Discrimination at work? Any advice please.

[wombat]

Hi everyone,
The issues i have at work are the following:
Been diagonsed with ocd and depression and my specialist has confirmed that it's classed as a disability so i get my out patient appointments paid for.
My bug bear about all this is the following:
My employers have sent my specialist a letter confirming they would like an update. When my specialist received the letter he said to me " can you do your job ok" to which i replied yes i can.
He then showed me the letter and couldn't believe what i was reading: It said that i needed more 1 to 1 supervision from my supervisor which just isn't true. My specialist smelt a rat and told me to ask for a copy of the report from HR. When i asked for it the line mentioning about the 1 to 1 supervision had been deleted from my copy.
Showed it to the doctor and he said in all the years he's been there it's never happened before.
I think they are trying to fire me because in the letter it basically said that they had concerns about whether i could do the job and what did he think!!!
What doe's everybody else think about it??

[milly jones]

i think u need to take legal advice hun

is there any facilities for occupational health report as a unbiased mediator to act between u and ur employers

go to cab hunny

milly xxx

[wombat]

Thanks Milly,
I have phoned CAB and Equality of Human Rights.
Other issues are the following:
Asked if i could change my hours so it wouldn't have too much impact on everybody and now have to start later than i did before.
Asked to move desks and they said it's not fair on anybody else.

I feel like i don't need all the stress added to everything else as well.
Wombat.

[lostsoul]

Have you got contents insurance of buildings insurance sometimes they come with free family legal protection - its worth checking your policy. I checked mine after I was fired for having a breakdown. I´m in the process of taking my ex employers to court - it would have cost me £10,000.00 to do on my own so thank god I was covered by the legal protection on my contents insurance!!! who are deling with everthing for me - so it really is worth checking any insurance you´ve purchased to see if you have cover.

If not Def the CAB and its worth giving ACAS a call you can find their details here http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1461

A word of advice get everthing documented and signed by your employer I wish I had taken a tape recorder with me when I had my meetings as things were not minuted correctly and people denied sqaying things that they did - I dont think theres any harm in asking your employer if they mind you recording any details of formal meetings on tape - sure it might put there backs up a bit and you might not be popular but it´ll make sure they do everything by the book.

Sounds cloak and dagger but from my exprience sometimes its the only way to protect yourself.

I requested all my details under the data protection act from my ex employer after they sacked me - to cut a long story short they intended to sack me when I was off sick - but accidently made a typo on a letter which effectively extended my probationary period. They realised their mistake and quickly put a rehab program in place. You know 1 hour a day for the first week 2 the next a so on they never thought I would turn up and when I did it became apparent to them that I was going to successfully return to work on my full hours so they called a disciplinary meeting two weeks into the six week rehab program and sacked me for my levels of abscence. - I got a copy of the e-mail from HR to my line manager and it basically says allow him to return to work wait a few days before dismissing him ¨we dont want it looking like we were waiting to pounce¨ So I think I´ve got em bakll the balls.

In your situation it might be a good idea to request all the details your company hold on you under the terms of the data protection act - it includes e-mails and anything with your name and personal details on it they have a legal obligation to provide this and it cannot be altered aside from to protect others personal data that might me included with yours. They legallly have 40 days to provide it (worked in a bank so I´ve dealt with many such requests)

Good Luck with it all and dont be beaten down, if you have a disability covered under the DDA you have legal rights.

May the force me with you!!!:bighug1:

[keepemlaughing]

Don't let them get one over on you. fight back!!
Sheryl

[wombat]

Hi there,
Thanks so much for sending your reply's it certainly has helped me.I'm really stressed out about it at the moment.I did ring the Equality of human rights and they said i should put in a formal grievance...don't know if i can cope with all the stress of it all but i'm not going to let them get one over on me.
At least my doctor knows that they deleted parts of the letter so will see what happens.
EOHR said their isn't a law to say they have to disclose everything they put in the letter if a "third party" is mentioned which would mean the supervisor but at the end of the day the parts that are missing are about me anyway and not true.
the other thing they didn't do is ask for my written consent for him to do the report which the psychiatrist was fuming about.
Wombat.

[kendo59]

Do you belong to a union? If not, do you have any opportunity to join one?
Membership of a union usually gives some support and level of legal insurance/protection in cases such as you describe.

[Gabby]

Hiya

Under the Access to Medical Records Act, they must have your written consent to contact your doctor for a report. Under the same Act, you have a right to copies of your medical records, of which both the letter sent by your employer and the letter received by your doctor would be a part. So you are ok to askfor a copy of the full letter from your doctor in order to compare it to the one the employer says that they sent.

Under Data Protection, if they are restricting access to any of the information held about you because it identifies a third party, then they have to explicitly identify that. Therefore if they give you a copy of the letter they say they sent and it has those parts missing but they dont say that there are parts missing because it identifies someone else, then you are reasonably entitled to assume that is the whole letter. Basically, it would be clear that they have deleted some bits of the letter and have no reason for doing so. Hope that makes sense - sorry its complicated!!

Under DDA, they have to make reasonable adjustments to accomodate your disability. Them saying that moving your desk would upset other people would not be a good reason to refuse it, unless there is a good reason why other people COULD NOT move.

The best thing to do would be to gather both copies of the letter and write to your employer stating the discrepancies and the points that you are unhappy about in terms of how they handling your illness. You should be able to get help from your local CAB or your local community law centre (if you have one?) to do this. It always helps if you make it clear in the letter that you have sent a copy to whoever has advised you so your employer knows you have been talking to experts ;) You can lodge the letter as a formal grievance if you think that would be taken more seriously.

Let us know how you get on

Gabby

[Gabby]

PS mentioning that you need more help from 'your supervisor' should not count as identifying a third party. It would have to at least say their name in order for them to justify removing it.

PPS Im an HR Manager so drop me a msg if you need anything else!

[janeybaby25]

are you in the union? I used to work for a large well known telecommunications company and they tried to sack me for having IBS! I didn't even have any warnings or anything. I got the union involved and they realised then they couldn't get away with it without giving me warnings first. I ended up leaving shortly afterwards which is something I regret as I didn't fight back, so I highly recommended you do, don't let them beat you!!!!

[wombat]

Hi everyone,
Thanks so much for all your advice,it's really helped.
Wombat.

[gtrgrl3369]

I went through the same thing not to long ago. I had a boss who thought it was funny to mess with me.When I first started with panic and anxiety I was upfront with my bigger boss and she was understanding but the other one would tell me things like she hopes I die and its funny to watch me have an attack she was just basically mean. I told my bosses and they did nothing,it continued until I was put into a mental health ward for a breakdown. I couldnt quit because I needed the money. After I got out and went back to work, she continued on and it eventually led to her spitting in my face and laughing about it. I tried again to get her fired and nothing worked until I went all the way to the top of the company. They had her gone in 3 days. I had to mantian myself which met no crying and showing up for all my shifts. I did. I am now suing them for my medical costs as well as mental health. My attorney told me to watch everything I do because they will try and fire me for something else. I have been very good and so far so good. I despise bullies. I went in later to increase my hours and was asked in front of everyone what my doctor said. None of your buiseness was my reply. I hope this works out for you. Take care and let us know.

[wombat]

Thanks for all your help.
Wombat.

[freakedout]

Wombat,

I was really shocked when I read your thread but it seems most of the things I would suggest have already been suggested. I would definately get a copy of the letter that was sent to your specialist.

Good luck with this issue, it is really something you could do without isn't it?

Take care,

Freaky

[wombat]

It certainly is....i've got both copies and i'm going to slap them on Hr's desk and ask them what's going on tomorrow morning!
Thanks to everyone for all your help and support.
Wombat.:)