Mental health related Sickness Absence - NPOWER

[anon123]

Hello,

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I'm a little scared to post this because I think it could potentially provide my identity to my employer.

I have been off work now for around 3 weeks, and I have a certified fit note which has a return date of August.

The reason for my absence is for a number of reasons, the first is that I work in a department that deals with the financial difficulties of our customers, and its my job to secure debt and plans, I am in severe financial difficulty myself, and being chased by several debt collection agencies I'm in a little bit of a mess, and having to deal with the same type of situation and hearing 20-30 different stories a day has really caused a lot of anxiety, and making feel really down.

It is also coming up to the anniversary of my mothers death, and coupled with the issues at work, it has put me into a poor frame of mind, and I don't have a lot of motivation to do anything.

I have explained to work that I have severe financial difficulties, and I received a call from an operations manager at work saying that he has a duty of care to inform me that my pay will now be paid at 50%, I feel this is a strong arm tactic in trying to get me to return to work, I have looked at the sickness absence policy which I have a copy of, but I can't really fully understand this.

I am getting a phone call at least once a week, and have missed a couple of calls, all with voicemail's being left saying that even though I have a sick note I need to make myself contactable at all times, every conversation I have leads to them asking me when I am returning to work, I am struggling to explain my feelings to work, and I feel as though I am not being believed, or my case taken seriously.

I have also had a 'welfare meeting' which I intended on the 7th day of my absence (during the time I had self-certified) and I have been told that I need to have another welfare meeting soon, these meetings are really uncomfortable and they make me feel pressurised to return to work when I'm not ready to come back, as I have to answer questions such as 'What is exactly preventing you from coming to work' and when will you return. Some support has been offered during the meetings, but I'm really worried about the entire situation.

During my absence I have been trying to resolve my situation, by self referring to counselling, and seeking the help of CAB and Step Change, but it's still very early days and things seem to be moving very slowly. I am anxious everytime the phone rings, and having to reexplain the situation.

This is just a brief overview of the situation, there have been many phone calls and different conversations with a manager, one advising that he would like to see me in work the following day, as there is 'not just me in the department'

These calls just really aren't helping my situation, and making me feel really insecure. I apologise for the huge novel.

My questions are:

1. Do I need to speak to my employer during my absence if it is a certified absence by my GP?
2. Do I have to attend a welfare meeting with my employer, so soon after I had attended one?
3. Is there any help or support available in terms of receiving 50% pay during the remainder of absence?
4

[Snoopy1948]

Re: Mental health related Sickness Absence - NPOWER

Hi anon123 ...

You have described your situation well here and clearly while you are at the lowest ebb, you have the desire to rise above it all.

I am sure that some other member on here will advise you on the rights and wrongs of your employer's current reaction to your illness, but can I ask you a few things ..

What exactly was the cause of illness written on your doctors statement? Are you on medication for the current illness?
Are you able to confirm that your employment contract details that pay will reduce to half pay after a specific period?
Do you have anyone who can support you at this time ( possibly to receive your phone calls and assist you with your own current debt communications ) ?

I am sure that thousands of people have been in your exact situation and with similar feelings of vilification by your employer. Mental welfare is the hardest thing for an employer to respond appropriately to and can be a 'dignity slammer' at best.

If your job can be described as 'call centre related', I can well understand how your employer regards you as just a number with a function and targets to fulfil, and I speak with some personal experience here. As such, you would feel better if you could interpret that as corporate 'might' and not a personal issue.

My immediate advice would be to use the time to at least formulate a way forward on your personal debt situation. Every debt situation has an optimum way forward and you have to rely on the CAB and Step Change guiding you here so perhaps you ought to step up contact with them. If you can see some light at the end of your own financial mess, perhaps you can sleep better and take that next step towards returning to work. You can return to work immediately that you feel fit to do so but your employer obviously thinks that you can do that tomorrow.

Just be reassured, you are far from alone in this kind of situation. I had very 'difficult' treatment from my employer when my late wife was fast deteriorating with MS and it felt very much like I had reached the end of my working life with them. However, I simply sought support and rose above it all to spend another successful ten years with the same employer.

I truly wish you well with this one!

[anon123]

Re: Mental health related Sickness Absence - NPOWER

Hi anon123 ...

You have described your situation well here and clearly while you are at the lowest ebb, you have the desire to rise above it all.

I am sure that some other member on here will advise you on the rights and wrongs of your employer's current reaction to your illness, but can I ask you a few things ..

What exactly was the cause of illness written on your doctors statement? Are you on medication for the current illness?
Are you able to confirm that your employment contract details that pay will reduce to half pay after a specific period?
Do you have anyone who can support you at this time ( possibly to receive your phone calls and assist you with your own current debt communications ) ?

I am sure that thousands of people have been in your exact situation and with similar feelings of vilification by your employer. Mental welfare is the hardest thing for an employer to respond appropriately to and can be a 'dignity slammer' at best.

If your job can be described as 'call centre related', I can well understand how your employer regards you as just a number with a function and targets to fulfil, and I speak with some personal experience here. As such, you would feel better if you could interpret that as corporate 'might' and not a personal issue.

My immediate advice would be to use the time to at least formulate a way forward on your personal debt situation. Every debt situation has an optimum way forward and you have to rely on the CAB and Step Change guiding you here so perhaps you ought to step up contact with them. If you can see some light at the end of your own financial mess, perhaps you can sleep better and take that next step towards returning to work. You can return to work immediately that you feel fit to do so but your employer obviously thinks that you can do that tomorrow.

Just be reassured, you are far from alone in this kind of situation. I had very 'difficult' treatment from my employer when my late wife was fast deteriorating with MS and it felt very much like I had reached the end of my working life with them. However, I simply sought support and rose above it all to spend another successful ten years with the same employer.

I truly wish you well with this one!

Hi Snoopy,

Thank you very much for your support and response, I really do appreciate you taking the time.

To answer your questions above, my fit note states 'Anxiety' the Doctor hasn't prescribed any medication at this stage, but has referred for bereavement counselling, I do have a copy of the sicnkess absence policy which refers to the half pay thing, but I'm not really able to fully understand it, I'm unsure as to who to seek to get help with this, as my union rep works really short hours and is mostly unavailable.

I guess the most difficult thing is speaking to my employer, on a weekly basis and them asking me what are you doing to get yourself back to work, I find it hard to provide a response, and feel like I'm doing something wrong, even though I'm not.

I'm sorry to hear about your situation as well, it's certainly not something that has an easy fix, or can go away overnight, it's something that stays with you and haunts you until it drains every emotion, a bit deep but it's the best way I can sum it up.

Thanks again!

[Snoopy1948]

Re: Mental health related Sickness Absence - NPOWER

Hi again anon123 ....

Reading everything you have said, it seems that your anxiety issue is killing direction here and that is absolutely understandable. Certainly a quick return to work is not going to help unless you can 100% state that you can rise above their apparent domineering here.

You mention that you have seen the CAB & Step Change for help to date but I gather that's only with respect to your debt issues? Perhaps a revisit to the CAB to discuss your work contract and your position with your current illness might provide a bit more support and clarity for you? You should also mention that the anxiety issues are work related ( or so I gather? ). I spent 23 years in local government listening to tales of extreme woe and it is so easy to absorb the negative energies that brings. often without realising it. When you have heard a thousand people say to you that they will feed the kids before they pay their council tax, it is easy to understand how hard the process of debt recovery is. But people will defend their position in any way that they can and that includes bringing you down as well.

Oh, you mentioned talking to your union rep who isn't there often .... can you not push to have contact with her?