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Hi Everybody! Please Please can someone help!!

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  • Hi Everybody! Please Please can someone help!!

    I have been suspended from work for call avoidance, I work in a Call Centre for one of the big high street banks and have been there for 9yrs. We are heavily targeted on staying in "available" to take calls, with a 20% allowance for breaks and off the phone work activity. I have severe crohns disease which I have had for the last 8 yrs (managers and HR are aware) and also have a physical disability from birth which means i cant walk without pain and my mobility is severly limited (i am 1 step short of being wheelchair bound) at work i have managed to cope despite my problems until a couple of months ago, call volumes have gone through the roof in recent months as we are seriously understaffed and due to this and problems at home (My wife who is also my carer has been diagnosed with a heart condition) stress levels are off the charts. This has led to increased need to go to the bathroom (15-20 times per shift) which then led to my "efficiency stats" going miles over the 20% expected levels. Even though my managers would turn a blind eye to this per say, I could see they were unhappy at this due to body language, tone of voice etc. I also felt the resentment from people within my team, the constant emails with my increased percentages being on going around the floor increased my stress and anxiety. I stupidly took matters into my own hands and decided that whenever I needed to go to the toilet I'd ring a number that was in a continuous loop so it didn't go against my stats. I felt I had no other choice. At times I could be in the bathroom for 30-40mins waiting for the pain to subside. This call avoidance has now been picked up and I have been suspended on full pay, the whole episode has made my crohns even worse and I am currently in hospital to get further treatment. Although work have been fantastic in always allowing me time off for regular appointments and sickness days off which I am grateful for I feel my illness hasn't been taken into account. Furthermore on speaking to other people in the bank I have been made aware of a dept called occupational health who should have looked into my situation and seen if I was fit for the job and if not then look into alternatives. I had NEVER even heard of these people until after I'd been suspended. It's been clear for a while I was struggling in work yet apart from being lenient with time off nobody considered alternatives. I have been told off the record that HR want to go for Dismissal even though they haven't even had a disciplinary meeting with me to get my side of events.

    Where do I stand with disciplinary? Call avoidance is gross misconduct.

    If i get sacked can I claim unfair dismissal/disability discrimination as NEVER once did anybody check my capability to do my job, from my sickness record it was quite clear I was struggling.

    Sorry if I've waffled on. I would be EXTREMELY GRATEFUL for any advice as I am very worried that HR have already decided to dismiss even before taking my mitigation into consideration.
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  • #2
    Re: Hi Everybody! Please Please can someone help!!

    Hi [MENTION=70066]Nasmamu[/MENTION] welcome to LB
    I've moved your thread to the Employment section where you'll get the best advice
    [MENTION=19071]teaboy2[/MENTION] [MENTION=67649]matt3942[/MENTION] ... have you any advice here please?
    Debt is like any other trap, easy enough to get into, but hard enough to get out of.

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    • #3
      Re: Hi Everybody! Please Please can someone help!!

      Thank you so much!

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      • #4
        Re: Hi Everybody! Please Please can someone help!!

        You need to put in a formal grievance pointing out the exactly what you have just said to us (mitigating circumstances and work place stress caused by under staffing and higher call volumes, but to also point out that they have failed in their duty of care towards you by not carrying out an assessment or making reasonable adjustments, when you first informed them of your illness, i.e. moving you to a desk nearer to the toilets, increasing your 20% allowance etc in light of your condition. But also for failing to refer you to occupational health at the same time - Duty of care is a contractual term that is legally binding on the employer, just as it is on the employee. There failing here may give you grounds for a disability discrimination claim i.e. failed to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate you and your disability!

        Also you can get a grant to pay for cost of such adjustments from the governments access to work scheme - More details here http://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/access-work - I may also be worth your while contacting them too.

        Basically if they go through with the disciplinary and dismiss you, then i would be of the view that it would be unfair, if it had not been for you calling a number to try and hide your going over the 20% allowance thing, so its like that act that they are investigating you for not that fact you were going to the toilet more often. And to be honest you should have notified your manager of the issue instead of keeping quite about everything!

        Hopefully they will take note of their breach of duty of care and failure to carry out an assessment and to refer you to occupational health, and will drop the investigation as a result. But there's no guarantee.
        @matt3942 will probably be along soon too, though i believe his advice would be similar to mine
        Please note that this advice is given informally, without liability and without prejudice. Always seek the advice of an insured qualified professional. All my legal and nonlegal knowledge comes from either here (LB),my own personal research and experience and/or as the result of necessity as an Employer and Businessman.

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