Reasonable adjustment

[colin813]

I am representing a friend in work who has wrote a letter to the hr department requesting a reasonable adjustment to his working hours.

 

He is suffering with depression and has been for the past 18 months. He has missed a number of shifts as his depression gets worse whilst working 2pm-10pm. His request is to move his thurs and fr pm shifts to 6am-2pm.

 

After submitting his letter he has had a response from hr stating in line with company procedures, his case has been referred to the occupational health department where they will review the information provided in the letter and information provided at previous attendance review meetings.

 

my question is can the hr department forward personal details to the occupational health without consent?

 

what qualifications do a occupational health advisor need before they can asses somebody with depression?

 

any other advice welcome

 

many thanks

[Allwood]

Your friend should have seen the form before it was sent to the OH. Did he see the form before submission to the OH?

[colin813]

no he didnt see the form. he sent his letter to hr on the 7th july and got a reply from hr via letter telling him that this info has been sent to occupational health. hr are awaiting a report from occupational health on the best way to procced. the letter also says occupational health may also contact him

[Allwood]

You friend should asked HR for a copy of the form submitted to OH as soon as possible, as he want to know what they have put on it. I think the OH may contact him by phone. ;-)

[colin813]

thanks will advise the info be checked. should hr be requesting his own doctors report ? would occupational health be best qualified to deal with somebody with mental health problems?

[honeybee13]

thanks will advise the info be checked. should hr be requesting his own doctors report ? would occupational health be best qualified to deal with somebody with mental health problems?

 

 

Hello, I'm not sure what you mean about the info being checked.

 

HR may well want to write to his GP or other adviser, but should not do so until he has signed a form consenting to them doing that. He will be able to see the report before it goes off to OH and will have the opportunity to comment.

 

I would suggest that OH should write to the doctor and deal with it medic to medic. Someone on the forum said that HR never ask the right questions.

 

OH is likely to be where you start and are probably the best-placed people in the company to deal with it. I saw an outside consultant and he was very good on mental stuff. At the end of the day, if you disagree with OH, you could ask the GP or preferably someone from the NHS Mental Health team to write to them. If he's been ill for that long, I would hope he's been seen by the Mental Health team.

 

Hope that helps a bit.

 

HB

[colin813]

thanks honey bee and allwood. Are you saying that hr should not send anything to oh without my friend seeing whats in the report and giving his consent for it to be seen by oh?

[honeybee13]

I'm not absolutely sure about whether he should have seen the form for OH, will google if I can. I do know about Access to Medical Reports and he should be allowed to view that, if one is requested.

 

HB

[Allwood]

This link should help

 

Occupational health guidance requires patient consent to disclose reports to employers

[colin813]

thanks again have found this site that gave me a good insight to the role of oh. www.premierohc.co.uk i hope it helps anybody else looking for an insight on oh

[Sunfl0wer]

Hi

I would like to respond iro HR referral to OH.

Usually an employee should be fully prepared to work with HR towards reaching a workable solution. The employer / employee contractual relationship is basically very simple:

An employee is contracted to work and the employer is contracted to remunerate that employee for that work. It is when variations to that relationship crop up, that these sorts of questions arise.

In my view, an employer (be that HR), has every right to refer an employee to OH and I would have difficulty understanding why an employee would have a problem with this, after all, the employer has a duty of care to ensure that the employee is fit to fulfill their contractual obligations.

Having said that, the employee has the right to see the OH referral letter. Equally, the employee has the right to agree or refuse, that OH contact and discuss the medical problem with the GP.

However, I must state that in the many, many Tribunals I have attended, it is of no help to the claimant when it can be shown by the employer, that they were obstructive in all matters OH-related. Obstruction can very easily be shown when the employee has refused consent to contact their GP, failed to attend OH appointments, etc.

My advise is that the employee is fully engaged in the OH referral, after all, if there is indeed a genuine problem (and I am not for one minute saying there isnt), then there should be no reason for the employee NOT to engage. HR cannot and never should, make any health-related decisions without solid OH advice.

Good luck.

[Sunfl0wer]

thanks honey bee and allwood. Are you saying that hr should not send anything to oh without my friend seeing whats in the report and giving his consent for it to be seen by oh?

 

 

Just to be clear on this, your friend has no right to 'stop' the OH referral, and has not automatic right to 'consent' to an OH referral.

The only right they have is that they can see what the referral document includes as well as the right to see the resultant OH report.

[Allwood]

You are right regarding the OH however when my friend was referred to the OH in 2007 she did not know anything about it. She answered all he OH questions regarding her time off work with a serious injury.

 

Later my friend got to see the OH referral that was submitted by the manager and some of the information was incorrect on the form it said that my friend was a temporary employee which was not correct. Do not know what the manager though what was to be gained by putting that on the form as she knew perfectly well that my friend was a permanent employee with the company.

[colin813]

thank you sunflower for yor input

 

i agree with what you say and my friend is fully committed to seeing the oh.

 

i asked 2 questions at the start of this thread.

 

question 1 was the fact that hr sent his details without first asking my friend as this was personal information i wondered if consent was needed.

 

question 2 was do oh need to be specialised in the field of mental health

 

my friend needs help and will do all the company require to enable him stay in employment

 

thanks all

[honeybee13]

Hi. I think I said earlier that I don't know if you'll get an OH person with mental knowledge, although it is part of workplace health. You would need to ask what qualifications they have and then check them out.

 

If a form was sent to OH, then it would be manners for your friend to see it, I don't know if there's a legal requirement. The referral could have been by phone. Is it an in-house department or an outside consultancy?

 

HB

[Sunfl0wer]

Hi

 

One would expect OH to be qualified certainly within the OH Advisory level - usually, anything they are unable to deal with, they would refer on to a medical practitioner. The role of OH is to assess whether there is anything within the work arena that could be contributing to the ill health, they also make recommendations towards supporting the employee back to full time employment.

 

In terms of your question in respect of whether the employee needs to give permission for the OH referral - the short answer is no. Why would they have a problem with a referral intended to help / assist them to better health?

[Allwood]

Hi

 

One would expect OH to be qualified certainly within the OH Advisory level - usually, anything they are unable to deal with, they would refer on to a medical practitioner. The role of OH is to assess whether there is anything within the work arena that could be contributing to the ill health, they also make recommendations towards supporting the employee back to full time employment.

 

In terms of your question in respect of whether the employee needs to give permission for the OH referral - the short answer is no. Why would they have a problem with a referral intended to help / assist them to better health?

 

What if OH has advised certain things to be done by the employer and they have not complied with it.

 

Also, 2 times manager has put wrong information one OH referral forms manager had put employee down as temporary although the employee had been with the company over 2 years, the second time it was DoB was incorrect surely they are fundamental things that mangers should get correct before any referral form is send to OH

[Sunfl0wer]

Hi

 

The mistakes you refer to sound like bad administrative errors and I doubt they could have an impact on an OH assessment or recommendations. There is no reason the employee can't put these errors to right during the appointment. Dob and temporary vs permanent mistakes just sound sloppy, rather than deliberate attempts to derail a referral.

 

Of more importance is if certain measures are recommended by OH that are subsequently ignored by the employer: are we talking risk assessment, work station assessment, reduced hours, that sort of thing?

 

The employee should raise this formally and ask why the recommendations, which came through a referral THEY did, are not being actioned.

[Allwood]

Hi

 

The mistakes you refer to sound like bad administrative errors and I doubt they could have an impact on an OH assessment or recommendations. There is no reason the employee can't put these errors to right during the appointment. Dob and temporary vs permanent mistakes just sound sloppy, rather than deliberate attempts to derail a referral.

 

Of more importance is if certain measures are recommended by OH that are subsequently ignored by the employer: are we talking risk assessment, work station assessment, reduced hours, that sort of thing?

 

The employee should raise this formally and ask why the recommendations, which came through a referral THEY did, are not being actioned.

 

Hi Sunfl0wer, yes, I agree it must have been administrate errors but for it to happen twice is not good. also it is not alway possibile to put these erros right during the appointment as the employee would not be available of the errors if they do not see the OH referral in the first place.

 

The OH gave good recommendation but not carreid out by the employer also the employer dose not like giving reduced hrs.

[Allwood]

Also if the employer was to let the employee see the form before it was submitted to the OH then s/he could confirm that all the personal details were correct and this help the employer and employee. 8-)

[colin813]

thanks allwood, sunflower for your input

 

the reason i ask could hr sent his details without first asking my friend as this was personal information i wondered if consent was needed is due to data protection. if personal information is sent to a oh would consent be needed and indeed checked prior to information being disclosed.

[honeybee13]

Hello colin813. As Sunflower and probably some others have suggested, I think you're barking up the wrong tree here about the personal information part of this. I don't think the point about the referral to OH is relevant, irritating as it may be. I would say the important part is your friend's medical problems rather than finding fault with the date of birth, etc. Sorry.

 

For what it's worth, I think you should be pursuing other avenues against this employer, as mentioned in previous posts.

 

HB

[colin813]

indeed thank you hunniebee. i am in total agreement with all comments and fully support the hr decision to refer to oh. This is the correct response to help my friend. i just think it would have been polite to seek permission rather than send a letter to notify of the referal.

 

thanks again all

[Allwood]

The reason having the correct DoB on the OH form for the employee that is referred to them is because the OH may needs to contact the employee's GP therefore a correct DoB is important as GP's has lots of patiens of the same names and it would be essential that the GP has the correct DoB for their patiens to locate their records for the OH if needed.

Edited July 14, 2010 by Allwood

[cheerup]

If they finish at 2200 on the Wednesday then start at 0600 on the Thursday this is an eight hour rest break between shifts which is below the minimum eleven hours.