them, sounds like you've gone through the mill with your work as it is. Enough is enough, get them to ask you GP for unconditional - see if they dare.

Don't be made silent at the wrath of the big heads, this is totally out of order & only adding to a stress related leave of work. Get all the help u can. Good luck

[frosty2901]

Looks like they are trying to force you out I've never heard of unconditional return fit to work I would look into it further if I were you have you got a hand book to look at I know you have to go with the four weeks that they allow but they can't force you to return if your not fit when I was working we had a girl who we knew was blatantly not ill keep bringing in sick notes for 3 months and they couldn't do a thing about it
You don't need all the added stress if this like has been said above speak to hr if you can because jumped up little managers like to twist things
good luck frostyx

[Sunshine77]

jumped up little managers like to twist things

Love it Frosty - you're so right! Made me smile :D

[hostaman]

thanks so much , you've all been so supportive
the unconditional return is from the health and safety man, the HR assistant hadnt heard of anything like this before, and my doctor was most irritated by being asked. sadly i have no choice but to go back as my mortgage and bills wont be paid next month if i dont, the doctor has referred me for cognative therapy but i dont even know what that is,, and the appiontment hasnt arrived yet,
as you can imagine, right now, i;m feeling dreadful and dont know how i;m going to get through the day especially as ive got to go in a hour before my shift starts to do my back to work meeting
the company i work for was the subject of a channel 4 dispatches programme some time ago and that was damning, so ive tried to get the details and see if they would do a follow up as i'd hate this to happen to anyone else
i know they are trying to force me out, ive been there 8 years so it wold be alot cheaper if i went, but if the offered me redundancy tomorrow i;d grab it with both hands
right,, better go and try and get some sleep
thanks so much again guys,,
i dont know what i'd of done without all of you
thanks

[Tessar]

Hosts an, good luck with everything. I have done cognitive therapy. It will really help you. It's too late to explain it now as I need my beauty sleep but tomorrow I'll post again about it. Sorry u r being treated so rubbish by your employers it really sucks. I'd come & give them a slap for you except I don't think that would be very helpful in the long term even if it felt good t the time...... Speak again soon

P.s. predictive text decided to alter your username for me, how kind......(not)

[Sunshine77]

Good luck Hostaman, don't let the b*****ds grind you down. Your health is worth more than the job. Without your sanity the financial situation would be worse anyway.

Let us know how you get on tomorrow. Will be thinking of you and sending you lots of strength and support :hugs:

[Sunshine77]

How did it go Hostaman?

[hostaman]

hi all
well, it didnt go terribly well,,he arrived with a witness in tow so i knew it was gonna go wrong, so, i had my back to work meeting where he questioned my fit note to make sure it was unconditional, but had that verified by the health n safety man, then he hit me with,, " we have another small investigation to do", my head fell into my hands but on it went
apparently the bank has told the company on the 23rd of jan that a pay in bag paid in on the 15th jan for takings of the 11th of jan was £60.00 short, i was questioned again about the cash handling procedure just like in the 17th of jan when i initially got suspended for an over on the till and breach of banking procedure so i was right back to the start, i had to stop a few times and compose myself, but i managed to not tear up this time even when he asked if i had opened the bag and taken the money. and whats worse, he's smiling at me all the way through this .thankfully my sick note covered me for that day, so i was able to go home, but only if i realised that i wouldnt get any pay other than sick pay for the 4 hours i had been there, to be honest, i didnt care,i just wanted to get out of there, i checked my rota before i left and he had me on day off for tuesday and saturday but working sunday when he knows i attend church with my mom, i was going to try and brave it out for today,but at 22.30 i had to wake my partner to call him to say i was sick but he didnt answer so a message has been left but i bet he denies getting that, i couldnt face calling myself so i;ll have that to bear when he contacts me
my doctor has been brilliant though,, ive spoken to him everyday and hes prepared to sign me off again for the short term while i decide if all this is worth my mental health,so here we are again,, back at the start, but its gets worse, after this he then goes on to tell me that the new HR manager has overhauled all the contracts and they have been misread for years as a consequence my 39 hour working week doesnt include the daily one hour paid meal break as stated and that this is over and above the 39 hours so infact i have to be at work 44 hours, i questioned this and spoken to my union about this and its covered by a thing called custom and practise and becuase i have been working 39 hours inclusive for 8 years this is deemed implied terms and conditions and is legally binding, so a letter to this effect has gone to the HR manager, now the shits really gonna hit the fan, all i can do is brace myself for the fallout, in the meantime, i have to call the gp again tomorrow to get my sick note issued, it feels like if 1 thing dont manage to get me out then they go onto the next,,, so now,,, its 23.56 on tuesday, i havent slept since monday and cant eat again,,, great, thank god i can do this and write to all you wonderful people,, i really am so grateful

[Sunshine77]

I'm so sorry to hear it didn't go well for you. I had to read your post twice because I couldn't quite believe they're treating you so badly! Is this a big company, can I ask, or an independent? It's just bullying, pure and simple! Makes me very angry for you.

I really think you need to get some advice on the way you are being treated. Shouldn't you have had the opportunity to bring someone to the back to work meeting, if your boss had someone else there then you should have had that opportunity too? Have you thought about taking some advice from someone like ACAS? http://www.acas.org.uk 08457 47 47 47. Or what does your union rep think?


hes prepared to sign me off again for the short term while i decide if all this is worth my mental health,

Big decision to make but having quit my job to save my sanity I can tell you that it was the right thing for me.

Good luck to you Hostaman and keep us posted x

[hostaman]

hi,, well,, its a suck it n see situation,,ive thought about requesting a meeting with the HR manager and the MD, i want the people at the top to see the person behind the romours and figured, if i;m gonna go,, i;ll go with a bang, i was so passionate about my job and the product but that means nothing,, long term,, long after me,, the company,, (independent) will see that the loss of focus on the customer and a complete focus on silly insegnificant contractual obligations like wearing an apron will eventually be their demise, or is that just wishful thinking,, quiting my job feels like i;m giving in to the bullies or i would and seek justice in the tribunal, but,, for now,, i;ll have to wait,, until i am clear in my head
again,, thanks for your support, i really dont know what i wouldve done without all of u

[Tessar]

Something I have never understood is why some bosses are so bullying. In being that way so many times I have seen bosses suck the life and enthusiasm out of lovely people who were committed to their jobs and gave loads more than some lazier and less valuable employees. Yet the lazy ones seem to get the praise, the acknowledgement when in fact they don't deserve it.
People like you hostaman, who care about their jobs, show passion and get stuck in are worth far more than the lazy or arrogant types. I really don't know why good people get dumped on like they are dumping on you. It makes me feel angry. There have been times when I have stood up to bosses that I was scared of because they were dumping on people even less able to defend themselves than me.
If i worked where you do then I would definitely be fighting your cause because I hate bullies and your boss seems particularly vindictive where you are concerned. Petty as well. what a git bag for smiling. People like that seem to get their energy from behaving like leaches. Don't let him drag you down. He really isn't worth it. You are a much more worthwhile person than he will ever be I a sure of that.
Difficult though it is, you may as well see it through. Try not to make any rash decisions you might then regret. I don't mean let them walk all over you but it's really easy for people like that to get under your skin, but what you need to somehow do is remain objective and think what is the best action to take for you in the long term.

[hostaman]

thank you tessar, that was lovely to read, for a moment there i wasnt thinking about work
i';ll keep adding things as they progress and if the worse comes to the worse i;ll have to figure out how to name and shame the company legally, however, until something happens that makes this situation move in any direction i;ll have to wait,,
again,, tessar and all the team of fantastic people,, thankyou,, and i couldnt mean that more,,

[hostaman]

i have some good news,, after using the words, "custom and practise" ive won that part of the play, they have conceeded and i now have a letter to state that i have 39 hours inclusive of my paid break, but i have to only declare the working time on my time sheet and not include my paid break, ive agreed to do this, but have raised a question about the possibility of this causing an issue with payroll, the hr manager has assured me i will get my full salary, but after previous payroll cockups, i;ll have to wait and see when i next get a full months payslip, however, the area manager has now made alterations to my shops rota, and cut the staffs hours and made it impossible for me to get all the work done without working over, so, i;m gonna try it his way for the next week and get staff to stay if i need them too, i gaurantee the total hours will be the same as before if not more, simply because i was so efficient in my working practises before and made verey minute count, something my staff dont do,, so,, on we go,,, what a waste of time this is going to be,,,i;ll keep you all posted
thanks again,, i appreciate all the chances to get to vent my spleen with all of u guys,,, xx