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off sick and redundancy announcement

  • Thread starter Thread starter nicbarnett
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nicbarnett

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Hi all,
I have been working for the civil service for 12 years, I have had a few weeks off sick over the years. I started a new job 2 year's ago and my boss and I don't get on, he doesn't think I pull my weight but in fact I am overworked as such he wrote me a terrible end of year report. My main concern is I have been off work with a viterious haemorrhage for the last month, work have not contacted me to see how I am, I am due to go back to the gp tomorrow to see if I can go back to work, my sight is still bad and I am still seeing blood squiggles sink don't know if I will be back. My problem is today my husband told me that the.place where.I work want 20 volunteers for redundancy, if no volunteers then they will make redundancies, as I am off sick and have had a terrible end of year report I will be in the running, I feel like lying to the gp tomorrow so I can go back to work and hopefully not loose my job. What do you think ? Xx
 
nicbarnett said:
I feel like lying to the gp tomorrow so I can go back to work and hopefully not loose my job. What do you think ? Xx
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A difficult call and one only you can make I'm afraid, how would you manage at work if your sight is effected and would you not be a safety risk to yourself and others around you?

You don't say if your in a union but if you are then I suggest you contact them and ask for advice, the Citizens Advice may also help but getting appointments can be difficult.

Hope all goes well and you are not one who is made redundant!
 
No don't lie to your doctor to get back into work, allow him to make the decision as if you go back early and it makes things worse, and you end up off sick again it doesn't look good on your sick record..

As you going into the docs, you will be informing your work if your are signed off longer or will be returning etc.. So I would ask what happen to your letter concerning the redundancy that's be announced! As all employee's should be notified in writing of pending redundancies, if they asking for volunteers then they should out line what package is being offered to tempt employee's to take up the offer...

But I should imagine that if they are asking for 20, then you work in a large department and I don't know of a Civil Service department that isn't represented by a Union, which is handy as any redundancy being made the union will be involved with working out any redundancy packages (normally requests for volunteers the package is better than an notice served) but if the need to start serving notices of redundancies, then the Union do have a say in what criteria is used to determine which employee's will be served notice...

But the criteria could be based on, last in first out (which most unions seem to favour) or it may be dependant whether the actual job is being cut, so the employee doing that job is served notice or they may choose another method of choosing between which one out of a group will be served etc..
 
Good advice from Noblehead.
I also work for the civil service and I know in many departments now, including ours, that there are HR rules/guidance that tell managers/HR that they must make contact with a person who is off sick longer than a week to check on their welfare and see how the land lies in terms of helping staff get back to work WITHOUT putting any pressure in the individual. (Some see this as interfering and it can be a bit annoying when your boss calls/visits and all you want to do is curl up in a ball and hide away but it does work both ways if it's done for the right reasons)
Therefore I think your boss, who sounds like a real numpty, has not followed procedures.

It's also common sense and decency for someone from work to contact a person when they're off if only to ask them how they are.

Best of luck and hopefully your union / HR may be able to advise you. Also, you will be covered by a doctors note so no one can dispute the fact that you aren't fit to work at the moment. All the best. Riri
 
As a diabetic, you are covered by the Disability Discrimination Act which makes it illegal for your employer to use your diabetes as a decision to make you redundant based on your sick leave. You should contact your union rep urgently . If you are not in the union contact CAB. I've lost count of the number of colleagues who used to come and see me after many years of working for the company to join the union only when they had a problem.
 
I think it's best to allow your doc to make the decision and be truthful to your employer as others have already advised. They can't use your illness against you as that would just be pure discrimination.... they could use performance as their reason though. But they'd have to be careful as your performance could be affected by your illness too in some cases.
Personally I'm at crossroads too re: work... I work for govt dept here myself. I've been really unwell for quite a while... I'm struggling to work full time if I'm honest with myself... I just haven't got the energy right now. I had a discussion with my assistant director yesterday to advise I'm going to consider my options and have discussions about my ability to work with my medical team. I told them outright I only expect it to be a temporary thing too. I figure it's better to be honest and open so they can't come back at you and say you didn't warn them, etc... etc. Hopefully you do get to keep your job... if not, you know there will be a door of opportunity for you elsewhere.
 


Spot on advice......just to add that IF they do make forced redundancies, they should have a points system in place that would have been agreed with the union prior to the redundancies going ahead.

Also if they have not followed their HR procedures relating to your sickness abscence to the letter, and make you redundant based partly on your sickness record, they will have opened themselves up to being sued for wrongful dismissal......All a tribunal looks at is have procedures been followed!!!

Hopefully it won't come to that.

Good luck
 
Crumbs thank you so very much for your great advice. Hubby says I shouldn't worry about work and that my eye is the most important thing, easily said though as my wage pays the mortgage. Yes my boss is a numpty, I have never had a bad yearly review until he came into post, interesting that he or someone should have been in touch to see how I am, in that case I presume I should have been informed of all the redundancy meetings that have been held since I have been off ? Xx
 
If your last appraisal shows a decline in competence a performance plan should have been put in place to address this. If this wasn't done it means that your boss isn't performing correctly. Your boss can't use one appraisal to define your competence and put you in line for redundancy. He/she appears to have performance issues themselves. It's easy to worry about your job security when you are off work due to illness as everything is blown up in your mind. Yes there are redundancies but people will probably be fighting one another for them due to the changes in your organisation. Don't worry-you must look after your health firstly-you are following correct procedures even if your boss isn't and probably worrying unduly. Just give yourself time to get well and the rest will sort itself out.
 
Hi

I am type 2 diabetic and my direct line manager insisted I wasn't covered for a long period of sick leave due to being unable to control my glucose levels - under the Disability Discrimination Act as my treatment was tablet based and not insulin!!!! - she told me she had researched the internet and found this information there!!!
When challenged she was adamant but wouldn't back up her opinion with any facts so I went to Diabetes Uk and over her head to the HR dept who promptly informed her she was wrong and that she was causing me more stress with her comments.
Employers are not allowed to count any sickness related to Diabetes when determining sickness levels - they are legally discounted under DDA. I think you will find working for the civil service (as do I) that your HR dept is well aware of DDA and their legal requirements. I went through my works sickness procedure and they allowed me a phased return to work and they have legal obligations to assist any return to work and put plans/actions into place for you. My line manager was not allowed any input other than to do as HR directed.
The first question that should always be asked of you when ill is - "is your illness related to your diabetes" - if so it is immediately covered under DDA.
My dept is going through major changes and I will be losing £5,000.00 a year of my salary by losing allowances but my diabetes cannot be held against me when re applying for new posts.
I would speak immediately to your HR dept to see if they are aware of the reason behind your sickness and ask them why the sickness procedures are not being followed.
The civil service knows full well the redundancy procedures and have to inform every person "potentiailly at risk" or "at risk" of redundancy in writing and outline the reasons why.
Don't let your line manager cause you any more stress - you need your enery to get well - best of luck
 
that's interesting Cullenjan.
I'm not well either and seriously considering asking HR at work to help me out as I've been literally feeling "off-my-face" at work quite a bit just from sheer exhaustion. I just lost my job during the week that I've been acting in higher duties in for years now... so going back to the job level I own.... yeah stupid how govt jobs work. But my job I did years ago was phone based work and on full time basis. At the moment I'm burping full time too... in pain, etc.... don't think that full time phone work would be achievable until I can get my docs to get me sorted. Dealing with chronic illnesses is hard work.
Recently one of our staff (who has type 2) was sent for fitness for duty by HR as she has a bad back where they are suggesting it needs surgery, but it's risky and they've strongly suggested she tries all other avenues to recover first. The poor thing has lost muscle mass in her leg from her back problem. She has been getting regular treatment and her medical team have advised work she must work reduced hours to recover.... hence the fitness of duty request from HR. But apparently the result from that they claim she can no longer use her sick leave entitlements for both her back problem and her diabetes... I'm thinking 'huh?' Supposedly they claim she should be having the surgery instead... what and die? She does have plenty of sick leave entitlement left too. She is now so stressed out she cries at the drop of a hat (and she isn't usually like that)... she told me end of this week they are leaving her with no choice but to resign. She said they are not supporting her to get better at all. It certainly made me think how far would they go to help me? I'm only wanting short term help.... argghhh! I have a tonne of sick leave due to being healthy for many years (it carries over).... and now when I need it I may not be able to use it. And it seems diabetes means nothing... our staff member said her BGLs are now too high a lot from all the stress... she's not been able to sleep properly due to the added stress they've given her.
 
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