Please help!!!
I will try to make this as short as possible but would really appreciate if someone could read and give me some advice as I’m on the verge of a mental breakdown.
My partner has been working for this engineering company for +\- 2years. On April he had a seizure for the 1st time in his life, and had to go under medical investigation to find out why. He then had 3 episodes of seizures within 3 months. For this reason his employer kept him off sick and wouldn’t let him start working again until he had a diagnosis. He was diagnosed with epilepsy shortly after and is now under medication for life. He hasn’t had a seizure or anything since the 15th of July, so for 3 months.
He had multiple assessments over the phone with occupational health from his company, and kept asking them to go back to work but they claimed they had to follow some procedures and he would have to be free from seizures for a certain period of time and also taking medication to be able to return. The last assessment was on the 7th of October and the outcome was that he was fit to return to work but would probably need some adjustments made in order to do so. He has been chasing HR who kept telling him “we’re gonna arrange a meeting to let you know when you can come back, just ask for another weeks fit note” and then nothing, so he’s already requested about 3 fit notes since the last OH assessment.
Today he received an email as you can see in the picture. I am freaking out because they state that “ considering the recommendations in the report, one of the possible outcomes of the meeting is your employment may be terminated”. How is this fair if he’s ok now and he’s actually the one who kept calling them throughout these months to return to work and they kept telling him to wait? Can they even do this? They then proceeded to send him a disciplinary policy and an absence notification and sickness policy separately by email.
I am a SAHM to a 10month old so he’s the provider. Honestly this is making me sick as he’s made such an effort to keep this job and to let them know in advance abt everything that has happened during these months. It breaks my heart they’re treating him this way. Since we’re both from a different country I’m not sure how to proceed if they do indeed terminate his employment. I am praying to god they won’t but could really use some advice as I’ve already cried my eyes out and my anxiety isn’t letting me think straight. Thank you all.
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So I think it’s fairly standard to say what they’ve said, it doesn’t matter that he kept in touch or wanted to return etc, they’re likely just following health and safety procedure which is to obtain a report from OH and then have the meeting to discuss what happens next. Again I think standard to say what they’ve said, that number 1 will be establishing if he is fit to do the job he was doing before, 2. If not, can they make any adjustments so that he can, or 3. If that’s not possible then is there another role in the organisation he could do. It’s only recognising that should none of those be a realistic option, that the only option left would be to terminate his contract- it’s not saying they want to, or that they will, they’ve worded it to reflect it as a last resort. I don’t think they’re treating him unfairly?
I understand, but then why send him a disciplinary policy and absence notification and sickness policy? I thought it was odd. He does have epilepsy but he doesn’t require help to do any daily activities. He’s literally living normally and he plays football/goes to the gym, which he couldn’t do while he was under medical investigation but now he was cleared by the GP. The GP never mentioned any work adjustments so I guess this is something that is coming from their Occ health…and when he did have these seizure episodes he had symptoms before he even had the seizure so I believe it something was to happen (touch wood) he would be able to know. I don’t see why he would not be able to do his job? I know they’re following health and safety procedures but he really does not require anything in order to do his job and is now on medication. I guess what concerned me the most was they send those policies and I wonder if they’re trying to make it seem like he broke any of them?
No idea, I can only go on what I think of the email screenshot. Nobody is saying that he definitely can’t, has your partner had a chance to see the OH report, or will this meeting be the first chance he gets?
Sometimes there are wider issues, for example if you’re taking certain medication or have a risk/history of seizures, the company can put themselves in a difficult situation with liability and insurance etc. it’s greater than just what your partner can/can’t do.
If they haven’t said that he has broken any of their policies re absence or sick leave etc, then I wouldn’t jump to that conclusion. If you’re really anxious, is there nobody he can ask about why he has received those, to get clarification and put your mind at ease?
The wording is probably standard, the meeting invite looks fine to me from HR point of view and actually sounds quite favourable. Can you share the other email he received? Its possibly been auto generated by the system once he hit a trigger for certain number of days off, or that someone else has done that, processes can be managed by different people (not ideal for the employee obviously)
Its likely just a standard template and attachments that go out with all of these invites (again not the best practice but it happens). Obviously I dont know all the ins and out and the specific health and safety details of the role but based on what you’ve said I would suspect he has nothing to worry about, I would suggest to him to bring a work colleague or union rep with him for support and for him to say at the end of the meeting that there has been a lot of undue stress caused by the contradicting information/tone of the communications he has been sent
This looks very positive to me and I know it sounds bad but the disability part would usually go in his favour as they are usually terrified of a claim. I imagine they just want to get all the details totally clear about how to adapt the role. Do feel free to keep us posted! x
I guess I am a bit more relieved now as you said it could be just standard writing. I just got scared they never even mentioned he could loose his job until he got this email today. Thank you sm for your help, I’ll come back once he’s had the meeting and hopefully to bring good news xx
I totally get it, these processes are so stressful for the employee (and partners!) but they usually just want to cover absolutely all bases as you do also unfortunately get absolute chancers who arent really sick etc so the letters usually need to cover the whole spectrum. Yes definitely do xx
Maybe read up on ACAS to see if it explains the procedure at all? Sending lots of love x
Sending prayers 🙏
thank you lovely 😔
As someone who works in both HR and H&S they have only included information that they have to. It is a possibility that if they can’t create a safe working practice for him, or offer an alternative role they wouldn’t keep him on but it’s very unlikely. My advice would be for him to have an idea of what it would look like for him to return to work. They’re likely to ask what support he will need, if it’s reasonable and cost effective they will implement it, if he’s been with the company for 2+ years it’s very difficult to justify a dismissal so I wouldn’t expect it from what you’ve posted. As long as he works with them and proposes something reasonable for them to accommodate it should be fine. The disciplinary process being mentioned is potentially standard due to the length of time off sick, but it’s unlikely anything will come of it x
thank you for your input. He had a meeting yesterday and they told him he can’t continue working as a fitter. No possible adjustments were discussed. They said they would look for another role he could do but atm “everything is full”. He’ll have another meeting next week supposedly to know if there is any other job he can do, but yesterday they advised him it’s best to start looking for another job as in, another company. Which leads me to think that next week they’ll simply dismiss him. They had months to look into options and it’s strange that yesterdays meeting was for them to make adjustments/discuss another role so I believe they should’ve known this already, waiting until next week but still telling him to look for something else sounds odd to me. I don’t see how he could tell them what adjustments he needs since it was Occ health mentioning adjustments, but then in the meeting none were discussed. I’m just confused.
Dont get me wrong I understand about H&S but they kept him waiting for months, telling him not to worry that his job would be there for him and now this. Im not really sure how to proceed if he does get dismissed tbh
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