Can anyone give advice on this scenario? Employee been off sick long-term with disability (covered by DDA). Doc signed back over 6 weeks ago on reduced hours plan. Needs reasonable adjustment to office/premises to enable a return to work. Employer has known about the reasonable adjustments for well over 12 months. Employer not allowing a return to work until adjustments are made - no timescale given. Very stressful waiting every day for a letter/e-mail to say when adjustments will be made. Not being paid salary as run out of sick pay long time ago. Asked for consideration for a reasonable adjustment to pay salary while waiting for adjustments - told no because they are new adjustments and not entitled to full salary until back in full time work. (Not new adjustments- they are the original ones that have not been made correctly) Employee sat at home on no pay waiting for adjustments - asked to book time off in lieu for a forthcoming disability related hospital operation - refused employer states it will be recorded as sick. Other employees have been able to use TOIL for hospital appointments and treatment. Employee want to take toil time for Op because of totting up procedure under sickness monitoring scheme - plus would get paid for the time and don't want to give employer further excuse to delay making the adjustments. Not in work - but signed back by Doc - is it necessary to get a sick note now to cover hospital operation - even though not allowed to go back until adjustments in place? No entitlement to SSP/sick pay - ran out ages ago. Can employee go about normal life while in this situation i.e go out and about in social settings or enjoy time away with family? Don't want to give employer opportunity to discipline employee for not being at home available for work once adjustments are in place! Questions????? What is employee's current employment status - is employee still classed as being on sick leave? - in spite of GP providing a return to work MED3 -but no physical return to work has happened? Could employer discipline employee if employee takes time out with family while in this limbo situation? Can employer refuse paid time off in lieu if not physically returned to the workplace? Is there an entitlement to full pay while waiting for the adjustments? Is it necessary to submit a MED3 to cover stay in hospital when not allowed to work in any case? What should employee do in this situation???

Old Andrew - thanks for bumping this. No change - still being ignored. All this uncertainty is very stressful. I would appreciate your thoughts on if you think this is harassment and bullying. Thanks GG:?

Hope you can help. My partner has been off work long term with a disabilty related injury at work. Doc has signed partner back to work but company dragging heels with adjustments. I believe the real reason that partner is sat at home waiting to go to work is partner will not voluntatily accept a change of contract with a 36% drop in salary for doing the same job as before accident. Can anyone advise Is there an entitlement to salary while waiting to go to work as it is the company that are not ready. Bear in mind they have knew over 5 months ago of the return to work. If they should pay salary would it be full salary or the phased return salary which is only a few hours a week? What are the options when employee does not accept the change in t&cs but wants a return to work. Can the employer simply refuse a return to work until the new contract is signed? I think this is bullying and harassment what does anyone else think?

Me again Just a few more queries. 1. If you are sacked for capability due to ill-health are you entitled to the maximum pay in lieu of notice i.e 12 weeks pay with long service. 2. Covered by DDA and asked for reasonable adjustments to return to work - not discussed or agreed 3. Provided a return to work date and followed company procedures going to doctors etc. Medical report does not rule out a return to work. 4. Is it normal to hold a Disciplinary hearning when they have a return to work date for next week? Should it be disciplinary or a return to work meeting? 5. What would a reasonable employer do in these circmstances??? 6. If they go ahead with dismissal do I have a claim for unfair dismissal? Thanks again GG

Me again with another question - sorry to be a nuisance. If an employer is instructed by the Employment Tribunal to send an employee to be examined by a Specialist and that Specialist prepares a report on the employee's state of health is the employee entitled to request a copy of that medical report under Data Protection or Freedom of Information Act? Can the Employer/their solicitors decide or choose not to rely on the contents of the medical report at the Tribunal:?: Hope you can help again???? Thanks GG

Elche and others - can you help me again please??? Can I give an example to see what sort of comprise payment would be reasonable in the following circumstances:- 56 Years of age 20 Years service at £30k pa Compromise due to Disability Discrimination, Failure to make reasonable adjustments, Disability related breach of contract becasue forced into a lesser role becaue of disability, could also be construed that unfairly dismissed from original contract. Also, possibility of Unfair dismissal if they go ahead with threats to sack next month. Compromise is to cover DDA claim (Legal view in excess of 51% win and definitely covered by DDA and breach of contract was unlawful) and to terminate contract and bring no further claims in respect of emplopyment. Future employment bleak because failure to make adjustments resulted in further injury and been unable to work since accident and disabled. Hope you can help - thanks GG:?:

Hi All Please can one of you very kind people answer my queries about ill-health dismissal. Can you be sacked at the first disciplinary meeting? What is the process that they have to go through i.e who will be at the meeting - do you have a choice if the person at the meeting is the reason why you are unwell? How much notice is reasonable to attend a disciplinary meeting? If covered by the DDA what extra things should the employer take into account before sacking? Can they sack you without first investigating the emplopyee's ill health pension scheme? If employee is too unwell to go into the office can you request a time to meet at home? If the employee has a carer because of disability - can that carer attend the meeting in a support role (not to say anything obviously)? Hope you can help - all the best GG

68904 - Thank you for your advice about the Data Protection. Therefore, as the minutes will be on the Personal file - can Occupational Health access the personal file and then include comments in a medical report the minutes of the greivance when they were not involved. Seems strange to me and at the least not very impartial!

:?Can you please tell me about the Data Protection Act in relation to minutes taken at a greivance meetings. ie. who receives copies, who has access to them and how are they stored??? Also is it good practice for Occupational Health to write in an employee's medical report about a conversation minuted at a grievance meeting when the grievance was not connected to Occ Health and they were not present at the meeting. Thank you in anticipation of your help Galway Girl

Hi again Just wanted some more advice from you knowledgeable peeps. Partner been on long term sick (over 12 months) and now ready to return to work as confirmed by Dr. However, Employer appears to be delaying the return and asking for further medical information. Problem here is if Doctor says he is fit for work is it the responsibilty of the Employer to put him back on the payroll while they make further medical enquiries/reasonable adjustments or does he have to stay on the sick until such a time as they say he can return. He is not getting any company sick pay:confused:! Can anyone confirm what the procedure is after long-term sick? Hope you can help. GG

I would like to consult a very experienced Employment Solicitor specialising in the Disability Discrimination Act. I live in the Midlands area and would not want to travel too far. Can anyone provide a personal recommendation for such a person. Thanks in anticipation Galway Girl

Hope you can help..... the saga continues... Complaint lodged with ET for discrimination and failure to make reasonable adjustments etc. and also personal injury claim in progress for injury caused as a result of the failure to make the requested reasonable adjustments. Future losses will be significant as the ability to return to work is diminishing because of health situation and ill heath retirement is approx 50% of previous earnings. Trade Union would prefer that the Employment Tribunal case is dropped in favour of the personal injury claim!! Their opinion is that damages awarded at County Court for loss of pay and future earnings are far higher than at Employment Tribunal. Now call me a cynic but I am suspicous - I know the Personal Injury claim is on a 'no win no fee' basis and therefore costs can be awarded by the other side. However, at the Employment Tribunal the costs have to be paid for by the Union. Plus by not going to Tribunal the Company are effectively being let-off for the failings and the Insurance Company are carrying the can. Is there any truth in the arguement put forward by the Union that it is better to deal with this as simply a personal injury claim. Or will they (Union and employer) be 'better off' by this arrangement?? Has anyone else had a similar experience? Hope to hear from you:confused: GG

What is the process when asked to attend a Capability Disciplinary meeting? i.e is it a hearing where you can request more time or make suggestions for ways to get you back to work or is it a foregone conclusion that they are going to sack you if you do not resign voluntarily on the day?? Another hypothetical question. If employee has no option but to return to work because the other options available are not financially viable and health situation is looking brighter because of new treatment available on the market. Provided employee gives a return to work date at the Disciplinary/Capability meeting can the employer still go ahead and sack under capability. Just brainstorming - would appreciate your views as its all a bit complex for me!! Thanks G Girl:confused:

Hello I need your advice again.... Briefly - partner has an Employment Tribunal complaint lodged for Disability Discrimination/failure to make reasonable adjustments. Been unable to work because the failure to make adjustments caused an accident and aggravated the disabilty preventing partner from returning to work. Been on longterm sick - no prospect of returning in the near future and Employer looking to dismiss under capability rules. The options as the Employer offers are:- 12 weeks notice of termination with pay Full or Partial ill health retirement Voluntary Early retirement with Voluntary Redundancy The voluntary redundancy is the same package offered to everyone else at the place of work and and a number have already taken it with early pension. However, the only way my partner can take this option is to sign a Compromise Agreement and agree to drop the ET DDA claim. Now the redundacny package offered to my partner is no better than anyone else (i.e no enhancement) and clearly not in our interest. Therefore, my question is surely by asking for the signing of a compromise agreement is once again less favourable treatment/further discrimination for a reason related to disability and the pending DDA case. I believe it is victimisation but I would welcome your thoughts and views. No one else that took redundancy was asked to sign a compromise agreement!!!

1. Mobility problems 2. No lift or other disabled access 3. general office work 4. Very large employer Hope that helps

No the Company own the whole building and there is office accommodation on the ground floor. They knew before they moved the department that he needed adjustment but ignored his requests. I think what is at question here is what is reasonable?

His office and all of his colleagues were all moved upstairs. He was previously doing a supervisory/office work job. Just trying to find his rights out if they offer him an alternative position on the gound floor in a completely different department doing admin/clerical tasks but they are all on much lower grades. hope that helps

My partner's office was relocated to an upper floor without any disabled access. He has a disability (DDA) and cannot now get to the new office to do his job - they knew he had a disability when they refurbished the building. Prior to the office move he worked with 100% attendance. Can they now make him accept a lower paid job (minus 30%) on the ground floor or force him into ill health retirement? If he takes the ill health route to minimise he losses can he then claim constructive dismissal?

Thank you GG and SW for your helpful advice. I have made enquiries with the Council H&S officer and will follow that route. I will let you know how I get on. Peed Orf - I am lost can you expand please. BFN GG

If you ask your employer to provide a reasonable adjustment to your work station under the DDA and they fail to do anything about it for a number of months. You then have an accident at the workstation that renders you unfit for work - longterm and with a possiblity of not being able to work. Do you have a claim (other than a personal injury claim) under the Health and Safety at Work Act. Who (apart from the Union) would you report it to for an investigation? Someone said to me the Health & Safety Exec. Would reporting it have any bearing on a personal injury claim?

We have a similar problem, although it is more complex because of disability discrimination etc. (see my original thread about being forced into a decision ) In our situation we going to follow your advice Paulgmb and decline the demotion and wait to see what happens!

Thank you again Sidewinder Another question - If you have seen two levels of management in the greivance process and they do not give you a written response to the issues you raised and fail to discuss your complaints properly can you take it to another level and appeal again - i.e third level to Director of Personnel. Company tell him the process was concluded and the 2nd level's decision was final, even though it did not deal with all the issues or answer them in writing!! Thanks GG

Thank you both for your helpful advice - I remain of the same opinion as you, however the Union are of the same opinion as the company and they advised him to retire, take Vol Redundancy or take the lower job with a 35% loss in pay and a total different shift system. (I think they are worried that others doing jobs different to their original contract could also claim them - although that is not our problem) The company alledge that they have paid him in error for 2 years as he should have been placed on a lesser salary before this and they have actually been doing him a favour! (2 years ago he came back from sick leave and carried on in the same role - he was never notified that his role/t&cs were going to change to that of the lower paid one) I have filed an ET1 for him because of the discrimination and a DL56 which was answered vaguely and 50% incomplete. The ET is in a stay because of the internal greivance, however, as they have not provided a full or satisfactory response to all the points we raised in the grievance I feel that we should lift the 'stay' and take it further. It would be nice to resolve it, however, they are trying to force a decision. As I see it taking a massive pay cut or retiring is not an option when you have done the job for years without any problem and a simple reasonable adjustment would remove the problem and allow him to continue to work without a loss of pay or status. Again I think the Company are concerned about being seen to set a precedent that others will follow. Could you please point me in the direction of where to find the details in law about contracts etc. so I can quote them. :? Would you recommend taking it to the HR person's manager as they are not answering letters and if I notified their Director of the situation it might get some responses or will that aggravate the situation? The greivance meetings did not address his complaints fully but were merely used by the company to tell him what they wanted him to do in the future:cry: . Thanks again for listening. GG

See my post in Employment. Thanks GG.

My partner is having difficulties at work. Employed by company nearly 20 years ago as a manual worker. At the companies request he was placed in a non-manual role 14 years ago on an 'as and when' needed basis. However, over time he was used more in the non-manual role and this has been a full time and permanent arrangement for 6-7 years doing a job that is different to his original contracted role. (Both parties were in agreement and he has retained the original T&Cs with no written change of contract). Now that he has a disability the company say he cannot return from sick leave to his non-manual role. Instead he must take a lesser role in same location with a significant pay cut, complete change to shift patterns, time off etc. As I see it this is a fundamental change to T&Cs. (Others without any physical disabilities enjoy the original terms and conditions because the company argue that if they are needed to carry out manual tasks they can when asked.) They say if he does not want this lower paid job he can retire or take Voluntary redundancy. Followed grievance procedure but Company still refuse to put in writing the reason why he cannot go back to the job he was doing for last 7 years. They have not given 90 days notice just options in response to a grievance. They are pressing him for an urgent decision. I think he has a custom and practice contract – a simple reasonable adjustment under the DDA would be remove the requirement for manual work and allocate those tasks to someone else. (This would be hypothetical as he hasn’t been asked to do manual tasks for 7 years so it would have no impact on the company.) Your help and advice would be much appreciated.:?