Parents of type1, and very unsympathetic employer

[lisamariebrankin]

Hi, just a little advise really, my 15 month old daughter was diagnosed about 7 weeks ago with type 1. I work self employed 16 hours a week and my partner works full time. We also have twin 9 yr olds.
When my daughter was actually diagnosed she was rushed to a and e and her bloods were 32 and ketones were 7 and she was nearly comatosed... She was in hospital for a week. I was able to arrange to not work and haven't really been able to work a whole lot since, however my partners employers have been less than helpful. He had to take the week off when my daughter was on high dependency unit as holiday!!! Then when asked to swap shift patterns so we could juggle the childcare between ourselves (her grandma doesn't feel confident administering insulin, carb counting etc etc and she did our childcare while I worked) they pretty much shrugged their shoulders and said they couldn't help.
Any advise on this would be appreciated... Thanks )

 

[the_anticarb]

Hi. I am a HR professional as well as a diabetic so hope I can help you. There was a case a while back where an employee was refused flexible working to care for a disabled child, she was able to successfully claim against the employer for disability discrimination, even though she wasn't disabled herself. It is known as associative disability discrimination. How much does your partner want to put his neck on the line, ie is he prepared to fight for this cause? If so he would need to put in a grievance first, if that was unsuccessful then take action against the employer.

When he asked to swap shift patterns did he do this formally via a flexible working request? If so, an employer can refuse but has to justify any refusal on business grounds, and there is the right of appeal against this.

I would advise in the first instance that he formalise the flexible working request if he has not already done so. This then provides evidence of the refusal to use in any subsequent action against the employer.

is he in a Union?

Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss further.

 

[lisamariebrankin]

Hi, yeh I suggested speaking to his union (but he isn't part of one)... I think at the minute he shouldn't rock the boat, especially while we have so much going on anyway... Extra stress that probs won't get him anywhere anyway. It has just completely shocked me at how useless hey have been.
They basically said that they wold be left short staffed if he changes to early shifts instead of his 3 week shift pattern (early, mid lates)... Arrrggghhh!!

I will look into the associative disability discrimination though and see if there is anything he can say to them without pushing it the formal route just yet.

Thank you for your help )

 

[the_anticarb]

I understand he does not want to rock the boat and my heart goes out to you with a little one that age just diagnosed, my son is the same age and I can't imagine how difficult it is to manage diabetes on top of all the usual baby stuff. Can he join the Union, as this may well be an ongoing issue for you.
I would still advise he formalises his flexible working request as this will ensure that it goes through a proper channel and that your partner's HR department if there is one is involved. All he has to do is contact the HR department and ask to make a formal flexible working request.
They would still be able to refuse the flexible working request but if they know it is linked to a disability issue they may look at it more favourably. however, flexible working is easy for the employer to get out of by just linking it to one of eight defined business reasons, so it's not a very effective 'right' for employees.
If you did ever want to take things further in the future though it would be good to have a paper trail of the refusal for the request, too many times when things are just verbal with no written record then it is very easy for the employer to pretend it didn't happen, or that it didn't happen quite as the employee remembers! I know I have seen it enough times working in HR as long as I have.