Good morning everyone Tricky here I have been a type 2 Diabetic for about a year and am on Metformin and Citalopram and am coping and managing it ok, however whilst my GP who I see on a regular basis is pleased with me, I have had a few as he puts it " rainy days" bad days in other words and therefore have had a fair bit if time off work.Having said that there have been times when my GP has wanted to give me a sick note for 2 weeks and I have turned it down. I work in a office environment and have had sessions with occupational health one of which led me to working reduced hours for a while when I was going through a particuley bad time. I was encouraged to go back to normal working hours after about 3 weeks. last week my boss called me in and basically said that if I take off anymore sick leave in the next 12 weeks it will have to go down the Dicilplinary route ( apparently I am to receive a letter to conform this ) I am aware of the guidelines under what was called the Disability Act now called the Equality Act 2010. I would like to hear some views or advice from friends on line if my Employer is ACTUALY allowed to put me under that sort of pressure, as well know anxiety, stress, and worry is not good for Diabetics and therefore they have not done me any favours with what they have communicated.
Thanks everyone.Tricky
Hi Tricky, some immediate thoughts:
1) I would not regard this as a disciplinary matter unless they believe that you are malingering and, on the face of it, taking you down the disciplinary path is inappropriate. It looks to me more like what is known as a "capability" matter - i.e. they should more properly be taking action against you because they believe you to be incapable of doing your job effectively due to your repeated absences. They are entitled to do this, but to avoid accusations of discrimination against you they would need to be able to show that the way they are treating you is consistent with the way that they treat other people who are regularly absent from work for one reason or another. So - for example - how do they treat people who are regularly off work because of the need to receive therapy for a medical condition of some kind?
2) It would be worth making the point to them that putting you under stress is actually worsening your b/g levels; if they don't take this on board, put it in writing. If nothing else, it might well be regarded as an aggravating factor if you end up having to bring an unfair dismissal claim against them, and this could be a consideration for them in deciding how to handle the current situation. It's not, however, a magic "get out of jail" card that will render you impervious to your employer taking action against you - there's no such thing, no matter what the barrack room lawyers may tell you.
3) Be honest with yourself: if you were sitting in your boss's chair, would you have difficulties in getting the job done with a member of your team regularly going absent? It sounds as if they have tried to accommodate your condition in the past and - perhaps - that they don't feel they can carry on doing so indefinitely. Sorry if this sounds heartless, but it's one of the factors that is used to judge whether an employer is acting fairly or unfairly.
4) As well as DUK, the Citizen's Advice Bureau can provide some Employment Law advice and (limited) access to a lawyer. Also, if you belong to a union, this kind of thing is exactly what they are there for, so use their resources
5) If they carry on treating this as a disciplinary rather than a capability matter, you may be able to get them for wrongful (as opposed to unfair) dismissal. I would explain the distinction between these two things but it's probably not worth your time or mine for me to do so. If you get to the point where you are taking legal advice, mention it to your brief and s/he will understand the distinction, and why your employer may have tripped up procedurally.
Good luck and let us know how it goes; hope this helps
(I'm not a lawyer, but I have worked in HR for most of my career so I've been on the other side of the desk in a number of similar situations to this....)
