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Help please! Is this harassment?

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  • Help please! Is this harassment?

    Hi, I am currently within the 7 day self certification notice period and have an appointment with the doctor Tuesday.
    Due to issues at work such as; change in management, workplace investigations (not involving me directly), significantly increased targets and a being threatened with formal performance management I have called in sick with stress.
    I am genuinely suffering from anxiety & stress. I had to break away and put my health first. On the first day I was absent I was actually ready for work and couldn't bring myself to leave the house with overwhelming feelings of anxiety. I texted my boss to alert him to the fact I was absent and why. I have been nothing but honest about these feelings and asked him to call me back on my landline as I have no mobile signal at home (we use iphones so can imessage) I received nothing back until 11pm asking me to ring him on his mobile (sent from a blackberry so would not come through). I rang him the next morning and explained I had no signal so didn't receive it. He said I would be marked down as AWOL. This seems petty to me as they were aware and I was in no state to make a call however, I digress.
    My manager is now insisting that I contact them 7 days a week while I am off - even after I have a sickness note from the GP, simply to notify them that I am still not fit for work. I have a strong feeling if they were to ring me every day whilst of sick this would be deemed as harassment? I understand they have to show a duty of care however this seems extreme. I had 2 weeks off at the start of the year with torn ankle ligaments and did not have to contact them apart from initially contacting them re the accident, my husband took my sick note to work and I heard nothing until a few days before I was due to return to work to simply find out my hours. They are also notifying occupational health that I am not at work due to stress/anxiety and want to arrange a health check asap. Again this seems disproportionate to me- although I do not mind as I have nothing to hide. This entire debacle is making me feel worse and the stress at work has followed me home. Am I within my rights to tell them I will not be contacting them while off sick and they will have to ring me? Thus showing harassment. Or can I insist, with the approval of my GP, minimal contact?
    Thank you for any insight you may have
    Tags: None

  • #2
    Re: Help please! Is this harassment?

    Hello Weezy and to Leagle Beagles.

    I am sorry you are unwell due to stress from your employment.

    I know very little about employment law - there are those on here who do know lots & who will be able to answer your questions -but it's Sunday night...

    One thing I would like to say (in the hope that it helps:hug - is that it does seem from your post as if your employer can't win. If they're concerned, they're harassing you and if they make no contact they're uncaring. I don't mean this unkindly but as a self-employed person who employs others, someone has to generate the income (to pay everyone - stressful in itself) and with the best will in the world (unless you're a banker) money cannot be conjured from thin air.

    What I'm trying to say is that, however much your employer might value you and care for you, there are hard economic realities and that's how businesses have to run - sometimes it looks uncaring. Please don't take it personally.

    That does not, however, justify bullying or harassment if that is what is happening.

    I'm sure someone will be along with more informed legal perspectives soon.

    I hope things work out well for you.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Help please! Is this harassment?

      Hi Weezy and welcome to Legal Beagles.

      It is not unreasonable for your employer to request an OH assessment. It is, however, unreasonable for your manager to expect you to ring in seven days a week when you are suffering from stress and anxiety. Is the stress and anxiety work-related? If so, then your employers do need to rein this manager in. An employer has a duty of care under health and safety at work legislation to ensure an employee is not exposed to unnecessary stress during the course of their employment. A health and safety inspector has the power to serve an improvement notice on an employer for a MINIMUM of 12 months in cases involving exposure to unnecessary stress. This means that health and safety inspectors have the power to go back at any time during the 12 months to ensure the employer is doing what is necessary to reduce exposure to unnecessary stress. I would be guided by your GP as to contact with your place of work and if the stress and anxiety is work-related, this should be stated on the MED3 Fit Note.

      At this stage, it is looking more like bullying than it is harassment. However, having said this, there can be and often is a very fine dividing line between bullying and harassment. Let us know what your GP advises as this will obviously influence any advice offered.
      Life is a journey on which we all travel, sometimes together, but never alone.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Help please! Is this harassment?

        Hi weezy,

        I see that you are going to see a doctor on Tuesday; presumably you will get a 'fit' note.

        The employer should be satisfied by that, as it is a professional appraisal of your condition & availability to resume work.

        Your employer is advised to keep in contact with you, but not to exert pressure on you.

        This should clarify things a bit:-
        Attached Files
        CAVEAT LECTOR

        This is only my opinion - "Opinions are made to be changed --or how is truth to be got at?" (Byron)

        You and I do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.
        Cohen, Herb


        There is danger when a man throws his tongue into high gear before he
        gets his brain a-going.
        Phelps, C. C.


        "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance!"
        The last words of John Sedgwick

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Help please! Is this harassment?

          This seems to be going on more and more, I personally would write a letter to complain how you feel you are being treated. Keeping a record of what is and has been going on, will help if any problems in the future. The first defence by any employer is ,we didn't know anything. Put it in writing.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Help please! Is this harassment?

            Originally posted by weezy View Post
            I am genuinely suffering from anxiety & stress. I had to break away and put my health first. On the first day I was absent I was actually ready for work and couldn't bring myself to leave the house with overwhelming feelings of anxiety. I texted my boss to alert him to the fact I was absent and why. I have been nothing but honest about these feelings and asked him to call me back on my landline as I have no mobile signal at home (we use iphones so can imessage) I received nothing back until 11pm asking me to ring him on his mobile (sent from a blackberry so would not come through). I rang him the next morning and explained I had no signal so didn't receive it. He said I would be marked down as AWOL. This seems petty to me as they were aware and I was in no state to make a call however, I digress.
            AWOL?

            Are you in the Army or does he suppose that, as you answer to "Weezy", you are a house-elf like Dobby or Kreacher?

            My manager is now insisting that I contact them 7 days a week while I am off
            That's just plainly daft, as it could have been calculated to increase stress or anxiety.

            It does seem odd that idiots should be appointed as managers, when they are clearly unable to manage themselves.

            Comment

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