PLEASE HELP! with work issues Discrimination. Its literally killing me

[Pipboy3000]

Hi all,

I am new to this site as I really feel that I have no where else to go and also that I can be open and honest on here

I am a manager In a footsie 100 business call centre in the financial sector father of 2

Little back story, I suffer from mental health issues and earlier this year ,I found a therapist who understood me and really helped me to the point i genuinely felt normal again and was getting on with life being happy which I hadn't felt in a while, it did take 6 months of therapy to get to where I was in June 2020 which was just normal I suppose you could say. I had been off work from Feb to May to help my recovery.

When I returned my company due to COVID the company had moved to people working from home with the ability to take calls from home and they also offered x3 overtime round the clock outside of normal shift hours. In mid June I asked my manager to arrange for me to have the ability to take calls from home so I can take advantage of the x3 OT which was agreed.

So I had explained to my leader the importance of me being able to take advantage of the x3, due to unfortunately taking on some debt when I was off just simply buying to try and make myself feel better ( Depression debts I called it to my manager ) then as I explained I could finally put that bad part of my life behind me and move forward.

Long story short fast forward to 25th August and at least 8 occasions where I has chased with my manager and they had sent emails to others and that continued until 25th of Aug when I eventually got the option to take calls from home, oh I forgot to mention they decided to end the x3 on 31st Aug. o i was given the opportunity to make 6 days overtime. by this time as Id explained to my manager on several occasions from July it was starting to effect my mental health as I felt things were starting to go against me, but I am constantly getting reminders by my team to sort their overtime out, seeing how much they were making ( over 5K a month some of them ) and being asked to chase missed overtime, yet I cant take advantage of it. they where constantly putting things out saying how good it was that people are making this much money etc. yet I could take advantage of what 1000s of other colleagues have access to.

I also need to add that many emails stating that all OT after 8pm MUST be done from home and cannot be completed in the office.

I work from 9 till 7 and have to drop my kids off at school after sorting them out and also pick them up from school, as my partner works for the NHS and is busy all hours due to COIVD . So as I explained to my manager, the only time I have available to complete the overtime would be when my kids where in bed 7/8pm for 3 hours. Always the plan from the 1st conversation

My mental health dipped again and I let my manager know on several occasions that it was effecting me and they promised me they where trying to sort it, I raised a grievance against the company stating, discrimination as 1000s of others had access to this including all my manager peers, actually everybody I knew of in the business had access to it except me.

Also I stated that they had put me in a bad state of health due to the fact that they didn't give me the same opportunities as other colleagues which has financially impacted me. As I should have my my Depression debts paid off

I have subsequently have had to go off on the sick and my therapist is furious that an avoidable thing has set me back.

So my grievance was from Mid June to end of August. I received my grievance outcome by email, no phone call to explain. just an email on a Friday afternoon. I mailed back asking why he has not called me and he just ignored me all day which infuriated me as he just left me scratching my head with more questions than I started with.

He brought up things from the beginning of 2019 and then the beginning of 2020 saying how the company has supported you and when you returned earlier in the year you finished at 3pm instead of a full shift , which was a lie as I left the office at 3pm to collect my kids then i would complete the rest of my shift at home. Which was difficult as I did not have a phone line i could use as the system wasn't sorted for me. Most days working well past my agreed hours to help support collages using my personal phone, but for security purposes I had to have a work line as the calls are recorded to speak to customers.

He also said that it was my fault I was in debt not the companies( still confused why he said that as I never once said that, I used the term depression debt as context to say what i had told my manager. At no point did I blame the company for the debts) He said that I should have done more, I chased 8 plus times I genuinely dont know what the magic number is to have done enough is.

He said that front line staff where a priority over me even though in his words " even though other leaders you know have the access"

I had explained to him that by the time I did get access My mental health had been affected and I was struggling to get out of bed, He said i should have done more hours when It did eventually get sorted

He told me I have not been discriminated against as I could have come into the office to do overtime, even though I explained my situation. So i physically could not come into the office and was not allowed to come into the office after 8pm. So i dont know when I could have done this

This had lead me so far backwards on a mental health level I was considering suicide, then an old friend of mine smoke weed so i visited him and it helps so I have been smoking that all the time to help. But I DO NOT want to smoke weed or any form of drugs. I had been Ttotal all year and was very proud. I never took drugs but I never had a drink at all .

Now I cant get buy a couple of hours without needing a smoke, its taking over me finically and I'm at a point where the high is not enough to keep me going anymore.

My leader also hand picked the person who did the grievance, and I have a feeling the person listening to my appeal is also in their group which concerns me.

Instead of being in a better financial position and looking forward to Christmas. Im in a worse, much worse position.

Someone please help, I have probably missed loads out but from what you can read please help


Thank you


Also on one call with my manager I explained I needed to go to rehab as I was just about to tell her that I had a drug Issue which was nerve wrecking for me, she hung up on me and didn't try to reach out again for 2 weeks at which point I did tell her about my drug issue and she told me she thought that was that case when we last spoke but she just left it for 2 weeks.

My mental health issues started really bad in early Sept when I couldn't take it any more and they have only just arranged AXA to call me for support last week knowing the whole time my situation


I feel that I have been mentally and emotionally abused and neglected by a company I have worked for over 8 years and loved up until this point

They have pretty much ripped my life apart


Surely this would be covered as a reasonable adjustment, giving me access to what thousands of others had access to , knowing that it would benefit my mental health. Thanks again

[Pipboy3000]

Also this is a company that promotes colleague wellbeing and speaking out when something is not right.

Also promoting talking about mental health. Yet as soon I have said its your fault I'm like this. They have left me to rot and this experience has lead me to second guess ever talking about my issues again. This is why I feel safe in a forum

[Pipboy3000]

Please

[ULA]

Sorry but your post is very long and confusing in terms of detail. My replay of your post is that you are manager in a call centre, you were off from Feb to May this year, I presume due to your mental health issues. When you returned from sickness absence and due to COVID staff were oved to work from home.

Was that the case for you or were you still required to go into the office?

For a period of time up until end of Aug staff were being offered overtime, outside of their normal shift hours of 3x salary.

Was that overtime available to managers as well as staff?
Was the overtime available regardless of whether the person worked in the office or at home?
You state your working hours are 9am to 7pm can you confirm these are your contractual hours?

You have raised and had heard a grievance for which you have made an appeal.

When did you raise your grievance and was it purely related to the fact you were not given access to the overtime?
Have you requested that your grievance appeal be heard by someone outside of your department?

You have been off sick for a second period of sickness absence.

When did you go off in sickness absence this second time?
Are you still off sick?

In regard to your mental health, how long has this been an issue for you?
Who other than your manager have you spoken to about your mental health issues - have you spoken to HR?

Does the company have a drug and alchol policy?

[Pipboy3000]

Thank you so much for replying. Yes apologies, as I say my head is not straight, so sometimes I go off one one and it doesn't make sense, thank you for not berating me about that

Was that the case for you or were you still required to go into the office? I would work in the office from 9/ 10 am till 3pm then I would collect my children and complete the remainder of my shift at home using my personal phone to contact my team, as I did not have access to the company system which made it hard for me to complete my normal job as I needed to call customers as part of complaints etc. thus not allowing me to complete the overtime.

Was that overtime available to managers as well as staff? Yes it was available to all people, even my manager had it was was taking advantage of the x3

Was the overtime available regardless of whether the person worked in the office or at home? yes but only till 8pm then it had to be completed at home, no option of going into the office. Majority of people in the office would log off go home get some food then log on at home to complete the overtime


You state your working hours are 9am to 7pm can you confirm these are your contractual hours? Contractual hours 35 per week, from 9 - 5/6 or 10 - 6/7
Obviously I had to complete the 35hours before I could receive x3 OT, yet some key timers were getting x3 after just 15 hours, they did not need to work 35 hours before they were entitled

When did you raise your grievance and was it purely related to the fact you were not given access to the overtime? Raised at the start of September after the x3 had ended and I went downhill rapidly, I was informing them and chasing from mid June. No it was based in discrimination ( for not giving me the same access as my peers ) thus financially impacting me, also for effecting my mental health

When did you go off in sickness absence this second time? Not long after around 9th Sept and yes still off at the moment

In regard to your mental health, how long has this been an issue for you? Started at the beginning of 2019 but found a really good therapist at the start of 2020 and was as far as me and my therapist were concerned I was 90% back to normal even extending my next appointment to 3 months normally every 3 weeks

Who other than your manager have you spoken to about your mental health issues - have you spoken to HR? I have spoken to many mental health charities, Samaritans, Occ health only last week as my manager never arranged a referral for me. I have started to speak to a drug charity a couple of weeks back GP. As embarrassed as I am to say I haven't spoke to my therapist since the grievance decision as I feel as though I have let him down after all he has done for me, I want to contact him daily but it really is easier said than done

Does the company have a drug and alcohol policy? Yes they do but I am unsure what it is as I have never had to deal with any drug or drink related issues ( certainly never imagined I'd find myself fin the middle of one )

Surely, access to a system that many 1000s of others have is a reasonable adjustment especially as they knew since June the benefit of my health me having that. Also knowing that it is a once in a lifetime opportunity as x3 only comes around xmas day and new years day.

I have my appeal meeting tomorrow, he is somebody outside of the department so I will have to see

Genuinely, thank you again. I hope the above makes more sense

[ULA]

I appreaciate that it is a diffcult time and thank you for the information and answers to my questions which have been really helpful and provided some focus as to what the issues are. In regard to the grievance and your appeal today thank you for clarifying that is about not being put on the x3 overtime.

Therefore just wanting to get something over to you quickly before your meeting which may help.

1. The company was at least aware from Feb 2020, when you first went off sick, that you had mental health issues, so even if you had not mentioned it to them during 2019 this was when they knew of your health problems.
2. If you have worked your 35 hours week in the period that x3 overtime was available and you worked more than these hours, then if everyone else in your team and your manager peers were able to take advantage of this what was the company's reason for not applying it to you in the same way. Potentially if ths was due to your health issues this could be considered as discriminatory.
3. The fact that, despite your efforts chase up over an 8 week period, to be allowed the benefit your team and your manager peers recevied and it was not agreed, put a lot of stress on you and led to your mental health being affected. This was something that the company could have avoided by allowing you the same benefit.
4. The result of this is that you have been off sick against since Sept and your mental health has declined.

I think for the meeting today dealing with your appeal the above are the facts that you need to concentrate on getting across. Hope this helps.