Sickness and formal warning

Millymolly84

Evening all, 

I have been informed that when I return to work following this period of sickness I am due a formal meeting where I will receiver a warning about my attendance from HR (this should have happens last time but my line manager refused to do it as she didn’t think it was fair on me). 

I have a formal diagnosis of ME/CFS and feel this is incredibly unfair but are they legally allowed to do this? Am I protected by the equality act? I do have a union so will take a rep if I need to. If they do this what can I do about it? 

Everyone employed by the company gets 11 days sickness before they trigger an informal meeting, I have been given double the days so 22. I am currently at 44 days off (not consecutive) in the last 12 months. 

I have also had an occupational health report done but HR have said they are recommendations so don’t have to do any of them- since then I have dropped down to 4 days a week and have requested another day off to drop down to 3 but also feel if they put the occupational health things in place I might not be having to do this. 

This is really stressful as it is not like I can control when my symptoms flare and it’s not like I’m out partying all weekend and then off every Monday and stress is a huge trigger of my symptoms. 

Thanks if you got this far. 

Rosie_Scope

Hi @Millymolly84, sorry to read you're having a stressful time with work.

One thing that might be helpful for you is getting in contact with ACAS to see if they can advise you on your rights and whether the situation you're in is discriminatory. They have a helpline to call which might be a good place to start

Your union might also be able to offer some advice too if you get in touch with them.

Is your line manager supportive? Perhaps they might be able to set up a meeting with you before the formal HR meeting to chat about the best way forward.

Millymolly84

Hi Rosie, sorry for the delay I don’t think my notifications are set up as I didn’t see this until now- thanks for your comment. My line manager is amazing and doesn’t agree with this but according to HR it is policy. I have emailed my union to ask them about it but if I don’t get a reply I will contact acas. I’ve just been signed off for two weeks. 

Hannah_Alumni

@Millymolly84 I hope you hear back from your union soon and they are able to support you. I also hope you get lots of rest over these next two weeks