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koala
05-11-14, 21:31
Not sure where to put this post so i will try here.

I'm feeling really upset as my boss just won't leave me in peace. She is trying to get me to attend a meeting in Perth (which actually has nothing to do with my job to begin with, she even admitted that she wanted me to go so that she could get me to do all of her work while she relaxes cos she can't be bothered with it and that it is not a necessity) but I don't want to go cos I find travelling very scary and it causes me alot of anxiety. I'm from Edinburgh so it's over an hour away and along motorway which I hate driving on. I can't car share as my anxiety gets worst in situations that i can't escape quickly and easily from. I'm also not good on public transport.

I told my work before I'd even accepted the job about my anxiety and what i can and can't do and at the time they said it was no problem at all and they would support me. They even changed my contract so I am not contracted to travel as part of my job and they said they would never force me to do anything which made me uncomfortable or anxious. A year later and they are going back on their word.

Today i had a review with my boss and yet again she asked if i would attend the meeting in Perth (this was literally just after she had asked me how my anxiety was and I said I was still having big issues with travelling). When I said no she then said i "wasn't taking my job seriously" and accused me of using my anxiety as a convenient excuse. Basically she doesn't believe I have anxiety and thinks i'm just being lazy.

I felt so hurt, like a dagger had just been stabbed in my back. Part of my wanted to hit her (i'm not violent so i would never of actually hurt her) and part of me wanted to burst into tears. I've done nothing but work my backside off both for her and on overcoming my anxiety. people who know me (family, friends, my gp) are all so proud of what I have achieved this year and i have come on leaps and bounds in everyone's eyes. Everyone else at work says i do a brillant job and i am very reliable and hard working. My GP has also told me to focus on overcoming my anxiety in my personal time and told me not to take on too much professionally as it does add pressure and causes me considerably more anxiety.

I just can't take it anymore. She's always taking advantage of me, getting me to work overtime then making nasty, unnecessary remarks. She looks down her nose at me simply because we have different personalities and belief and now this. I've learnt to take what she says with a pinch of salt but i feel this has crossed the line and i'm not at all happy about it. I shouldn't have to tolerate this!

MyNameIsTerry
06-11-14, 05:27
This sounds like a bullying type situation given the issue of nasty remarks despite you doing more and the admission that she wants you to do work so she doesn't have to. She sounds like a really poor manager, not cut out for the position.

Ignoring all of that, you said your initial contract was revised to incorporate a no travel rule. Perhaps we should focus on this because in trying to force you to do this, if it is documented in your contract, starts to become breach of contract which makes this a legal matter.

Does it actually state this? Or did you get something else in written form that did? Something documented outside of a contract can also be considered in law.

koala
06-11-14, 16:46
Ye she is an awful manager who completely ignores what her roles and responsibilities are. If i was to describe her very briefly to someone i would say she is like one of the main characters in absolutely fabulous.

As for my contract there use to be a section saying something like "you may from time to time be required to work out with the office to attend events. These events may be out of normal working hours". However when i got my contract changed these sentences got removed.

---------- Post added at 15:46 ---------- Previous post was at 15:46 ----------

ps thank you for your reply :)

MyNameIsTerry
08-11-14, 05:01
Sorry for not responding, I've been having problems accessing threads the last few days which the mods says is a server issue they are looking into...so if I don't reply again, it may be that.

This seems to be an accomodation of these terms by amending your contract. I was concerned that it could have been verbal hence you having little proof and when it hits the fan, these types stick together to avoid exposing themselves.

I take it there was also some form of communication with them prior to this amendment. Was this in writing? This would be additional proof.

Was this amendment made prior to you accepting to the contract or did you agree before they gave you the amended copy? The reason I ask is that an employment contract (for a new employment) is legal at the point both parties have accepted the terms so if you stated you couldn't accept it on those terms and why which resulted in their suggestion to make this change then you have further cover because you had not agreed to the previous terms. If that makes sense? Having this in writing is a way to prove you didn't accept their terms.

You mentioned some of this in your first post but I want to be sure I understand it.

The clause you had is a really generic one seen in contracts. It was in mine. You will find other clauses in your contract such as the old chestnut 'adhoc duties' which some unscrupulous managers try to use against their staff to make them do all sorts of things. A large corporation I worked at tried to ditch the cleaning contract in our 600+ staff office to save money and wanted to make all employees take up little extra office cleaning tasks. It never happened because everyone was going to tell them to get lost and I would imagine their HR people told them that the 'adhoc duties' clause doesn't mean they are entitled to turn you into their pets doing anything for them, adhoc duties need to be considered reasonable.

So, I think even if you had this clause it would have to be considered reasonable to ask you to travel. They are aware that you have anxiety issues even before they employed you so I don't think it would be considered reasonable to expect you to do this. They would have to inform you that they wish to reconsider the terms of your contract to incorporate it otherwise they are either breaching your contract or if they believe travel is still possible they are trying to make out you are breaching your contract, which in your case is going to be constructive dismissal if it went that far.

Personally, I think this is an idiot of a manager trying it on. I've been a manager and I've seen my colleagues do things to see if people will put up with it...so they can make them do it more often. I suspect that if you went to HR on this, they would inform this manager that they cannot expect you to do this without adjustments to your contract and if your anxiety stands in the way of this they would need to be very careful to avoid a potential tribunal.

I would suggest you have a look at the contracts section of the CAB website which explains a lot about what is legal and when something can be changed. I have found Googling is also useful because it pulls up .gov webpages and some of the HR bodies. If you Google though, just be aware that sometimes things are best practice so are not required by law.

I don't like saying for certain on these issues as its one for someone who understand employement law, but personally I think you will get your way here very easily.

P.S. If she's Edina (or even Patsy) does that make you Bubble? Just kidding, you sound far too on the ball for that! :)

koala
10-11-14, 17:57
Thanks MyNameIsTerry,

Just to clarify I did not sign the first contract only the amended one. However nothing as far as i am aware was put in writing about me rejecting it and my reasons why.

I think my manager is trying it on. She's the one being lazy and trying to offload her work onto others and when I refuse she is trying to make out i am being lazy and unreasonable (which simply isn't the case). I'm not going to lie I am concerned that she doesn't know when to stop with all this. Hopefully it won't come to this but I am concerned she might try and play dirty. There was a work experience girl in lately that she took a real shining too. Obviously she can't just sack me as i do a good job in every other aspect of my job and i am very conscientious about doing things right but i can tell that she would have given the work experience girl my job in an instance if she could. I get on well with everyone else in the office, it is just my boss that is a nightmare to work with and who can't see the good, hard worker that i am.

I will definitely have a look at the CAB and gov websites. Thanks you :)

MyNameIsTerry
11-11-14, 08:01
Ah, ok. Do you get the feeling that because of your contractual adjustments, she sees you as a burden? You aren't by the way, but I've been a manager and I've worked with many who see any employee needing any adjustment from the norm as a pain. Its all part of management, some just want an easy life though.

I would be careful in deviating from your contract over this issue because she might take advantage of that to push for an amendment. From what you have been saying, I've been wondering whether either this is her goal or she is pushing the constructive dismissal angle. Despite what any solicitor or HR person may say, there are subtle ways of making people hate coming to work and its possible to do little things her and there to annoy people. Its not something I approve of but constructive dismissal is very hard to prove and when you've got someone with a mental health condition, the unscrupulous person can poke & prod and it can be much harder for people like us to handle it.

It sounds to me from everything that you have said, that you never accepted the first contract or partially accepted on the basis of amendment. The company agreed to make the amendment thus offering a new contract and this is the only one you actually agreed to. The only thing I don't know here is whether you started work on the original and then the amendment was made but I doubt this would matter because it could be argued that the amendment, which came very soon after, had been agreed verbally because they had no need to make this amendment unless they had agreed to it.

I think you are covered at contract and company level. I think you just have a pain in the backside manager trying it on. If you are in a union, raise it to them and then they can always get involved or contact your HR dept for advice. Then send that advice to your manager. She has no choice but to accept that or challenge it herself with HR but to challenge your contract she is going to need to have evidence that you are not adhering to this amendment e.g. she can see you doing travelling at certain times but not when she asks you to.

Another thing to consider is the anxiety disorder. Agoraphobia is well known as a phobia that is challenged by expanding the boundaries so it is reasonable to be doing some travelling within a controlled exposure exercise (such as when working with your therapist) but that doesn't mean you can do everything, only up to the point of the level on the exposure hierarchy. People who haven't been through all this won't have a clue about it or how its treated so also consider this if your manager wants to pursue an angle that you are doing some travelling so must do all, because she would have to disprove this type of hierarchy based treatment and that is beyond her so your company would need to refer you to their occupational health people or a company doctor.

I think you are well covered here though, I don't want to make you feel worse about it but I would prefer to tell you any angles I can think of so you can cover them.

In some areas, like mine, there are charities starting up to help people who are in work and suffer from anxiety or depression. These won't help unemployed people. These can be useful because they are geared towards handling issues in the workplace and often have HR people with them who can offer advice. Are there any in your area? If so, they may be more quickly accessed than the CAB (if you need to see them, they can be really busy in some areas).

All the best.

koala
11-11-14, 22:57
Yes I do feel like she thinks I'm a burden. I also think she is clueless about exposure therapy. She is definitely one of these people who hears that i've done something well and thinks i magically cured and can now do anything, which is really frustrating cos that's not the case especially as a lot of my recent successes have been more to do with overcoming my social phobia rather than my agoraphobia.

Thank you for all this information and advice. It's really appreciated and has been very helpful. I didn't know there were charities for people in work who have anxiety/depression so I will definitely look into that and see if there is one in my area.

Thanks again :)