Am i over reacting ???

[Fiz16]

hello everyone hope your all safe & well ..As most of you will be aware fibromyalgia is unpredictable and when the flare ups occur they can be harsh to say the least and if your holding down a job its even more difficult ...But more importantly its unfair if your penalised if your off sick for a day or 2 and i discovered this a few weeks ago when i missed out on £100 in my wages due to my absence ☹☹..we have a bonus scheme which qualifies each employee to a certain bonus percentage depending on how many hours /days they work and i was advised that because i was off sick for 1 day ( fibro flare ) i hadnt qualified for the bonus? bear in mind i was in work for tht whole qualifying month ..im just upset that i feel my employer has discriminated me because my condition is a disability which they have all medical evidence for yet they used tht one day of absence to their advantage ..😩..with bills thru the roof as my heating stays on almost evryday that money would have been a god send ..im now thinking should i say something or am i in the wrong ???? any advice would be very welcome 🙂🙂...wishing u a positive day !

[Alltheflowers]

Hi Fiz, so sorry about you missing out on your bonus, especially with christams coming up and bills to pay. I know how hard it can all be.

Can I ask if your employer knows about the fibro? It may help to discuss things with them and see what they say. x

[Fiz16]

thank u fr ur reply..yes my employer hs a vry thick file about my condition , as i ws off wrk fr a yr when i ws initially diagnosed as i ws extremely unwell.Before i could go bk HR required medical evidence from my gp which they paud for and i also hd an occi health interview and when ive looked at my past wage slips this bonus was paid to me even though sick days were included in tht month too so im well puzzled as to why i was penalised this time around ???

[Alltheflowers in reply to Fiz16]

I would have a quiet word with your boss to see what's going on. You never know, it may be an error on their part. Either way you can find out why it's happened and it will set you straight about any future bonus. I hope you get it sorted as it sounds as if you have enough to deal with without the worry of all this on top x

[Dinkie]

Have you "reasonable adjustments" in place? If you have a HR dept then they should be aware about long term health conditions and extra time off for sickness to cover it without it impacting with sanctions etc. Depends how you want to play it really, raising a grievance, quoting the 2010 Equality Act at them trying to educate them on the issues fibro brings,or just letting it be. Pros and cons for all of them.

[Alltheflowers]

... also forgot to mention in my last post that as well as the reasonable adjustments Dinkie mentions, It's my understanding that a bonus will usually be paid at the discetion of the employer, as it's an extra payment by the company ( usually paid to encourage the best out of their employees) and seperate from earnings. Saying that, if you have a contract of employment and you've forfilled the criteria for the bonus as stated, then you may be on to something ...

[Yassytina FMA UK Volunteer]

Unpredictable is a good word too sum Fibro up indeed, I would differently look into the 2010 EqualityAct it does sound very unfair, I hope you get advice , let us know how you get on with this xx

[Alecinthesun]

I am not a legal professional, but I am talking from my own experiences. Under the Equality Act 2010, your employer (or if you undertaking an education course, the course provider) must make reasonable adjustments, providing that your health condition is long term. Your employer is supposed to implement 'adjusments' to help you be on a equal footing to the other employees (who are not disabled). An example, would be the employer providing you with an adapted chair if you suffer from backache when using a standard chair. I think, from memory, an employer must allow extra sick days due to the disability and not discriminate against you in any way if you take time off from work. It sounds like they are discrimanting against you (knowingly or unknowingly) because you were ill. Look into it, armed with information you can contest their decision about the bonus, from my own experience, once you let things slip, it only gets worse. Some battles are not worth fighting of course but when your engaged in a long term contractual relationship, I think it's worth standing your ground. Good luck x

[Cotswolds25121]

Hi Fiz, I don’t feel that you are at all in the wrong! I get what you are saying completely. I had the same thing earlier this year and was told that because I had gone sick for a week, with fibromyalgia the first time ever I may add in 15 years at the same condition that I would be hauled in for a disciplinary 😡😡I had a stomach bug caught probably from a service user who are all vulnerable and pick up so many bugs etc as their immune system is compromised as well as my own with a blood disorder and other conditions I have, I am a Carer by the way, so I had to take the compulsory 48 hours off and I’ve ended up having to use my a/l for other days to avoid the disciplinary 😡I have done it this time but I won’t again! As I have needed time off as in the pass month my 94 year old Mum had a fall and so I now have no leave left to visit and sort out the minefield of her care and I’ve had to take today off as I was so overwhelmed with everything at work and the stresses there that I actually broke down at work and felt if I carry on today that I was going to have a stroke😡so my bonus, for what it’s worth anyway 😤when it comes time I will also be penalised and get less too for being genuinely sick. Plus the company also put in a scheme approximately 7-8 years ago called the Bradford factor where 1day off is regarded as the same as having the entitled 6 months sick leave 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️this is the cause of the threatened disciplinary action 😡I don’t know if anybody knows whether fibromyalgia comes under the umbrella as being counted as 1period of sickness when I have a flare up because I have been told it shouldn’t be counted as individual sickness off but should only be counted as 1sick period no May how many times I have to take sick due to my condition? As my company are not doing this and treating each sick absence as single absences, I hope that makes sense. Sorry for the long response but I feel so angry that employers as not treating their employees correctly and are skirting round things, getting away with it and not supporting their workers. I have asked my manager about these issues but she doesn’t know anything about fibromyalgia. One last thing, employers are cutting back on things such as sick pay with new employees so they don’t even have the security for when they are I’ll😡I think it’s a disgrace and disgusting! I am just really lucky to have been in long term employment so thankfully I am covered but I really feel for those new staff that they aren’t!

[Fiz16 in reply to Cotswolds25121]

yes i definetly agree...2b fair my employers hv bn ok and im no longer scored when im absent ..they just fill out the return to wrk form and its left at that..i do hv a chair at wrk which im allowed to use too so theyr all clued up about it ..ive looked at my past wage slips and ive realised tht despite my sickness falling in a bonus period they did still pay me?? so ive no idea why this time they didnt ???? ive asked one of the senior leaders to look into this matter and for me its not too much about the money but more about the principle...wishing u a good day x

[Cotswolds25121 in reply to Fiz16]

it’s nice to hear there are still principled people around 👍I wish you luck and hope they get it sorted for you x

[Cotswolds25121]

plus it doesn’t help at all that we no longer have an HR department as that was taken away when we were tupeed over by a new employee/company 🤦‍♀️meaning we have no body to turn too