Doctor advised less hours but company take no notice

[Surfer01]

My wife has been complaining that she has problem in her wrists & hands for some time and she is having difficulty with her job on the line in the factory and requested lighter work. She had reported this problem on several occasions to the company nurse.

Eventually the company sent her to the "company" doctor who recommended that she work a maximum of 5 hours a day and also do lighter work.

They have had the medical report for well over a week and every time she asks if he have made a decison she is told it will be discussed at the next meeting.

In addition, in between she was put on a job that she could hardly manage and ended up phoning me in tears. She wanted to walk out but I think that is what the comany is hoping.

I think it is disgusting the way they are treating her and have advised that in two weeks time they are moving onto a 48 hour week which means starting at 5:20am to finish at 3:30pm. The company works annualised hours.

Every day she comes home complaining about her hands and wrists. If she goes off sick she loses her six month bonus which can be about £500! Then she would only get SSP and we cannot survive on JSA and SSP.

Can any one advise if we need to take any action to wake the company up. She wants to carry on working just shorter hours.

Edited March 4, 2010 by Surfer01

[Bigredbus]

Is that 'wrists and hands' medical problem a result of her work? Has it been induced in any way by her working at the factory? If yes, has it been declared of discussed with line management?

 

Going against company medical advice sounds very irresponsible... moreover if the pain gets worse and ends up preventing your wife from working...

 

A call to the HSE could be of help...

[honeybee13]

I agree BRB, this could be an 'industrial injury', [rsi?] caused by your wife's work, Surfer. HSE is the place to start, possibly followed by ACAS, do you think?

 

Please keep us posted - this company sound awful. My best to your wife.

[Bigredbus]

[Hi 'honeybee13'... nice to see you around]

 

It could be Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) but they must first establish if the injury is a result of her work at the factory...

 

ACAS and/or CAB are of good help in those matters... seems like the right step to take upon contacting the HSE...

[Surfer01]

Awhile back in 2005 she had an accident at work due to insecure fittings on the line which resulted in one of her fingers losing dexerity. She got paid compensation for this.

The current problem is definitely work related as it is repetitive work she does on the factory floor and at the time of her compensation claim documenst were submitted advising that she shoudl not carry on doing repetitive work. The wife is in her late fifties and has to waiy until she is 63 before getting a pension plus she does not want to mess up the work pension she has at present.

However she has been complaining to management,seeing the nurse which resulte in the company authorising and paying for the visit to thei doctor resulting in the report however when she queried it yesterday management had not even bothered to read the report although they had had it for nearlry 10 days!

When you say HSE are you referring to Health & Safety if so I am not sure how an outside party would, be able to assist or what she should be saying to HSE.

We are both extremely worried about the whole thing as it all revolves around income unfortunately as I was made redundant and I am battling to get a job. The wife doesn't want to lose out on her work pension either.

[Surfer01]

I agree BRB, this could be an 'industrial injury', [rsi?] caused by your wife's work, Surfer. HSE is the place to start, possibly followed by ACAS, do you think?

 

Please keep us posted - this company sound awful. My best to your wife.

Seems i cross posted. Thanks to you and bigredbus. I think you are both correct regarding injury, but what is so annoying is that they have not even bothered to read the medicla report submitted to them recently.

I have never dealt with HSE so not sure what they can offer in the way of help.

[Bigredbus]

The bottom line is if the employer decides to ignore the doctor's recommendations, it could end up being detrimental of any subsequent Personal Injury claim brought against them (if you decided to do so!)

 

HSE is, indeed, the Health and Safety Executive, and as such would be able to guide you as per the next step to take with the employer. Just tell them about the incident in 2005, that she got compensation, that the pain is still present, that initial recommendations have not been implemented and that she has been recently sent to the 'company' doctor and he recommended lighter duties... but that the employer is not implementing any of the recommendations.

[honeybee13]

Surfer, the HSE [Health and Safety Executive] have a website you might like to read. Then you can decide if you want to trust them. But as I understand it, their job is to make sure that people are safe at work and that employers follow procedures and the law of the land.

[Surfer01]

Thanks the accident affected one finger as a tenon was ripped however now she has problems with her hands and wrists overall. Although I am no doctor I don't think the previous accident haas anything to do with the current condition although of course they were advsied that light duties had to eb considered and that was way back in 2006.

I will have a look at the HSE site to see what they can offer. Thanks both.