Untenable work situation

[Photega]

I have been off work for 4 weeks with work related stress caused by a lack of support from my managers. After 2 weeks off I received an email saying they would be arranging a welfare visit and the idea of this was adding to my anxiety especially as this would be carried out by one of the very same managers who I felt were not being supportive, but as it is in my contract they can do this and after discussing both on here and with ACAS there was little I could do and I awaited them calling to arrange this.
Nothing came and at the end of my 3rd week off and having been put on medication at the 2 week point I was starting to feel much better and as my GP had said that if I was feeling better I could get a fit note to arrange to return to work I did this last Friday (23rd) Of course this was the day after the Government had announced the lockdown. I called expecting the Receptionist to say she would pass my request on and the GP would just get a note signed up to this effect for me to collect, however after a minute or so reading my notes the receptionist said she would arrange a call from the GP later in the day.
When I got the call back the GP said that tests and come back which indicate I have an immunity issue and in the current climate it would not be a good idea for me to go back to work.
I then update my employer with this information and given that 90% of my job can be done remotely I tell my employer that I am happy to do this and take calls and emails from staff.*
A week on and no contact from my employer until an outside supplier contacts me about needing remote access and I send out emails advising that this will occur the next day and I will liase with the supplier to get this actioned. Suddenly my manager wants to speak with me and tells me to pass it to a work colleague, I hasten to add a work colleague that doesn't do my job and does not have the permissions to allow this to occur. Or so I thought.*
My manager then says she wants to carry out a remote welfare telephone call, when she calls me and we discuss the aforementioned matter with the supplier I get informed that as I am off they have sent this colleague upto central office to be trained to carry out my duties in my absence.*
I should point out here there is no provision or need for 2 people to do my role and no other sites within the organisation has 2 employees doing the role, the usual modus operandii where someone doing my role is off work sick is either for a local colleague to cover or for central HQ to cover. It is also due to the nature of the role not good practice to have multiple people carrying out the work as this could affect the management of the information.
I feel very stressed by finding this out and tried to express that to my manager but was told not to worry but I really do not see how this can work especially given the fact it has been done including me in the decision making where I would have expressed my concerns at how this could reasonably work and indeed why they would choose to do this when I have been offering to do my role from home and indeed had this further diagnosis not come up would have been hoping to have gone back to work a week ago and thus there would have been no need to implement this change.
All this I feel makes my position untenable as I don't feel I can reasonably be expected to work with a colleague who has shot me in the foot so to speak and trying to take my position whilst I am away due to the stress and anxiety which this has just added to.
How do you suggest I handle this situation?
Would this be grounds for constructive dismissal?

[ULA]

Sorry just one quick question, can you confirm are you still signed off sick from work by your GP?

[Photega]

Sorry just one quick question, can you confirm are you still signed off sick from work by your GP?

Yes I am still signed off, currently for just over another week before need to review

[ULA]

If you are signed off from work by your GP then you should not be working, be that in the office or from home. If your GP knew and felt that your job could be done remotely then this is something that they could recommend in the Fitness to Work note, however it does not mean that the employer has to act on that information.

I appreciate that if the further diagnosis had not happened then you would potentially be back at work, albeit taking account of the current guidelines for continuing to work from a company location. However given that you are still off sick, it is acceptable that the company would want to put something in place to cover your work until you return and they are entitled to make those decisions without any input from you. *

I cannot see from what you have detailed that there is any ground for constructive dismissal.*

[Photega]

What about the employers failure to encourage keeping lines of communication open with employees absent with Work Related Stress as is recommended as a means of best practice as in the document giving advice to managers by the HSE found at https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr138.pdf on page 8. Following the fact there has been a long ongoing history of poor relations between my manager and myself especially with regard to providing support and help with the mental health issues I have been suffering over the last couple of years?
I should point out that for over a year I had been seen to show symptoms which are associated with PTSD and my manager had sought to make my life quite difficult trying to use this against me and during this time I was referred by my GP to the community mental health team where I had sessions of counselling. As my manager sought to find ways to use this against me she made an arrangement for an occupational health report to be drawn up I personally believe that she hoped from this she would be able to prove my claims of a long standing condition to be untrue and thus grounds to dismiss me. Unfortunately this report conducted in December actually supported by case and indeed covered other health conditions and made recommendations for reasonable adjustments.
I received a copy of this report just 3 days after the consultation and I then asked my manager had she received this so we could discuss the contents, I was told this was not received, I kept chasing this right up to Christmas and then again through January consistently met with a response that it had not been received with various excuses as to why this may not have been received I did on several occasions offer to give them a copy of my copy of the report and this was rejected as unnecessary this went on into February when I finally said that as they didn't seem interested in pursuing this and suggested I would have to start a grievance procedure at which point they suddenly decided to accept my copy and a meeting arranged.d
The meeting progressed with a level of disdain on the part of my manager with regards to the recommendations, and upto the point of me going on sick leave at the end of February all but one of the recommendations had not been implemented
It is clear there has all along been a very difficult working relationship since this person became my line manager and overall a built up picture that as was not prepared to be pushed around with regard to my job and thus over the year the manager has sought to make my working environment difficult and saw this situation as a means to sideline me and make moves to replace me with a younger inexperienced colleague who would be more compliant to her demands it is also I feel the case that this has influenced how she has dealt with my issues which has culminated in her seeking to make me feel isolated from my work even going as far as telling colleagues to not make contact with me, I hasten to add over my 5 years there I have made a great many friends of my colleagues so finding that suddenly they were ignoring contact with myself and as one has put it because they fear for their jobs if they find out they spoken with me.
It is not just this one event that makes me feel my position is untenable but if we also take account of the past events too this last incident is just I believe the final injustice which makes remaining working with this line manager impossible

[ULA]

Thank you for the extra information. I could only base my advice on what you detailed in your initial post, which did not contain any of the back-ground information you have now provided and which is entirely relevant.

For a constructive dismissal claim to be made an employer has to commit a serious breach of contract, entitling the employee to resign in response to the employer’s conduct. First, you must prove a fundamental (rather than minor) breach of contract by the employer. You must also show that your decision to terminate your employment was in response to the breach and not for some other reason. The employment tribunal will also need to satisfy itself that you did not delay too long in resigning and they will usually expect that you have tried to resolve the complaint through the grievance procedure before resigning.

I note from your post #5 you were going to raise a grievance due to the continuing issue over their receipt of the report from OH, however this did not happen as the threat of doing so clearly had the effect of them accepting the copy you offered. What you will need to do now is raise that grievance given my point of being seen by the tribunal to have exhausted all internal processes.

You will need to base your grievance on the treatment you have been receiving from your line manager for which you will need to give evidence of recent events, (time, date etc) that demonstrate this. *I also suggest you add to your grievance the issue of lack of consideration (except one) for the reasonable adjustment suggested by OH has also contributed to the work related stress and anxiety you are suffering.

*

[Photega]

Many thanks for your response, as the company grievance policy says that I should take grievances to my line manager but as this is not reasonable I have made an initial email to a senior manager off our site asking who I would address my grievance with as there is nothing on the company policy regarding the contact details to HR as there is no HR representation actually on site so I can look to follow your advice about raising the grievance

[ULA]

They should come back with an alternative which could be your line manager's manager, another senior manager possibly from a different department or if you have a central HR function someone there.

Keep us updated as to how you get on or for some further support if needed.*