I believe my employer is trying to get rid of me

[Business Man]

In March this year I suffered with an RSI injury to my shoulder from being kept on the same job for several weeks. I work for a manufacturing firm so its not unusual to do 1600 arm movements repeatedly daily. When i injured my shoulder i asked the team leader about having it reported in the accident handbook but she wasn't sure and said she would speak to the shift manager. On meeting with the shift manager i explained what had happened and he refused to accept it was an injury and that it didn't warrant to go in the book, he did say he would refer me to occupational health to be assessed which didn't happen. I ended up having two days off work because of the pain and then returned to work on light duties.

This was recorded down at my back to work so at least there is some record should they deny it.

fast forward to July i had been referred to occupation health because they needed me to do a specific job in the company knowingly i would struggle to do it with my shoulder and knees as the job entails pushing trolleys in excess of 400kg and repeatedly bending low down to loading the trolleys.
OH just asked me a series of questions and that was it, no physical examination ect and said he would like a follow up meeting in a few weeks to discuss my shoulder again. I was diagnosed with Osgood-Schlatters disease at the age of 15 in both knees, to this day its quite painful now at the age of 33 to bend my knees to get low to the ground.

fast forward to end of September and we have a group meeting with regards to cross training and where people would be working. Surprise surprise my name was read out to do that specific job with immediate effect. I mentioned i was still struggling putting weight on my shoulder and that i was under occupation health, the shift manager mentioned in front of everyone that he had read my report and that my shoulder is fine. In reply i said its not fine and i had not seen this report even after requesting to see a copy before hand. Another thing i am not happy about is that OH said he wanted a follow up meeting in a few weeks which was beginning of September to see how my shoulder was doing. I explained to OH i was still struggling with my shoulder then. The OH report which was later handed to me was dated July and says that hopefully the shoulder should be healed within 2 weeks and could neither confirm nor deny weather i was in pain with my knees


HR and the shift manager are saying i'm fine and fit for all duties and don't seem helpful at all when clearly the report can not be up to date, nor do words such as hopefully or confirm nor deny confirm anything, they do not seem bothered after telling them about the date issue and said this is the only report they have. Another issue i have is the breach of confidentiality after requesting to see the report first.


The job that i was put on finally took its toll on my shoulder and as forced me to be off which as annoyed me and stressed me out. H.R are now threatening my job by saying if your not fit enough to carry out the role they will have to decide weather i have a future working there. The thing is is its a large company with many roles which would be more suitable for me to do, but i'm being put on this one job specifically which i believe is to push me out the company

I have been at the company for nearly 10 years

I'm really not sure who to speak to about this, searching online it seems employers can dismiss you even after an injury caused by your job. I don't even know if i could bring a case for unfair dismissal or discrimination for a disability against them should they finish me on medical grounds. would suffering with knee problems such as osgood-schlatters disease be classed as a disability ?

 

[Woden]

I would have thought since its recorded that your RSI was caused by the job your golden.

Why isn't your union rep pushing for you too be moved to another role?

 

[sigma]

Get it checked by your GP. Noted down all dates and times. Seek legal advice.

 

[omnomnom]

Is anyone of this recorded with a GP? Go and see one asap and get them to write a letter.

 

[Energize]

It's not disability discrimination to fire someone who can't do their job for medical reasons.

 

[TallPaul1878]

My wife was made redundant due to her M.E. it had gotten really bad to the point she couldn't walk without crutches. They just have her statutory redundancy pay which came to about £3000. She hasn't been able to work since.

You don't have many options here. I your injury was caused by work though then you should pursue that. You should seek advice immediately.

Get all of your records and take them to citizens advice. They will tell you if you at least have a case and if it is worth going down the legal route

 

[Lopéz]

I'm not sure if your illness would be considered a disability or not, but it sounds like you used to be able to do your job and now cannot (be that for whatever reason)
It sounds like your role has always involved an amount of manual work - why did you take such a job knowing you had mobility issues?

 

[Vonhelmet]

It's not disability discrimination to fire someone who can't do their job for medical reasons.

No, but it would be if you put them on duties you knew they would struggle with when alternative duties were available. That would be a failure to make "reasonable adjustment".

As to whether it's a disability... the equality act says a disability is "a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities" which it sounds like your osgood thing does. I'd have to check whether the definition for the DDA is the same, but I've got places to be just now.

 

[d_brennen]

Union up

 

[Business Man]

Thanks guys, yes i am part of a union actually

The job when i started with the company didn't involve repeatedly bending low down, its only now they want me to move to another part of the business.
I did mention i would be able to handle the occasional bending but this job involves repeatedly bending low down and pushing heavy loads.
It is target driven so I would struggle to even keep up. The managers and HR are using the OH report as there tool to say i'm perfectly fine so wont consider adjustments or move me to another job even after telling them its not a current up to date report. They don't even seem bothered about making inquiries as to what i'm telling them.
When the report uses hopefully or confirm nor deny its basically leaving it up to management to make the decision.
My wife is a Nurse and one question she as asked me to ask is what medical qualifications do these occupation health staff have ? are they dr's or nurses ect?

 

[area51_for_psx]

It depends on the OH staff. They have nurses etc but last time I was seen at OHS she was a consultant level.

 

[dowie]

Why have you not been able to get a copy of the recent OH report? I mean surely someone has it and they can be chased up?

Seems like the reasonable adjustments thing mentioned above is the way to go - if they're a big organisation then surely they ought to either change your role to account for your condition (perhaps reduce/remove targets etc.. for the moment) or see if they can move you to a more suitable role.

Deffo speak to your union.

 

[Business Man]

Well as far as what HR are saying that is the only report that they have got which is dated July. I have already told HR that it's not an accurate report as I seen OH in September as a follow up from July. HR look to be ignoring this fact a long with management. When i first seen OH i remember filling out a consent form handed to me by my manager. I know I put down to read the report first however that's not happened either and my manager dropped himself in it after revealing he had read it. obviously i had no clue that this report even existed until then.

 

[dowie]

how do you book the OH meeting, presumably that goes through HR ergo you can point out there is a record of you having met with OH in September too? Can you not contact the OH person directly?

 

[Hagar]

Has your task been risk assessed recently for manual handling regarding push/pull? Has such an assessment been published in the company. Called the RAPP tool see link below. If you are in a union, they should know or be able to source it.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/pushpull/index.htm

If the task has been assessed for risk and is fine, maybe you are in the wrong role. This enquiry may provide you and your employer with additional information to help you.

 

[Deleted member 651465]

Firstly, it should have been put in the book. That supervisor clearly has no working knowledge of record keeping and reporting of injuries at work.

Taking time off work as a result of an accident (ergonomics/not technically an accident but bear with me) and returning on light duties is serious.

If you take/took over 7 days off (not including the day of the injury but including weekends) then they’d need to report it under the RIDDOR regulations.

Likewise, as @nkata says, they must have completed a risk assessment of the task under the management of H&S regs. Yes, they should be using the approved MAC tool but they’ve likely got a crap 1 sides .doc. Have you ever signed it? Seen it? Been given training? How many others have raised a problem? Any other repetitive injuries that you know of? Honestly, these are questions a solicitor will be asking them... do yourself a favour and get talking to your union to raise some of these.

I’m not saying you should... but if you suspect they’re forcing you out and you do/did happen to take the 7 days time off (now or in future) and they don’t report it, well.... they’ll be in deep trouble with the HSE. A polite phone call to them would create a fuss, but would probably burn your bridge

 

[spoffle]

It sounds like you're really stressed about the situation. That's the sort of thing you can take time off for...