Back to work at last !!!

Hi,

I went back to work today, what a thrill............not !!!

My desk has been emptied, my lockers & contents have all gone missing & no-one knows who did it - what a surprise !

I knew I should have invested more money in lottery tickets.

I've now got the joy of a meeting with HR & my line manager to discuss what alternative post I may be able to take now I've outlived my usefullness.

I will need a union rep to be present as well - if only to stop me from strangling someone !.

One day & I hate it already, & like a fool I was looking forwards to getting back to work.

I just hope tomorrow will be better.

I CAN'T EVEN JUMP IN A RIVER TO DROWN MYSELF AS THIS ILLNESS MAKES ME FLOAT LIKE A CORK, I dont even need to tread water to stay afloat these days ! (This is a joke by the way ).

Take care everyone

Best wishes

Disillusioned & depressed Dave

[Lynne1955]

Whatever else, take a Union Rep with you!

Lynne x

[valm]

Ah sorry about the reception you got I am supposed to go back 17th phased return working downstairs! By the sound of it my job role is to change? At times I am thinking is it worth it getting knackered breathless for it. I know I can still say I am not ready the GP will continue giving sick notes honestly what do you do for the best?

Hope it’s a better day for you tomorrow

Please let us know just wondering what reception I will get Val

[terri-rose]

Hi Mudshark!

Well done on going back to work. I 've been off sick for about two months and was due back today. I couldn't do it! Now feel like a complete failure. Saw my GP this pm who has increased my anti-deps and given me another two weeks off, time for the anti-deps to kick in and for the counselling to take effect. I have now made the decision to give up 'that' particular job and look for something more sedentary. It's taken a long time to get to this decision but I can't physically do what I was trained to do - now impossible!!.

I 've worked for almost 30 years and like most people define myself by what I do. My work - place hasn't been very supportive, so in that respect they've made it easy, The next problem is money. I' m to see a benefits adviser on Wednesday and I'll take it from there.

A friend, from this site, spent time talking to me on the phone today, when I was stressing out big time, and said that work is no longer the priority it once was- we should now make quality of life our top priority. He's right but it's still difficult.

Good luck for tomorrow and remember -'You are the boss of you!' (Now why didn't I think of that this morning!!) x

[Gordon57 in reply to terri-rose]

Quite right too - remember that it's Health before Wealth, when it comes to work. If it's making you ill then it's not worth the hassle. I'd love to be in a job myself, but can't find anything. It's just coming up to a year since I was in paid employment...

Benefits can take an age to sort out, and you need to be sure you're getting the right advice. The guy I spoke to at the JobCentre almost a year ago told me I couldn't claim a thing - he was wrong. We've struggled along for ages, never being able to get our heads back above water. Then we discovered that we could claim Working Tax Credits, which we now have. I applied for DLA, but that was rejected and is now back to them as an appeal.

[stuwer231267]

I know exactly how you feel

Mud,the exact same thing happened to me.i almost collapsed while in a meeting with my CEO and he sent me home and i was admitted into hospital where i was diagnosed with COPD and ASTHMA.my bosses were very good to me and told me to take as much time off as i needed but i was always a hard worker and loved my job so was desperate to return to work.i kept in contact with my line manager (ex army) who i got on tremendously with before taking ill.i returned to work after 4weeks (3 weeks was my holidays) and after 1 day back i collapsed in agony,thought someone was stabbing me so this line manager said to the receptionist "get him an ambulance" and walked away.got taken to the hospitalwhere i was x-rayed and told i had severe pneumonia in my lungs so i was off work for a further 4 werks.when i returned my line manager took a total dislike to me and undermined me and shouted at me (when no one was around) so after taking this crap for 2 months every single day i decided after 1 certain incident that id had enough and went to my CEOs secretary as he and other managers were all in meetings.was on the sick for 3-4 months and got a call from a lady saying she was my new head of dept as my old one had left and so did the CEO.this woman got me in for a meeting and basically told me my line manager didnt want me back and she wanted me to go to O/H to see if i was fit enough for my job.after 1 year on the sick with COPD and DEPRESSION she had been constantly sending me emails denying the things she said in meetings we had (2 in total,no HR, as we didnt have any),after a year i just said in the email that the college could do what they want with me as i had had enough of the lies and bullying and i wouldnt be back,to which i got a nice email back saying "thank you for your email,the college accepts your resignation".so i went from a £28k a year job to sick money.

By the way,i worked in THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS in glasgow,so you would have thought they would have more thought for any of their workers with a disability but NO, i was just a number who physically couldnt do his job and was forced out of my job.

I now wish i had taken them to a tribunal because with the amount of evidence i had (emails and letters about how well i done my job before i took unwell) i would have won hands down,infact im possitive they would have settled out of court as they wouldnt want the story of a sick employee being treated the way i was treated but im on benefits now (only 2nd time in 29 years) and i hate it as im so used to working.

So mud,dont let your work walk all over you like i did,you have rights you know,i just didnt follow them through but good luck at work

[stuwer231267]

Sorry meant to say,i was at these 2 meetings alone as we were not allowed to be part of a union,so the things she told me in the meeting she later denied saying when i questioned her in emails that were going back and forward between us.some things she was writing in 1 email she was denying in another,knowing full well i had kept copies of every email she and my original CEO had sent me,so i dont know if that was illegally done or not.i would have thought that i should have had a witness and so should the college but according to her much later it was just a "chat" we were having but the meetings were both sent to me from college headed paper specifically mentioning a MEETINGS.Sorry for the rant it still gets me angry even now

[MrsShimmy]

Dave, what a shame! I think I'm very lucky with my job, (I'm going back this week too, but only a couple of hours a week, rest working at home) Hope today is a better day and you find a union rep to stand by you...surely all that should have been sorted before your return...sounds like HR have no idea!!

thinking of you, Mrs S x

[Blodwyn]

Dave (and anyone else) - even if you are not a member of a union, you can still request to have someone with you at these meetings and they cannot refuse. Helps to have a witness on both sides.

[KingoftheCocktails]

Hi Dave.

I returned to work after some months on the sick ,really looked forward to it with the promise of a new position ,I got it,I was made redundant!