Hi all.
Before I start I will let ye know that this might be a long read, so if yer up to it then read on.
I have been employed since 2013 and for the last 3 years I have been off work with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, osteoarthritis in hips and spine plus other ailments, and I have been in constant contact with my employer at every stage of my investigations/ diagnosis, giving them all the appointment/ treatment dates.
I have told them that the job I did before, I was a machine press setter/technician which involved sliding half tonne to 2 tonne tools onto the machine beds by hand, and lifting 100kg+ pressure rings onto tools as well as doing repairs and forklift truck driving for a total 47.5 hours/wk, was going to be a no-no for me now and asked for them to either try and find me another position within the company doing light work like an office role, or try to come up with reasonable adjustments to my job, to which they said there was no positions available and they couldn't make any adjustments to the machine setting as it was already the best they could do without spending thousands on automatic machines etc.
So, since then I have been off on the sick and they have been sending me a wage slip with zero pay and tax etc on it every Friday.
I have had meetings to discuss the situation and have told them that there was no chance of me going back to my job doing the same thing now, and they have told me they have no work for me elsewhere, so my question is, what do I do going forward from here?
They have had my doctor and consultant tell them I can't do the work anymore, that I will have this probably for life now and yet they still haven't gotten rid of me. The other problem is, is that my partner and her parents have all said that I shouldn't jack it in myself and to wait for them to get rid of me and pay me out as in redundancy or wat have ye. They still keep me on the books and for the life of me I don't know why.
Are they scared to sack me or make me redundant for fear that I'll take them for unfair dismissal, even though they could get rid of me on capability grounds, or are they waiting for me to give word that I am retiring on medical grounds? I don't know what I should do, cos if I tell them that I am finishing for medical reasons, my partner and her parents won't be happy and tell me that I shouldn't have done so.
Any help and advice would be gratefully appreciated.