Work - making me paranoid.

[CookieRocks]

Hi all. I need some advice for my sister.

 

Main points:

 

1. She has worked at this company for almost 3 years now;
   
2. Never has any problems, and always gets her work done;
   
3. Recently, she has a medical problem, which is unconfirmed and investigations are still ongoing;
   
4. Apart from her self, our mother had a few hospital appointments, which ordinarily, she would have gone with her to understand exactly what the issue was, and therefore asked if she could work from home. They always replied, its only given at the company's discretion. Due to this and also then [everybody] receiving an email further stating that working from home was now not allowed, whilst she did ask, when things were a bit crazy personally, she respected the company policy and didn't ask again. Our mother sadly passed away.
   
5. Understandably, everything is just not normal anymore. Her direct manager noticed that something was wrong, so he spoke with her via an informal talk. She spoke to her openly, with the hope that this can only sorted out.
   
6. Since, she's been back to work, despite the changes, her mind has been up and down at work, and she has been told by other colleagues that they were granted to work from home, but they need to remove it from the diary and don't tell anybody about, furthermore, since the talk, a 'mate' of the manager who was working from home, his entries were changed to hospital the very next day in the work diary.
   
7. Overall, the company seem to have been good with her, and were happy with the work she has been doing.
   
8. Now the company seem to be trying to escalate this all formally, although she has not yet put in a formal grievance, hoping to get these concerns sorted out without the grievance route. There is no reason for it to be this way.
   

So my questions are:

 

1. How should she deal with this? should she put in a formal grievance if the next informal meeting resolves nothing. As it stands, its my sister that's trying to clear this issue.
   
2. I wouldn't like to think that this is a colour problem, but other coloured people are no longer there, but if they still make things difficult for her, it might be thought of as an issue, does she include that in a formal grievance?
   
3. If it gets to a point that she feels she has to resign for her own sanity and health, does this count as constructed dismissal?
   
4. If they dismissed her, can she argue unfair dismissal?
   

This is all I can think of asking at the moment, I'm sure down the line other things may come into this.

Any help and advise would really be appreciated.

Kind regards

[CookieRocks]

Further to add:

 

She has just joined a Union, so they may not be able to help.

She is in that state of mind now where she dreads going into work, and feels sick when she comes back.

It almost seems like something has rattled them and they are just in full defend mode [if that makes sense], but just can't put our finger on what it could be.

 

Thanks.

 

Regards

[ericsbrother]

when she has a diagnosis of her medical problem it may well be covered under the equalities Act if it is to be a long term thing. Then an employer will be expected to make reasonable adjustments to take this into account and that could include working from home some of the time as it has previously been a recognised thing. Wait until you know what is going on medically and then put it to the employer, informally at first and then in a properly worded request if there is no offer to accommodate

[Emmzzi]

I can't actually see what the company are "trying to escalate" - what has actually happened?

 

Me, I'd kep my head down and work hard....

[CookieRocks]

when she has a diagnosis of her medical problem it may well be covered under the equalities Act if it is to be a long term thing. Then an employer will be expected to make reasonable adjustments to take this into account and that could include working from home some of the time as it has previously been a recognised thing. Wait until you know what is going on medically and then put it to the employer, informally at first and then in a properly worded request if there is no offer to accommodate

 

Thanks ericsbrother, will look into that aspect. Appreciate it.

 

I can't actually see what the company are "trying to escalate" - what has actually happened?

 

Me, I'd kep my head down and work hard....

 

Hi Emmzzi.

 

Thanks for replying.

 

In short: She is officially being treated differently from all other colleagues, policy's are in place to deal with aspects of work, others are dealt with favourably whereas my sister is treated unfairly and everything that was been agreed verbally by management is all of a sudden he said/ she said conversations.

 

These favoured staff have been told not to mark it in dairies and also told not to tell anyone that they are working from home. The reason that working from home is a big issue is that our mother was in and out of hospital and whilst at work my sister had an idea as to what the illness was, but by not being able to accompany her to hospital and directly talking to doctors and consultants, there is always going to that 'what if?' status of mind. Obviously it turned for the worse, with her sadly passing away. But at the same time, she is not saying that the company is at fault.

 

Its their rapidness in trying to make this a formal grievance matter with the company as apposed to talking it out informally and trying to deal with it. Just like you, she doesn't know why the company are escalating this either.

 

She is the only coloured staff member left, all others have been sacked and/or made redundant/ forced to resign by almost halving their salary by almost 50%. Now we aren't saying it is gender/ race related, but it can't be discounted at the moment. So she just wants to know what her rights are? Can she forcibly be made to resign? I'm guessing the Equality Act might be something to read up?

 

Hope it makes sense.

 

And she does keep her head down and work, which is always up to the companies expectation. So I'm not sure why the comment was needed. [i'm sure you meant it in a good way]

[Emmzzi]

"trying to make this a greivance matter" - please explain exactly what is meant by this?