Sick leave, rtw advice needed.

[oushkaboo]

Hello!

There is an awful situation at work currently that I would like advice on but it’s very convoluted and confusing to me so writing about it clearly is quite a task. I am writing a post but for now I have a simple (ish) question.

Management employee furloughed, expected to return to work mid April.
they became unwell and required emergency surgery the week before and was provided with a sick note for 4 weeks.
employer covered their post with a management staff member from another site.

employee was ready and willing (and healthy) to return to work ASAP so advised employer of this.
Employee attended return to work meeting 5 days prior to end of sick note and was told they were to remain on leave until further notice. Employee asked for the reason and employer stated it was as they were being ‘nice and making sure employee had healed properly’. The employee wasn’t happy with this as they felt ready to return and told employer this.
Employer told employee to attend a second rtw meeting 7 days later.
The second meeting turned into a he said/she said about employees ability to do the job (employee since dec 2019, had excellent work reviews and a considerable pay rise in October 2020) and employee felt harassed and bullied during this meeting - a meeting that was attended by employee and 2 x employers only. Both employers ganged up on employee and one was laughing throughout and being very rude.
employee was blind sided and nothing has ever been put in writing about anything they spoke about or the meeting even taking place. Employee advised again that they were more than ready to return and wanted to ASAP (ie the following day).

employer told them that they were to remain off work, but wouldn’t give an explanation as to in what capacity/way. Employee asked for this in writing to be told they were just being awkward and a troublemaker. They are to receive full pay.
Employee was told they must not enter the premises during this time off. The business is hospitality and the employee is ‘the local face of the business’ so being off is causing lots of talk amongst customers as to where the employee is - who also lives very locally and is being asked by people when out shopping or walking the dog. The employee is really struggling with it all.
employee asked if there was any allegations being made towards them, the employer stated not.

employee is understandably stressed and upset about the whole situation and the lack of info is causing much anxiety. Even causing panic attacks they have never suffered from.
employee has spent the last 15 months building this business and is being treated as if they are being pushed out.
mother staff that work under this employee have been told nothing, they’re just working as normal but under the ‘cover’ manager.

there is a whole lot more to this involving tupe, changes to job/contracts and bullying but can someone help me to understand what is and isn’t right about the above?
what can the employee expect that hasn’t happened? There are no letters asking for meetings, no follow ups afterwards and google searches are not much help.
I know they had a chat with the acas helpline but they advised them to call back when they had something in writing.
which has been requested but ignored.

TIA

[ULA]

My view is that it is really important to get in writing the reason/s why the employer is not allowing the employee to return to work. If the GP's Fitness for Work certificate has expired and the employee is able to return to work and the employer is asking them to remain at home, even on full pay, they should set out in writing:

1. The reasons why they are asking the employee to remain at home.
2. How long they anticipate asking the employee to stay off work and whether this will continue to be at full pay.
3. What is the plan for the employee to return to work.

So I suggest that the employee writes to the employer asking for this information and giving a deadline, say 5 working days, for them to be provided with this.

[oushkaboo]

ULA thank you for your reply.
They did set out the above questions in writing and has been ignored.
They have since written a formal grievance letter which was delivered last week and has again been ignored.

They are still ‘off work’ and have had absolutely zero contact from the employers. Salary is due this week and they fully expect to be left off payroll… we know it not permissible but the employer don’t care.

They have spoken with their staff and their morale is at an all time low. The cover manager is treating them all very unfairly but they are worried about speaking to the employers due to the treatment of the manager. Understandably so.

All info has been sent to acas with the hope that early conciliation will restart communication.

[ULA]

Does the company have a grievance policy in which case is there a timescale given to acknolwedge the grievance letter? If so are they still within that timescale to respond?

If the policy does not state a timescale or there is not policy then the ACAS Code of Practice states that "Employers should arrange for a formal meeting to be held without unreasonable delay after a grievance is received."

If there is no timescale in the company policy or no grievance policy in place, I suggest the individual writes to the employer next week chasing up a response to the grievance and informaton on when a meeting date is being arranged.