Reasonable adjustments/hours of work given to someone else is this right ?

[Gerryscarer]

Hello Everyone,

Please can anyone advise on the following, my relative who has a long term medical condition (diviculitis) and now a physical impairment (cervical disc disease for which she has been referred to a neuro surgeon for and is awaiting an appointment and the outcome may involve surgery and she has been advised this) GP not much help in supporting her with work problems.

In the meantime she is extremely anxious about approaching her retail employer with this new information as they may change her part time hours (contract), she does not want to change her hours but she needs to have her physical duties changed while waiting for the appointment with a neuro surgeon which may take some time. How does she ask for reasonable adjustments and if allowed , how long for as this is not a registered disability?, also she has been off sick for over three weeks with sciatica and she was going back into work today and she rang her employer (3 days ago) to say she was coming back into work and they went and they gave her hours away to someone else. Can employers do this ? Her certificate ran out.

If anyone can help or point her in the right direction in getting advice we would be grateful, many thanks best wishes to all.

[TimeLord]

Hello she would need a doctors statement to hand to her employer to say' she must refrain from certain tasks or situations. Depending on the duties she is also doing and is safe for her and those she is working with. Has her employer got its own medical advisor that can help explain her circumstances. Or she could just be signed off I guess when any surgery is going to be done she will be off recovering from that. At the end of the day her health and wellbeing is more important. I had a similar situation myself with an employer because of Crohn's disease they understood that I had limitations that were out of my control. Health comes first.

[Gerryscarer]

Thank you time lord for replying.

She may need surgery but its unclear, she has been told not to do any heavy lifting and any activities where she keeps turning her head. She is so worried that she is going to lose her job. I am worried that the store she works for will not class her as having a disability , normally diviculitis is not automatically considered a disability but again it depends on how this long term condition affects her and she has told them of her diviculitis and now today she is going to infom them of this possibility of surgery, so i am worried they could dismiss her as she is not classed as having a disability. Don't know how she can get this identified as having a disability. who would she need to see to confirm that this affects her daily life ?. would an OT via NHS be able to help her. I did mention that retail company should have their own medical advisers or pay for one when being assessed. She is suffering from bad headaches and although the doctor has put on her certificate light duties she needs to be on light duties permanently. On the doctors certificate he has advised that she should return to light duties but i don't think that will be enough. Who should she to help her case. Right now she seems more worried about them taking her few hours away and giving them to others who are not on contracts. She is worried they will keep doing this because of the time off she needs now and again. Like you say its her health that should come first. don't know what the next step is as she seems to be. thank you once again for your reply best wishes.

[Gerryscarer]

sorry time lord meant to say that i do not know what the next step seems to be for her. Can her diviculitis be registered as a disability while she waits for the outcome of her disc disease. thanks

[TimeLord]

I see it as if her employer isn't aware of her condition and if the employer has it's own medical advisor or Occupational therapy advisor that can help, or If she has a registered Nurse for the diviculitis that she has contact with they can also help with contact .
She can also contact or an IBS charity for advice
http://www.gutscharity.org.uk

Also it will depend on her existing contract if she is covered for it, in sickness terms conditions if she has one.

Her current employer maybe more understanding than what she might be assuming, nobody can help being unwell or shouldn't be ashamed because they have an illness or disability, that restricts their day to day activities.

There is also a telephone contact on the link below

http://gutscharity.org.uk/contact-us/

[nukecad]

Just wondering how big is this 'retail' employer?

Is a large company, like say Asda, or if it's a small shop/franchise with only four or five working there.

[Gerryscarer]

thank you for replying time lord. I have spoken to her and passed on these details to her. she is having another meeting today. She had one yesterday and that was a back to work meeting. On her certificate the doctor says light duties but did not specify a phased back to work. Instead she has done it herself by only going back three days to see how she gets on. The meeting did not go well yesterday and there are a lot of changes happening within the store. the attitude she received was 'there is not much left for you to do is there'. she is having another meeting today and i have advised her that she should write down everything she wants to ask and get a copy of what they say. I said to ask specifically what meeting it is. Hopefully she will let me know how she gets on. just wanted to say thanks again for the details of the guts organisation. Best wishes.

[Gerryscarer]

hello nukecad,

Its a large retail clothing company. Im just worried they are pushing her out of the job because of the time off she has had due to her long term condition, not only that she may have to have surgery regarding her neck due to thecal cervical disc disease and in the meantime she can only do light duties not heavy lifting of boxes and stuff. So aswell as diviculitis she has this hanging over her. She just wants her duties changed not her hours. what can she ask for. its not a prominent or obvious disability to the company?. What can she do if they want to get rid of her?. thanks for replying. best wishes

[TimeLord]

You're welcome hope it helps.

If she is discriminated against by the employer for her disability contact citizens advice and then look at going to tribunal.


But as I said' nobody knows what will happen health wise in the future. But any attempt for dismissal because of a disability she would win. Or they may, if they wished offer her a handshake amount redundancy payment if they wanted to replace her. You need to find out their commitments to employees in good health or otherwise.

[nukecad]

To be honest, if pessimistic, then if they have decided that they want her out then it's going to happen.

Sorry to be so blunt, but I've seen it happening plenty of times, and had it happen to myself.

Sometimes it's better if they just get it over with, but they need to 'cover their backs' agains an unfair dismissal claim so they mess you about.

I went through similar 10 years or so ago when the place where I worked changed hands.
Despite all the talk about 'adjustments' from the new owners the ones that they did concede were not what I was asking for or needed.
I soon realised that they had no intention of helping and were simply 'going through the motions' so that it looked as if they had tried to help before the finally gave me notice.
Basically they were simply going through the motions to avoid any chance of an unfair dismissal claim.

TBH I was glad when they stopped messing me about and finally dismissed me on health grounds, at least it was then a clear cut decision with no further messing.
(Then started the fun and games with the DWP and ESA, but that's another story).