Can you be sacked for this?

ToejaM · 15 Aug 2011 at 23:46

My gf has gallstones and was misdiagnosed for two years with panic attacks heh.

Around june last year she was finally told its gallstones and since then weve been to the doctors so many times for checkups, she had an mri scan last wednesday and were waiting on the results from that, weve already had an ultra sound for confirmation so its definately gallstones.

Now the problem is they are getting worse and worse meaning she cant drive due to the meds she takes to stop the pain and even if she didnt take the meds the pain is incapacitating, she spends the duration in bed or being sick because of it. As a result she obviously has to call in sick, theyre getting arsey about it so i was wondering what the crack is.. Could she be sacked if she takes too much time off? Weve already been told she needs the operation and were just waiting on the mri to come back. There really isnt anything more we can do about it short of getting a hot knife and doing it diy style.

Im pretty close to going in myself and throwing a tantrum at her work but thats not the best course of action. If we dont get the results this wednesday then ill be making sure they know im not happy as its been over a year now and our income is potentially at risk. We didnt push it before due to her being pregnant and didnt want unneccesary risk on the baby.. But if we dont have the winning ticket when it comes to her workplace were fooked.

shifty_uk · 15 Aug 2011 at 23:49

It should be written in her contract or company guidelines? Get a sick note and you'll get x amount of time on leave.

Bri · 15 Aug 2011 at 23:52

Of course. I'd imagine her employer has some kind of capability policy and if there is a concern over her capability to fulfil her role (either due to sickness absence or performance), then they are within their rights to invoke it.

They should perform informal reviews etc before progressing down a formal route. How much time off are we talking about over the last 6/12 months?

Vonhelmet · 15 Aug 2011 at 23:56

If it looks edgey, find a solicitor and have a word.

Off the top of my head, I'd guess that the Disability Discriminations Act would put them on thin ice if they decided to make trouble for her, but then I'm not a lawyer, so what do I know.

hominid · 15 Aug 2011 at 23:58

If she is already on the list to have the gall bladder removed then the best thing she should do is to ring her consultant and tell them that it's really bad and you need it sorting ASAP, they will be able to arrange something a bit quicker. Baring that get her to go to A&E if it's that bad, I know what gall stone pain is like unfortunately and I was in a very similar situation, then she could be messing up her liver and pancreas by putting it off.

At the end of the day you only get one body and she should sort it out first no matter what, work/job comes second every time.

Bri · 16 Aug 2011 at 00:08

Vonhelmet said:
If it looks edgey, find a solicitor and have a word.

Off the top of my head, I'd guess that the Disability Discriminations Act would put them on thin ice if they decided to make trouble for her, but then I'm not a lawyer, so what do I know.

No such thing any more, it's called the equality act and only states that employers must make 'Reasonable Adjustments' for a qualifying employee.

Depending on the size of the business may depend on what is deemed as reasonable. A lot of people seem to labour under the misapprehension that sickness absence cannot be managed if it's 'genuine' which is completely false.

Vonhelmet · 16 Aug 2011 at 00:15

Bri said:
No such thing any more, it's called the equality act and only states that employers must make 'Reasonable Adjustments' for a qualifying employee.

Depending on the size of the business may depend on what is deemed as reasonable. A lot of people seem to labour under the misapprehension that sickness absence cannot be managed if it's 'genuine' which is completely false.

Hence why my first point was to see a solicitor, as they'll be able to go through the details and figure it out properly

Bri · 16 Aug 2011 at 00:20

Vonhelmet said:
Hence why my first point was to see a solicitor, as they'll be able to go through the details and figure it out properly

Sounds like a waste of money to me given the current 'facts'. Better advice would be to speak to a union rep etc.

Vonhelmet · 16 Aug 2011 at 00:27

Bri said:
Sounds like a waste of money to me given the current 'facts'. Better advice would be to speak to a union rep etc.

Well, true. Maybe I'm assuming everyone is lucky enough to be close friends with a solicitor!

Bri · 16 Aug 2011 at 00:29

Vonhelmet said:
Well, true. Maybe I'm assuming everyone is lucky enough to be close friends with a solicitor!

Ha ha, fair enough. Even better advice, on reflection, would be to speak to her employer about her concerns.

Nix · 16 Aug 2011 at 00:33

This sounds awfully like the company aren't actually aware of the actual circumstances. Are the aware of how serious it is?

ToejaM · 16 Aug 2011 at 12:47

I think the major problem is that shes taking days off when it happens rather than just taking a week off at a time and getting signed off for it.

The company must know how bad gallstones are that can't be naive enough to believe its as minor as a cold.

She's only been back to work for around 2 weeks and had 3 days off (works 5 days a week) so quite a lot in that time. She was signed off for weeks before her maternity leave.. she was signed off for 4 weeks I believe at one time but in total she ended up with about a years worth of time off work (the max maternity + sicknotes)

The more I think about it, the more the nhs is causing the problem by being so slow about it, you don't kick up a fuss because you dont want to be a nuisance to an already stretched system but tbh its getting very close to being a financial risk to our family and with a little boy to feed I dont want us to be forked.

Its been a long painful process.

You cant be on a very strict diet without that causing the gallbladder to act, you cant eat a certain amount of fat or that causes it to act also. Certain drinks and anything that really causes a lot of bile to move gives an issue. Ontop of that I'm pretty sure shes meant to be losing weight for an operation anyway but I'll have to clarify that later..

Goberpiles316 · 16 Aug 2011 at 12:56

At the end of the day she has a contract which means she does X, if through sickness she is not able to fulfill that contract then her workplace has the right at some point to say enough is enough, you cant do the job any longer and get rid of her.

Going back a day here and their is not rally helping, best bet is too be signed off but at some stage this will be unpaid.

How long is it fair to keep taking time off sick and causing issues for the rest of the workforce before the company says enough is enough?

From what you are saying between maternity leave and sickness she has not done much work in the past year and a half.

Sgt Tackleberry · 16 Aug 2011 at 12:57

is she on the waiting list to have an operation to remove the gallbladder?.

I had gallstones 2years, I went to the doctors with the pain and they refured me for an ultra sound and it comfirmed i had 3 gallstones and i was put on a waiting list for 6weeks and removed my gallbladder and stones..

I was in hospital for 3days after and now i cant eat fatty food of i will get the same pains back as there is no where for my bio to be stored forr bracking down the fatty food.

Just get a doctors sick note and she is covered by and work can't touch her with that, if they do throw this at them "Disability Discriminations Act" then they will back off

Deiwos · 16 Aug 2011 at 12:58

I'd say talk to her Doctor, perhaps get him to speak/write to the company and explain the situation. It sounds like the company is aware of her condition, not properly anyway.

What I will say is some companies work on a 'number of individual incidents of illness' basis so if she has 1 day off, works 1 day, has 1 day off, works a day and has another day 3 that's three separate incidents and goes down on her record as such. They then have a process of reviewing people who have multiple instances of sickness in a given period of time and if this is deemed unacceptible, action is taken.

Substance · 16 Aug 2011 at 12:59

If there is a genuine problem go to the doctor and ask for a sick note, just not turning up time and time again saying "well it's ongoing" will not end well for her

Gackt · 16 Aug 2011 at 13:03

Surely a note from a doctor or other medical professional would set things straight? Sounds like she's just calling in sick all the time, rather than an actual problem preventing her from working.

Once they've been informed of how long it'll take, and as long as the note iirc mentions that she can't work, then they can't really do anything other than put her on sick pay, or giving her the option of taking some of that time as part of her annual leave.

Goberpiles316 · 16 Aug 2011 at 13:18

The Disability Discriminations Act only means that the workplace has to make reasonable changes to accomodate the disabled person, from what is being said she cant work as she cant drive to work, Reasonable changes may be, working from home, but as was said, she is in so much pain she spends the days off sick in bed so that wont work.

The only thing you can really do is be open and honest with them and hope that they take a soft line over it.

Sin_Chase · 16 Aug 2011 at 13:45

Why is she calling in sick?

She should be signed off. It's no wonder they are getting arsey if all she is doing is calling up saying she wont be in.

ToejaM · 16 Aug 2011 at 13:56

She wants to go into work as much as possible because she doesn't want to let them down but at the same time doesnt want to lose money and I think the money is second to the being a team player for her. She doesn't like the gossip that goes round about it to even though its clearly an established medical problem but you know what people can be like if they're let down or asked to do overtime because someone is unwell.

Working it out, I just text her and asked her how long she was off on maternity and she said 9months (the gov website says 6weeks @ 90% pay and 33weeks @ stat pay which is what she took I believe) and before then she was signed off for around 3 and a half months in huge chunks of signed off time. This was right at the start of finding out she was pregnant (went for the scan to see what was up and to check for gallstones and got told there was a babeh there to

)

Though originally it was dianosed as panic attacks and a few times before this I've had to drive to her work and pick her up and then take her to work the next day after we'd had to leave her car there. On the plus side now, she doesnt get panic attacks now she knows what it is and what she can do to manage it. Kopparberg pear (her favourite drink at the time) used to set it off and she thought it was that drink causing her panic attacks!

Why she can't goto work when a "gallbladder attack" happens:
1) She has to drive 40miles round trip to work on the m4 (please note the distance and the gender!

)
2) Wouldnt be able to do her job, she shakes and sweats and finds it hard to breathe
3) The pain is terrible, she said its worse than giving birth and she only had gas and air during that
4) The pills she takes for it, make her drowsy, shes a lightweight drinker anyway so that doesnt help. I took some of her stronger pills when I had a really bad back.. its all we had and tbh I felt fine on them but each to their own I guess..

is she on the waiting list to have an operation to remove the gallbladder?

We've been told only that "she needs the operation and its being referred to a consultant" and we've been told that I think three times. Originally it started in bristol but since then she moved in with me in wales so we had to switch everything around medically as the baby was then going to be born in wales so all notes had to be sent over which set us back. Bottom line there is, we've not been told if shes on any waiting list or any eta for a possible operation.

I believe this is what the MRI scan is for to fully locate all gallstones. The ultrasound showed that one was stuck in the duct and there are quite a few more in the bladder its self.

If there is a genuine problem go to the doctor and ask for a sick note, just not turning up time and time again saying "well it's ongoing" will not end well for her

Couldnt agree more with you there.

Surely a note from a doctor or other medical professional would set things straight? Sounds like she's just calling in sick all the time, rather than an actual problem preventing her from working.

I had to re-read that, you mean "Sounds like from the companys pov" right?

Why is she calling in sick?

Because it can be really bad when it happens and then by the end of the night its gone, its to do with the stone being stuck in the duct causing a gallbladder attack.. it gets stuck, the bladder goes mental and the contractions from that cause the issue and often the next day its fine.. its much like the difference between light and dark and the last few weeks its been worse than its been before probably because shes been trying to lose weight on doctors recommendation aswell as being stressed out with the issue its self (which then makes it worse)

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