View Full Version : I think I lost my job today
I've worked for my current employers for 8 years. I think my meeting with personnel today was the start of me loosing my job. I've been suffering from panic attacks and anxiety for a year and a half now, I reported it to my manager as soon as the doctor told me what it was. I offered access to my medical records but they never asked for it. My area manager has talked to me occasionally about my health and suggested that I move to another branch (I'm not a driver and can't really do public transport at the moment) or reduce my role and take a £4000 pay cut. I said no to both of these. I've not been contacted by personnel or health and safety about my condition. Until I lost my temper one day 4 months ago and phoned everyone I could think of. I ended speaking to someone from personnel and telling them everything that I felt useless and that all that the company had done since I reported the problem was pile on more pressure (change in store managers, new manager not trained properly). They asked to see my medical records. My GP was very good wrote a nice letter sent fact sheets etc. The problem seems to lye with just one section of the letter
"It is likely that until she has individual counselling, her symptoms may not be fully controlled by medication alone. I think at the moment the full spectrum of her duties as outlined in your letter is not possible, especially when expected to interact with the public. For the next several months it would be reasonable to reduce her level of responsibility to tasks she can perform independently in a quieter area of the store. It would also be reasonable to reduce the number of hours of her work week."
Has anyone else has these problems? Right now it feels like my world is falling in on me and I have no idea what to do. Thank you for taking the time to listen to my problems any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Hopefully someone more knowlegable than I will be along to give some advice - the only thing I can suggest was asking for more info from the Citizens Advice people.
Have a hug though for now hun.
Love Piglet :flowers:
Hi there, would you be able to manage with less hours and less responsibility, money wise i mean? If so, would this be a good idea for now, until you feel stronger?
Hi, and sorry to hear about your plight.
Are you member of a trade union? If there is one at the store, I'd certainly talk to them.
I was fortunate to work for a good employer when I was off sick for a year and as luck would have it they were looking for redundancies.
Maybe with some encouragement, you could manage public transport - what kind of journey would be involved to another store?
Take Care
:hugs:
It would be 40 Min's on a train to one or 2 buses to the other closest one. I don't think we have a trade union but I'll definitely check tomorrow. Thanks xxx xxx
Could i ask what kind of job you are in, it,s just that where i work our company seem to be more sympathic.I suffer with anxiety and p.a,s some do,nt understand but majority do.I understand how you feel though, doing less at work would be the worst thing for me.
Hi there so sorry to hear you are having such a difficult time, I myself am a manager of a very large company and know a bit about the HR side of the job.
There is no way that they can sack you now you have made them aware of the situation unless you have done something that is classed as gross misconduct and from reading your post this does not seem likely. Also you did the right thing by informing them of your situation from the start.
As your employer they will have to make your working life better for you as you do have a medical condition, think along the line of being disabled if you were in a wheelchair they would have to accommodate your needs so why is your situation any different.
There is also no way for them to cut your pay, they will always start by saying you could move to a different branch or take a pay cut because they are managers they will always look for an easy option rather then make your currant working conditions better because for them this is going to take some work to sort out.
Also they are not allowed to tell other members of staff at ground level your current situation, so if they are going to make things slightly better for you be prepared for your colleges to start asking questions because it is human nature for someone to think that you are having an easer time of things.
So what I am trying to say is you are not about to lose your job, if they did try and dismiss you it really would be suicide for them as a company. We have just dealt with a similar situation were a member of staff felt that she had lost her job due to being discriminated about her health problems and she won an out of court settlement of £12000 this has made our company completely change it’s policies on sickness procedure in the work place. You will be fine but remember never give them a reason to hold against you stand strong and be firm in your requests. To say that you are untouchable is an understatement.
Sorry for the long post :blush:
Sam
I can only add to what Sam has said. You are protected by the Disability Discrimination Act. They can't sack you but if you are not coping with the work that you're doing, they may have to change your job and make it less stressful, even if it is only a temporary measure. Check your contract of employment to see if they can legally redeploy you to another store. As others have said, get yourself down to the Citizens Advice on your day off to check out your rights.
Keep in touch and let us know how you get on.
Love Jo :hugs:
Hi Moff
sorry to hear about your situation. I'm an HR Mgr so thought i would give you my opinion as to what is going on.
if i was ur personnel dept i would also be having a mtg with but to support you not to sack you. I know if you are anxious etc it can be difficult to see that they might be trying to help but i expect that they probably are.
Unfortunately, if ur doc has said that you are unable to perform part of ur role, the company could be seen as negligent by allowing you to continue to do this part, particuarly if its gonna make your condition worse. And it would be unusual for them to force you to keep doing it in any case.
I would echo whats been said previously in that you need to check your contract and policies eg sickness/ill health and capabililty policies to makes sure that the things they are sugesting are within their normal procedures. You do have the right to be accompanied to any mtgs by a TU rep or a colleague so make use of this if you feel you need support. Your company may also allow you to bring someone from outside of the company so you could take a family member etc.
You probably would be covered by the DDA but the companies obligation in this is to make reasonable adjustments to allow you to work. THis could conceivably include altering ur job role, redeploying you or asking you to work reduced hours and any of these could result in a loss of pay unfortunatley. They can choose not to make adjustments if their is an objective business reason that they would not be practical i.e. they would be unresaonbale. you dont say if you have counselling lined up but if you have and i was in their position, i would be offering you a temp changes in your role so that you did not have to do the parts that trouble you until your counselling is underway i.e. it would be a temp measure so they can see how you go. It would probably be unreasonable for them to force a permanent change if you are on a waiting list.
I could go on and on and its difficult without knowing more specifics but please pm me if you need any more advice - would be happy to help.
In the meantime, keep your chin up. They cant just sack you and even if they did, you'd stand a good chance of winning in court.
G x
Guy's your all brilliant thank you:yesyes:. Had to go to work today but managed not to cry while there thinking of all the advice and support you lot have given. It would have felt like letting you all down. Gabby will pm you further details thanks for the offer there's load of stuff in my contract that I don't understand. I'd happily step down now and take the pay cut if I had too but that offers no longer on the table, The personnel officer I spoke too thinks it would make no difference, if I'm still in the store as I'm a very experienced member of staff with years of service the constant questioning is likely to continue. Thank you all again for the kind word's and advice. Please keep it coming I'll let you all know what happens.:hugs:
I lost mine because of it and felt worst knowing that this was affecting my life. Sort help and got better then bad again.
But I have a job again, I can only work part time because I cant committ to more than 2-3 days a week.
I cant buy many things or do anything..
:hugs:
Hi Moff,
I am goign through a similar situation at the moment. yesterday my union rep, represented me at a meeting to consider my future at the place I work. I have been there 17 years in January 2008, and have given sooooo much to the job. The result of the meeting is that HR are going to come up with a package of deals that I can look at and decide which is most appropriate. It was very hard cos i was not well enough to attend the meeting personally.
You can contact the Disability Discrimination Commission for advice. They have been really helpful to me and I think I will be needing their advice when this so called 'package' comes through!!!
:hugs:
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