Sick/Injury because of Work, Now They Want to Make Me Redundant, Please Help! DDA

[melody213]

I have been off sick from work for almost a year with depressive illness caused by mistreatment by my management at work, and I have raised a grievance which was not upheld by my employer. I have appealed their decision and am waiting their action.

After raising this grievance, I have only recently been fit enough to meet with them to discuss how to move forward, however having met with them, their agenda was more sinister and was in fact to make me redundant.

I have been receiving a reduced salary from the company’s insurance but they have decided to stop because they think I am able to work in my role according to the Occupation health reports. However they have misinterpreted this because the report says that I can work (after phasing in) but not in my current role because of psychological risk. I have appealed to the insurer and am waiting their action.

The crux of the issue now is that from the point the insurer has stopped paying, my employer (a large global company) has informed me that my role is now redundant and I will be made redundant in 30 days (now less). They said that I will only be removed from the redundancy selection if the insurer resumes paying me or if I get another role internally.

I do not think it is appropriate for my employer to select me. Also, since they are aware that due to medical reasons I would not be able to return to my original role in any case don’t they have a lawful obligation to redeploy me?

If so, since I would be in a new role upon my return wouldn’t their premise to make me redundant be defunct?

It also seems to me that they don’t want to make reasonable adjustments because of my health but instead just want me out. I feel that they are discriminating against my medical condition and possibly victimising me because I raised a grievance. Would this be a reasonable assessment? Is my employer being unfair to me?

Do I have a case for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination?

I would gratefully appreciate your assistance.

[teaboy2]

yes it is a reasonable assement that you are being discriminated as they have a duty to redeploy you to another role in which you are able to do given your condition, and they have had a year to do that. They also have a duty of care to protect your health and saftey, failure to do so is an offence under common law. I am assuming you couldnt return to work due to managment personnel that were responsible are still there or something similar?

 

Was the mistreatment harrasment, discrimination or physical/mental bullying or assualt? You dont have to go into details but just the name that best discribes it will do.

 

Glad you have appealed to the insurers as it seems they have been misinformed. possibly on purpose given what your employer said about your redundancy.

 

Victimisation is possible and like discirmination you only need to feel as though you are being treated in that sense to make a claim to tribunal, as it is upto the employer to prove that they were not victimised and/or acting discriminately against you.

 

How many years have you worked for the company? As 30 days would be 4 years as it is worked as 1 weeks notice per year you have been employed. and how long ago was your original grievance and appeal to their decision lodged? and what was stated as the reason to their decision not to uphold your grievance?

 

In the mean time i would contact ACAS and discuss everything with them aswell.

 

Acas - Contact us

[melody213]

hi thanks for your post. Yes the manager is still there and also a lot of my colleagues (who im not in contact with) are aware that something is going on. I've only been recently well enough to take on another role but this has not been forthcoming from my employer.

 

The mistreatment was ultimately discrimination i.e. excessive monitoring, inconsistent treatment, overlooked for promotion, overloaded with work, etc. All of which my employer denies but only consenting there were "management style" issues such as strict and micromanaging. In the report it says that there was a view in the team that the manager treated people unequally. However my employer still denies my issues.

 

These issues were over the year whilst I was at work in 2008-early 2009 and I have only recently built up the strength to raise a grievance in Sept 2009. The outcome I received in Nov 2009 and I appealed in Dec 2009.

 

My grievance was quite long and hence the outcome report was quite long so its difficult to write here, however the investigator concluded that my grievance was not upheld after his investigation, but that there are development areas for the manager and he will be following up on. He later criticises me by saying that I should have raised issues sooner and that there were sufficient routes to do so - however I did approach other managers and raised these issues but I was ignored/misled. The only step I could take further was with HR but obviously this would jeopardise my career if I went against my own management.

 

I have been employed by them for just under 3 years. My doctor is writing to the insurers, but given whats happening I have little hope now. I cant believe it has come to this. I would think such a large company would stick to the laws but my situation seems to deviate so far from the law with the way my employer is treating me - I am so confused. I need help!

[teaboy2]

Ok, so in the report they admit that there is evidence of people being treated unequally by management yet they are denying their is such an issue even in the face of the evidence? That itself is unreasonable behaviour on the employers part as the evidence is there and can not be ignored. There is serious issues within this company from what you have said here.

 

For them to criticise you for not reporting it sooner is nothing but a further act of discrimination against you, as they are effectively saying its your own fault for not reporting it sooner and therefore they are discriminating agaisnt you becuase you were discriminated against. They are also at the same time completely ignorant of the fact that discrimination is not just one incident of dicrimination but a continous occurance of instances over a period of time that add up, and increases a persons stress level and decreases their confidence. Therefore it is a natural human response to actually sit and take it for a certain period of time before they eventually crack and say enough is enough, which each person does in their own way. That being like yourself, being effected physologically and having to take time off to recover, which results in your confidence slowly coming back to a level where you are strong enough to confront it. Or, like some others that are more inclined to lose their rag and confront them without the need to take time off, after bottling it up for so long.

 

Yes they may have had procedures in place for you, but it is not those procedures that are in question here it is their decisions and actions resulting in you following those procedures, that in my view are unreasonable, that are in question here. You did everything right. All companies normally advise you that the procedure is to take your grievances direct to your manager which you did, that was not successful so you went to the manager or director etc that was directly above him. So you followed the procedure to the letter by the sounds of things.

 

For them to not redeploy you when they know and have been told you are fit to work in an other role is unreasonable, therefore making you redundant from your original role without offering you redeployment is unreasonable too. So you do have strong grounds for a number of claims at a tribunal - Discrimination, Employers failure to show a duty of care to you (which is a criminal offence and should be reported to the health and safety). its also a breach of contract as duty of care is an implied term of employment contracts (there refusal to admit theres an issue in the face of the evidence is your evidence). And you'd also have a claim for unfair dismissal in the event your made redundant as a result of them refusing to redeploy you to another role in which your medically fit enough to do.

 

Now no management style allows for unequal treatment of employees, so for them to say its just their management style is nothing short of admitting that they treat their employees unfairly and unreasonable without a duty of care to them as its their style of managment style.

 

Infact their is only 4 mainstream management styles Autocratic, Paternalistic, Democratic and laissez-faire, a break down of each can be found here on Wiki

 

You should be getting 3 weeks redundancy pay plus accured holidays and any contractual benefits as part of a redundany package, aswell as pay for the work in lieu at the start of your employment. Hopefully they back down, but given the short timescale its not likely, unless the insurance company realise they had been misinformed.

 

So if i was you, i would be preparing to put a claim in at tribunal. You may also beable to include breach of disability discrimination Act into your claim aswell. So contact Acas if you havent already done so and check your housing insurance policy as you may be entitled to legal adice and representation through your house insurance. If not go see your local CAb and speak to an employment representative there.