My company have decided to go down the capability route! I have worked for them for four years and have currently been diagnosed with supraventricular Tachycardia and a s.pinched LAD, my cardiologist has requested I refrain from heavy lifting and the 10,000-15,000 steps a day I was currently doing until I have had another CT Cardiac Angiogram to determine what happens next. My current hospital waiting list is anything upto 18 months.
Can they dismiss me for this? Cardiologist told me to avoid stress but now I’m really stressed!
Any advice please?????
Written by
Kirsty131
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Hi Kirsty. Firstly I think you need to get advice from a union rep or CAB. My take on this is that capability is about people who are not doing their job properly due to for example lack of training. If you haven’t already done so you might like to think about informing HR that you have a disability and that it may also be wise to speak to Occupational Health. I personally would argue that this comes under the equality act and is part of a ‘reasonable adjustment ‘ to your working practices. Reasonable adjustment is of course open to interpretation however most companies should have a clear equality policy as they really don’t want to go down the route of a discrimination claim. Also mention to Occ Health that this is causing you undue work related stress. You may want to speak to your GP to see if you can hurry up the CT scan or indeed see if your Occ health dept may help. However I certainly think you need to speak to someone who can represent you as I said such as a union rep. Capability as I understand it in itself is a long and difficult route for both employers and employees and has specifically defined ways of doing things. Sorry you are going through this. Not easy for you and incredibly difficult controlling your stress in all of this but do try and hopefully if you can focus on a plan of action it might help. Take care Zena
Thanks Zena for taking the time to answer, I didn’t think what I have is classed as a disability? It just came out of the blue and the new head of HR was bombarding me with emails up until 10pm last night!
Sorry for your plight. My daughter was sacked after she had been off sick with af awaiting an ablation. She was back at work. Modern contracts for you.
But Your employer probably wont keep paying you. I have sick sinus, pacemaker etc. I got a few months full pay then half pay then nothing. I claimed DLA and ssp but because I had an employed partner only got DLA (now PIP). I retrained as a reflexologist and worked from home.
Ugh, that really sucks. No wonder you are stressed! I agree with Zena that you should get a union rep or similar to help you and definitely talk to your GP and/or cardiologist about the stress you are under. Good luck and keep us posted with your progress x
Hi Kirsty. There is a document called Equality Act Guidance. In part 2 Section A5 it gives bullit points on what the meaning of impairment is. The final bullit point specifically says ‘organ specific....... cardiovascular disease........and heart disease’. This is the link assets.publishing.service.g...
Please don’t reply to any emails from HR especially if they are sent at 10 pm on a Friday night! Please take advice I apologise for my tone but it makes me mad when people with hidden disabilities/ diseases/ illness etc are not treated fairly. Prior to my heart attack I had a stroke And although I recovered well to look at I had terrible fatigue and had to give up work. My OH and HR department were brilliant as was my GP. I tried to return but felt my health would suffer even further. I was right! 3 months after giving up the heart attack struck so I feel lucky to have left when I did as i suspect it would have been a very different outcome had I still been in work. However the decision was not an easy one to make but it made a difference having such supportive departments who waited for me to make a decision rather than pressuring me. Also the main government site may help gov.uk/definition-of-disabi...
Do try and speak to a union rep or CItizens advice or one of the charities that can give employment advice or BHF helpline may help. Hope you’re okay in all of this and do take care. Keep us posted. Zena x
Hi Kirsty... I agree with all the above.. it is shocking how companies treat us sometimes.... just one other mention if you have home insurance which includes legal cover option.... then you can comtact the legal team who will give you free legal advice..And can even go to court on your behalf ( I get £50k worth of cover) if the company do try to dismiss you.
It sounds like you have union representation so hopefully you will be able to go down this route.. but it's useful to know for all is hearties. My company is small and does not have unions... I have used this legal service to help me know my rights and may have to use again shortly but it's great to know I have a legal team on my side without the worry of any cost. Good luck with your situation... I would definitely print off all emails from HR and deliver these to your union rep!
what disturbs me is the advice of the cardiologist "Cardiologist told me to avoid stress but now I’m really stressed!
no way round it..you have heart failure...there are different types...but anything to do with heart rhythm can be controlled with implanted pacemaker...did he not discus you could benefit from this ? and the time you say for treatment is far too long.
go down the union road..heart failure is considered a disability .
It’s not advisable for me to have ablation as the fault is in my left side of the heart so it’s a higher risk of stroke. I have never been offered a pacemaker unfortunately and I have been going back and forth with this under both NHS and private for two years and still sitting here unmedicated for the last 10 months. He did mention heart failure and wants to look at my LAD again to see if it’s got worse since last May. I do try to avoid stress but the thought of losing my job is very stressful as it’s just me and my young son.
I have a lot of calls to make tomorrow, I’m not worried about claiming benefits for my problem I just wanted the clarification that I have a disability in the eyes of the law and my employer as a little protection. Feeling very alone and vulnerable at the moment.
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