Hi,
Locking for some advice please. Type1 basal bolus system
I work for the railway and have done for 8yrs as a manager,normal shifts would be 4days 4 off 4 nights 4 off repeated and shared between 4 of us.
As my occupational health advisor has stated no night shifts and backed up by my specialist due to the fact that it was very hard to stabilise my levels. Based on one of the team saying they are not prepared to accept doing less day shifts my employer is looking to medically retire me at 49yrs. I've explained I can work 18hrs of the day any day of the week but need to have a constant sleep patern in order to keep me stable and not off sick.
I have not been off sick since stabilising and have been travelling 4hrs a day for work on top of a 8hr day 5 days a week so other than the need for a regular paternity I am fit and well.
Does anyone know where I stand please.
Hi Vaper - Is it fair to assume that either your control wasn't so good, or you were losing time from work, when you were also doing nights?
Your employer is required to make reasonable adjustments to your working regime to accommodate your condition, but they also have to continue to run their business. If your requirement cannot be reasonably accommodated, then there are mechanisms by which you can be released from their employment.
In many cases, they will attempt to redeploy the individual to another "suitable" job. Of course, that could be difficult to do, depending upon your skills and to a lesser extent experience. Where experience is short, training could be given, again within reason. Does your employer have any other roles that would suit your working routine criteria better?
Your employer could offer you a package to resign/just leave; which could provide you with a modest (I'm thinking modest because of only 8 years service) financial buffer to give you time to find another job?
I'm unclear whether your manager role involves some very niche activities, and thereby skills, or whether the skills you have are readily transferable to another industry/employer.
I'm actually quite surprised you are being considered for medical retirement unless you are quite significantly impaired by your diabetes. The additional draw on the corporate pension scheme, by virtue of the additional years any pension would be drawn, can be really rather significant. I'm guessing your employer's pension scheme usual retirement age is going to be 65, therefore at 49 you would conceivably be drawing benefits for an additional 16 years. If your pension scheme is a final salary scheme, that's a massive draw. Potentially less of an issue to your employer if the scheme is defined contribution.
I haven't been in your situation before, but I have managed large bodies of people, and early retirements have always been rather hot topics.
If I were in your shoes, I might be considering the following:
First and foremost, if you are a member of a union, please consult them asap. They are likely to know your employer, but also will certain be appraised of the current requirements for what should be offered to you and have a reasonable grasp of what reasonable actually means, in your context.
Does the nights element of your current role pay a premium rate, or is it all just rolled up into a salary, because of the cyclical nature of it all? If the nights is paid at a premium rate, it could be worth trying to discuss whether you could negotiate any form of job sharing with one or more colleagues, to do the nights. If it meant the person doing more nights would earn more (and clearly you less), that could be attractive to someone, but I sort of feel this might already have been considered your your co-workers. Of course, quality of life comes into this for everyone.
I'd be asking what redeployment opportunities there might be within the company.
I'd be finding out exactly what "medical retirement" means; both in terms of how that release would be facilitated, and the financial impact.
Finally, only in this post; not in terms of life priority, I would consider it extremely important that you actually sit down and work out what medical retirement would mean for you on a day to day basis;
Can you afford it?
Do you have any debts to be maintained/paid
How would you address any income shortfall?
Could you work again? If yes, then doing what, and is it credible, or bring in enough money, soon enough?
Frankly Vaper, you're at a point where you need to do some really serious thinking, and take on all the resources available to you.
I hope you achieve the result you would like.
(Apologies for the somewhat disordered brain dump.)