ChatterBank0 min ago
Return to work after cancer treatment
8 Answers
Hello, i will try to keep this simple
I have been off sick with cancer treatment for just over 6 months
I have kept my boss up to date with sick notes and my doctor told him my return would be on light duties.Told him last week of return on Monday was most likely,
Went back to work today with doctors note saying,i was fit for light duties.
What a welcome back i was told i could not work as nothing in place regarding health and safety.
I asked if i was on full pay or holiday or was he suspending me he would not give a clear answer.
Then he told me if i did not leave the building he would get the police to remove me. I went home in shock and then got an email saying i was on holiday for two weeks and in his words i have a such a bad disability having breast cancer.Just wanted to say what a nice boss i am so upset
I have been off sick with cancer treatment for just over 6 months
I have kept my boss up to date with sick notes and my doctor told him my return would be on light duties.Told him last week of return on Monday was most likely,
Went back to work today with doctors note saying,i was fit for light duties.
What a welcome back i was told i could not work as nothing in place regarding health and safety.
I asked if i was on full pay or holiday or was he suspending me he would not give a clear answer.
Then he told me if i did not leave the building he would get the police to remove me. I went home in shock and then got an email saying i was on holiday for two weeks and in his words i have a such a bad disability having breast cancer.Just wanted to say what a nice boss i am so upset
Answers
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Is it a small company? A lot of managers in these are so scared of getting sued, he probably didn't have a clue how to handle it and what you have seen is pure blind panic. Putting you on holiday is just his way of getting some thinking time. Crass, I must say, but it really does look as ifyou walking in through the doorwas the one thing he hadn't got a clue how to handle!
Is the firm a member of any kind of trade association? Sometimes they have occupational health qualified people who could perhaps put his mind at rest about what you can and cannot do, otherwise talk to your doctor and see if the doctor knows who could advise them. From what you say it looks as if all you really want is your job back, so try and make it easy for him to give it to you.
You can always be difficult later, if none of this works!
Is the firm a member of any kind of trade association? Sometimes they have occupational health qualified people who could perhaps put his mind at rest about what you can and cannot do, otherwise talk to your doctor and see if the doctor knows who could advise them. From what you say it looks as if all you really want is your job back, so try and make it easy for him to give it to you.
You can always be difficult later, if none of this works!
You should contact your HR department and request a written copy of their decision to send you home under these circumstances. Your Boss is not your GP nor any other kind of health care professional I assume, therefore he had no right to overthrow your doctors written confirmation of your ability to return to work on light duties. It sounds as though he has mis-understood the message his HR dept will have given him. plonker. You should avoid any contact with him now and make an official complaint to your next line manager asking for a clear statement outlining the managers reasons for making you feel bullied and intimidated.
If you have been suspended, it should be on full pay. Agree with others, it's a pathetic way to treat an employee just come back to work. It cannot be demanded that you utilise your own holiday because of this.
Contact HR department if your company is of a size that they have specialist HR people. They should understand the situation better. They need to come up with a proper assessment of the work that they could get you to do, given the limitations. It should also be determined in the light of the prognosis of whether this is for the long-term, or whether you just need light duties to get you started back into work for say the next 2 months.
If this really is a long-term problem for you, and they really, really really want to claim that you are now unemployable (and this would be really unusual) the process they would have to go through would be to dismiss you on grounds of capability. That is one of the 'fair' (in a legal reasons) for dismissal, but they have to follow a process - or face the possibility that you take them to an Employment Tribunal for unfair dismissal.
(I stress that I am merely explaining the worst case scenario for you. I assume that you have at least 12 months continuous service??)
Contact HR department if your company is of a size that they have specialist HR people. They should understand the situation better. They need to come up with a proper assessment of the work that they could get you to do, given the limitations. It should also be determined in the light of the prognosis of whether this is for the long-term, or whether you just need light duties to get you started back into work for say the next 2 months.
If this really is a long-term problem for you, and they really, really really want to claim that you are now unemployable (and this would be really unusual) the process they would have to go through would be to dismiss you on grounds of capability. That is one of the 'fair' (in a legal reasons) for dismissal, but they have to follow a process - or face the possibility that you take them to an Employment Tribunal for unfair dismissal.
(I stress that I am merely explaining the worst case scenario for you. I assume that you have at least 12 months continuous service??)