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Disability discrimination during covid pandemic

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  • shellbell20
    shellbell20 Community member Posts: 260 Pioneering
    @janer1967 They probably do take them on to do that, yet they seem to think they can do what they please, when they please. However, under the 12 week rule for Agency workers they have to treat staff on a equal footing with pay and holiday entitlement. I am sure other rules apply, I know they do about personal bonuses for performance and I know it's going to get extended in the future. With that being said, even if the 12 week rule didn't apply they still have no right to do what they did to me when asking for reasonable adjustments.  There might be a sex discrimination rule here too, as a guy who had ran out of calls and should have been dismissed wasn't, he text me yesterday and said for some reason I have been given extra calls and I have no idea why. Although two of my female colleagues were sacked this week for running out of calls. I didn't run out of calls and I was nearly accredited, so they couldn't get me on that one.  Sorry rant over. lol
  • janer1967
    janer1967 Community member Posts: 21,964 Disability Gamechanger
    No problem for the rant 

    I have worked as agency b4 and yes they do have to treat you same as employed 

    Keel up the fight 
  • shellbell20
    shellbell20 Community member Posts: 260 Pioneering
    @janer1967 I will keep up the fight, though I feel they think I won't due to my depression and anxiety, so many cases go unheard as people are too ill to take on these huge companies. I feel they rely on that to get away with what they want. Personally, with this case I feel that after being blocked numerous times they were pretty vindictive when I caused waves and abused their authority of power.
  • shellbell20
    shellbell20 Community member Posts: 260 Pioneering
    @Username_removed are you talking about @TG0601 case?   I would definitely agree on that. To deny them homeworking when they can be amenable just boggles my mind.  The car parking bit, I am not too sure on, but I do remember that I was allowed to park in the managers car park at night time (only)  when I suffered from what was suspected Menieres Disease (that was for the same bank) a few years ago. They never did come up with a diagnosis despite two years of investigation. I kind of learnt to live with that condition that includes dizzy spells, tinnitus and loss of hearing in my left ear. I do get attacks now and then, especially when my allergies are at their worse, but I never mentioned it in this job, nor did I mention my eyesight, nor did they ask or accommodate anything for people with similar ailments.
  • TG0601
    TG0601 Community member Posts: 51 Connected
    @Username_removed yes disability discrimination cases are so complex. As well as disability discrimination & failure to make reasonable adjustments I have an harassment case too as I was treated appalling by the manager at my grievance hearing. Laughed & mocked at, belittled. To the point my union rep & the HR rep had to Intervene. All minuted too. My employers are now saying that staff had to pass 6 months audits to be enabled to work from home. My argument is how could someone shielding attain audits when they wasn’t there. Also my colleague was shielding, went back to work, didn’t feel safe & was allowed to work from home & only had 1 months audits done. I’ve got the evidence of that. So I have been treated so differently. They know that I am incapacitated most of the time & home working would be brilliant for me as I’d hardly ever have time off sick. They simply won’t allow it. Because I complained about my safety & was told by my union not to go into the office until I’d had a risk assessment & was safe, I believe I have been victimised too & that is also a reason I have been treated the way I have. I was bullied & harassed there because of my disability when I first started 4 years ago & I tried to sort it out via mediation. Then I didn’t pass probation due to my disability absence & was on probation 2 years 8 months. & threaten with the sack whilst in hospital 2 years ago via email. We are trying to show all of these are linked over the years. Hopefully a tribunal will agree 
  • shellbell20
    shellbell20 Community member Posts: 260 Pioneering
    @TG0601 Wow, your case goes on for several years, threatening the sack whilst in hospital, just boggles my mind.  I hope they are not stupid enough to take it to court, I think they have already put you through enough and I also feel there is a link from the past complaint. 
  • TG0601
    TG0601 Community member Posts: 51 Connected
    @shellbell20 it’s been horrendous since I started. I transferred departments as a reasonable adjustment as the stress from the bullying & harassment from my 1st team leader made me so ill. Stress makes my Autoimmune condition worse & I become incapacitated so I was off 6 months after the mediation meeting. She told my team not to talk to me when I returned so I felt ostracised when I went back & didn’t know why no one was talking to me. I was due to have a back to work meeting but I was in hospital that day  having tests & seeing my Rhuematologist so I emailed work to say I may be a bit late for the meeting as my test & MRIs were taking so long. I asked if we could have the meeting later that day (out of politeness) as I didn’t want them sat waiting for me unnecessarily. The email came back that they would reschedule but if I didn’t attend they would have to formally review my employment. I cried my eyes out at hospital. The nurses consoled me. My rheumatologist was furious. Every time I was off sick they made me go back into the new starter dept but no one else had to, just me. There’s so much that’s happened. I could go on & on 
  • shellbell20
    shellbell20 Community member Posts: 260 Pioneering
    @TG0601 Sounds horrendous, that's what they do though, they ground you down until you quit. When mine started with the impossible targets and the lack of care, I reached out to a lawyer, however that lawyer could only really help people in London. He did however say to me, whatever you do, do not resign. I so wanted to resign, I have never been sacked in my life until now.  I don't know why he said not to resign?  Perhaps @Username_removed might shed some more light on this?  And any insight about ET's would be much appreciated too.  
  • TG0601
    TG0601 Community member Posts: 51 Connected
    @Username_removed forgive me, what’s EA? you’ve had 10 cases of your own?! Wow I’m 
    so sorry you’ve gone though so much. You have gained a lot of experience of the system! I won a disability discrimination case 20 years with a previous employer for being told at a promotion interview that no one would respect me because of my disability. It was a straight forward case. They had written it down on my interview scoring sheets that we found in the bin after my interview. This one I’m 
    going through is over a long period of time with many different episodes. @shellbell20 I have rheumatoid arthritis & vestibular neuritis so I get dizzy & lose balance so I can’t drive. When I’ve asked over the years fir car parking only when I needed it I was told no, spaces only for TLs & Managers. So when I struggled to walk in severe pain they wouldn’t help me. Such a shame. 
  • shellbell20
    shellbell20 Community member Posts: 260 Pioneering
    TG0601 said:
    @Username_removed forgive me, what’s EA? you’ve had 10 cases of your own?! Wow I’m 
    so sorry you’ve gone though so much. You have gained a lot of experience of the system! I won a disability discrimination case 20 years with a previous employer for being told at a promotion interview that no one would respect me because of my disability. It was a straight forward case. They had written it down on my interview scoring sheets that we found in the bin after my interview. This one I’m 
    going through is over a long period of time with many different episodes. @shellbell20 I have rheumatoid arthritis & vestibular neuritis so I get dizzy & lose balance so I can’t drive. When I’ve asked over the years fir car parking only when I needed it I was told no, spaces only for TLs & Managers. So when I struggled to walk in severe pain they wouldn’t help me. Such a shame. 
    When I had the suspected Menieres   Disease the same company/bank were very helpful. When I worked nights they allowed me to park in carpark reserved for Managers that is when my dizziness had calmed down, as at first there was no way I could have driven.  However, when I worked in the day's I think I actually got a taxi via Access to Work, by this time I was having panic attacks when trying to take public transport and still had dizzy spells on and off. I would pay for it upfront for the transportation  and be compensated, if I can remember, it was around 2006, so quite a while ago.  I am sorry you are going through rheumatoid arthritis, I do have a touch of arthritis  through my psoriasis  and that can be very painful at times. 

  • shellbell20
    shellbell20 Community member Posts: 260 Pioneering
    @TG0601 Actually the part about being stonewalled from your team, them not allowed to talk to you is disgraceful, absolutely abhorrent and could cause serious consequences to the wellbeing and mental health of a person. I had something similar but not being ignored being told I was not allowed to talk about anything going on. When I complained about the new rules and how I couldn't cope with them with my anxiety, not only did they block me from raising a grievance they rang me and said I was not to talk to anyone about the new rules, about what I was talking about with my TL, the agency or my TL's boss. They sent that via an email as well as verbally, basically telling me to shut up. I forgot about that, I should make a bullet point of it for the lawyer.
  • shellbell20
    shellbell20 Community member Posts: 260 Pioneering
    @TG0601 This case might be of interest to you regarding the disability parking space. I have only scanned through it, so apologies if it does not relate to your case.  https://www.crippspg.co.uk/accommodating-employees-disability-constitutes-reasonable-adjustment/
  • TG0601
    TG0601 Community member Posts: 51 Connected
    @shellbell20 Thank you. Yes it’s RA is an awful illness. My vestibular neuritis kicks in whenever I have a flare up. I get them all the time now. I don’t seem to have any reprieve from it. I’ve wanted to work from home for years but pre covid, home working was quite a rarity. When home working really took off around the country when the pandemic started I was so hopeful. It would have been the answer to so many issues I face when incapacitated etc. My sickness absence would have been practically been solved. I really was excited & uplifted at the prospect. When they denied me it I was absolutely crushed. Heartbroken. Dizziness & loss of balance is awful isn’t it. It’s like living in a parallel universe with everything moving & spinning. I have to drive 40 miles to my work so when I’m in flare I just can’t drive at all. It’s such a shame your company/bank changed how they treated you. It just doesn’t have to be like that, it should be so simple but some employers just make it impossible & unjust for so many. I’m sorry to hear you are suffering from psoriasis too. Autoimmune conditions are awful to cope with at times 
  • TG0601
    TG0601 Community member Posts: 51 Connected
    that’s great. Thank you so so much! My solicitor said they could have arranged a car parking space for me when I needed it. They have them for visitors to the office, clients (Banks) too. I also found case law of a chap who won his disability discrimination case for not passing his probation due to his disability absences during probation period. Case law is such a big help in building evidence. I really appreciate it 

    shellbell20 said:
    @TG0601 This case might be of interest to you regarding the disability parking space. I have only scanned through it, so apologies if it does not relate to your case.  https://www.crippspg.co.uk/accommodating-employees-disability-constitutes-reasonable-adjustment/

  • TG0601
    TG0601 Community member Posts: 51 Connected
    Yes definitely bullet point that. I get that theres confidentiality but blocking you from raising a grievance is absolutely shocking. I’m sure they’ll have a grievance policy. They have well & truly breached it! shellbell20 said:
    @TG0601 Actually the part about being stonewalled from your team, them not allowed to talk to you is disgraceful, absolutely abhorrent and could cause serious consequences to the wellbeing and mental health of a person. I had something similar but not being ignored being told I was not allowed to talk about anything going on. When I complained about the new rules and how I couldn't cope with them with my anxiety, not only did they block me from raising a grievance they rang me and said I was not to talk to anyone about the new rules, about what I was talking about with my TL, the agency or my TL's boss. They sent that via an email as well as verbally, basically telling me to shut up. I forgot about that, I should make a bullet point of it for the lawyer.

  • shellbell20
    shellbell20 Community member Posts: 260 Pioneering
    TG0601 said:
    Yes definitely bullet point that. I get that theres confidentiality but blocking you from raising a grievance is absolutely shocking. I’m sure they’ll have a grievance policy. They have well & truly breached it! shellbell20 said:
    @TG0601 Actually the part about being stonewalled from your team, them not allowed to talk to you is disgraceful, absolutely abhorrent and could cause serious consequences to the wellbeing and mental health of a person. I had something similar but not being ignored being told I was not allowed to talk about anything going on. When I complained about the new rules and how I couldn't cope with them with my anxiety, not only did they block me from raising a grievance they rang me and said I was not to talk to anyone about the new rules, about what I was talking about with my TL, the agency or my TL's boss. They sent that via an email as well as verbally, basically telling me to shut up. I forgot about that, I should make a bullet point of it for the lawyer.

    A confidentiality for telling people in my group what is going on in reality.  Everyone else was talking about it, I wasn't allowed too. I just feel I hit a nerve with them, made waves when questioning  the validity of their new rules and if they were politically correct, so they got rid of me, simple as.  I also was asking about holidays and again they had me going around in circles, my TL said something wasn't right about it, he would contact the agency, the agency were meant to ring me, they didn't, when I finally spoke to the agency about the new rules I mentioned the holidays and they told me to email a department within the company.  So all the time whatever I said or did, they just literally passed the buck to each other and had me like a shuttlecock in between. I still can't believe they can get away with it, it just made my anxiety go through the roof until I was so ill with it, I had to take sick leave and be prescribed sleeping tablets and anti-depressants. So here I am now sacked for fighting injustice, sacked for asking for reasonable adjustments, probably just sacked for being me.
  • TG0601
    TG0601 Community member Posts: 51 Connected
    @shellbell20 it really is disgusting what they’ve done to you. I’m sure you’ll get your justice. You have written evidence too which is great. They will pay the price & unfortunately for them they will learn the hard way. Where I work people get treated terribly. The turn over of staff is so high. The thing is most are too afraid to do anything about it. It’s a shame. I can’t sit back & let injustices happen, I’m just not made that way. A few years ago a collection of mine was being bullied (at another company). No one intervened but me. I couldn’t cope with what they were doing to her. I made myself a target but I’d do it all over again. She left in the end, walked out.
  • TG0601
    TG0601 Community member Posts: 51 Connected
    @shellbell20 sorry, typos! “A Colleague”. I’m not looking at what I’m typing lol 
  • shellbell20
    shellbell20 Community member Posts: 260 Pioneering
    @TG0601 How strange, when I first started this job we were advised to make  whatsapp chats when we were split into groups and the group I was in was victimising a colleague, calling this person vile names and purposely cutting him off when he was on Webex meetings, just saying dreadful things about him. I couldn't bear it any more and had to speak out. It was in black and white and the two main culprits were fired straight away as there was too much damning evidence against them. No one else intervened other  than copying the text and sending it to the victim, so they did that quietly. I reported it to a manager and then the victim sent  a copy of the text and a letter of complaint. I would do it again in a heartbeat too. The poor person was sobbing their heart out wondering why people that didn't know him would be so spiteful.

  • Lisatho11987777
    Lisatho11987777 Scope Member Posts: 5,911 Disability Gamechanger
    We have a WhatsApp  group in my work but the manager is also on it  ours only used to update us on things or if we get stuck on something in work  it is quite good  and works well  

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