sickness at work

[Eppy]

good morning

Im a little worried at the moment

In past 6months ive had a bit of time off work with tummy problems migraine and generally not feeling well

My question is most people even in healthcare do not know about PBC i work in hospital and now facing a meeting with my boss and HR regarding my bradford score( a score they give you for sickness episodes)

Any advice on what to say or ask

Thank you E

[Readlots]

Hi Eppy, it’s horribly going through that process but they are just following their policies and procedures.

1. Are you a member of a union? Ask them for support, they may be able to accompany you to the meeting if it’s a formal one. The letter inviting you will tell you if you can be accompanied.

2. Read up on the policies and procedures on the works intranet or staff handbook so that you are prepared.

3. Check what your contract says about sickness absence.

4. Check your own records about when you were sick and what for.

5. Get together all your hospital/doctors letters to take with you.

PBC has a significant impact on your daily life and therefore counts as a disability under the equality act. This protects you from discrimination and requires your employer to make reasonable adjustments for you.

At the meeting:

1Take your union rep or a trusted colleague who can take notes for you.

2. Listen to what they have to say and make notes

3. Explain what PBC is - stress that it is NOT alcohol related.

4.Explain how it affects you - and that you believe it counts as a disability.

5. Try and link as much of your absence as possible to the PBC.

6. Explain that you are very good at and committed to your job

7. Ask for what you need to enable you to do your job without being off sick (reasonable adjustments). This could be breaks to rest, different shifts, reduced hours, phased return from sickness, part time hours. Whatever enables you to manage your energy levels.

7. I would expect them to do a referral to occupational health if they haven’t already - this is a good thing, it will confirm what you’ve said and recommend reasonable adjustments.

8 If they already know you’ve got PBC, ideally because you’ve told them and it’s on record, they haven’t made reasonable adjustments, and they give you a warning for your sickness, that’s disability discrimination. Hopefully they won’t. Things will change once you mention the word disability and you show that you just want to be at work doing a good job.

Good luck

[Eppy in reply to Readlots]

Thank you so much this is very helpful🌻 & i will take your advice in with me to the meeting, yes ive been to Occi Health already,

[Readlots in reply to Eppy]

You’re welcome. As Rugby Mama says, HR are not monsters. If you all go in understanding the process and share information I’m sure you’ll get a good outcome. Equally TU reps are not the enemies of HR. They can be very helpful at explaining and smoothing things over because the process can be daunting if you’re not working in it day in day out, and emotions can become very strong when you’re anxious and not feeling well.

[RugbyMama]

Hi

I work in HR. Bradford factor is one way of measuring sickness and essentially the way it works is that if you have one person who has had 10 days off sick on one occasion, they will score lower than someone who has had 10 individual days off sick in the same period because often those individual days are more disruptive to a business than one longee absence.

Check your absence policy as this should list the trigger points (why you're having a meeting). Have you seen occupational health at all? Your condition could well meet criteria for being deemed a disability and therefore they would need to consider removing absences related to your disability from your bradford scoring. Its therefore really important that you specify on your return to work form the reason for your absence and why e.g. stomach cramps due to PBC. If you are just writing tummy trouble, there is nothing to link this back to disability.

Be open and honest with them, HR are not monsters but if people don't tell ud what is actually happening, we can't help!

[Eppy in reply to RugbyMama]

thank you so much for your reply, most helpful 🌻

[Kristian]

If you have PBC then you are classed as having a disability under the Equalities Act. As such any occupational Health Assessment should cover absences that relate to that disease. If sickness is one of those, which is possible, then reasonable adjustments should take that into account.Be honest with them, PBC is not something that should prevent you doing your job. However some allowance should be made for its effects.

Good luck.