Union support - is it always a good thing? I need Medical Retirement not an arguement.

[Sarah-Jane]

I am a teaching assistant and have worked for my school for many years. Since I have become ill my work have been reasonable and fairly supportive, but the meetings I have had about my absences have been fairly informal, being spontanious with no warning, one to one and minutes coming later. This may or may not have been in my favour.

Two weeks ago I was told that a meeting had to be held that day. This time we went to another room and there were two of them. It was a fairly rushed meeting although they were careful to make sure I understood that they were trying to be fair. They had kept my FM labelled sick notes separate from my FM ones and tried to deal with only the sick ones. However, as I had been off so much I was coming to the end of what they could do for me and they would have to call in the County Personnel Officer saying she was really nice to reassure me. I work for an academy [school] which is partially run by them.

Since then, I have hurt my back, once at work and once from Hydro Therapy from which I am still recovering. So I expect the meeting to be called when I return.

What should I do? My union are willing to send someone to support me but need details to form a 'case'. I do not want to stir a hornet nest up unless I need to though.

Do I need them or am I making things worse?

I tried to get an Advocate but they have yet to come back to me.

I know I am coming to the end of work of this kind as I am having difficulty getting about and can bearly manage a week. I am in pain by the end of the school day so even considering reducing my hours would not really help. I have been advised and have looked into what a Medical Retirement could mean for me and feel that is the best option. However if I reduce my hours and then accept this the final payout will be substantially less.

I await your advice.

Thank you. Soft hugs

[Hidden]

well 9i am not really up on that sort of thing but i think you would be wise to have someone there to represent your case but i am sure there is someone on here who is alot better to answer your question than me or if you go onto the tags or the archives you may find a similar story to yours on there sorry i arent much help but i am sure you will find some on here love to you diddle x

[ellendd]

sarah jane.

Lets start first get a union rep in, your not make things worse your trying to help yourself. remmber that. dont go in any meeting on your own always take a friend in from work with you.( others your got no backup whats ever only there word against yours. ( i been there i work for my compay for 24 yrs)

have you had workacces in to check your work station and to see if you need anyother furniture that may help you.

your human restoucrses should know number.

your keep all records off your sickness and keep a diary of your illness, and copies off all your employee gives you. ( have you had any paper work give to you )

dont go straight for medical retiement first)

(I went from 5 days till 4 days but it did not help me i was still in pain with fibrom/me/ibs hight blood pressure haveing nose bleeding every day.

medical retirment is what happen to me in the end but it is very difficult to get two doctors to agree. it took a long time but now am retired ive got not worries about getting in work and getting home early to rest and back to work again the next day.

and the stress of work. i did not want to give up work but now am glad there gave me medical retirment.

what is your gp like? mine was very good and very understand. take print outs of the illness on line and let them read it always give to your family and friends and try to explain how you are feeling. also to your work mates. there you to say to me you look alright but i always felt very ill. because i did not have a broken leg there cant see the illness.

sarah jane good luck i hope i give you some advise if you need to talk plse email.

dont let them get you down. good luck xx

[Sarah-Jane]

Thank you. I have had a long conversation on the phone today and they sent me paperwork. The trouble with that is that forms dont ask questions! So I will add that they need to come back to me on any queries rather than just leave it that I have said everything!

Soft hugs

[jazher]

Sarah, i am sorry i dont know anything about it.

I just wanted to say to you good luck with it all.

kel xxx

[Ang01]

Hi Sarah-Jane, the same thing happened to me at work, whilst they were supportive to a point there comes a time they will not keep you on when you have a bad sickness record. The only thing I would say to you is if you know you are going to finish work shortly think very carefully about wanting to reduce your hours. I nearly made the mistake of being relocated to another area of work with less hours but had I done that I would have lost out financially. I also tried going back to work at one stage on a staged return but even that didnt work for me.

In the end I kept sending in sicknotes saying I was not fit for work until the time came that I had to come to an agreement with them that I could not go back to work either in my job or any other job. I applied for ill health retirement pension which was initially refused but was advised by the CAB to contact the Pensions Advisory Service in London who were fab and I eventually they agreed to pay out my pension in full. My GP was extremely supportive of me finishing work and wrote numerous letters for me stating this. I think work try and get you to reduce your hours etc. because that means that they are being seen to work with you but if you know in your own heart that you cannot continue to work make sure you get everything you are entitled to based on your current hours.

Hope it all works out well for you xx

[Sarah-Jane]

Thank you, yes I do know to be careful about reducing hours. Can no longer recall who advised me, but even thinking it through carefully, if I cut out one day, a Wednesday say, it would only prolong the inevitable. Who wants to live, struggling in pain to get through two days to recover the third and repeat it all over again - I would have one day with no pain! [If I am lucky].

I am aiming at getting Medical Retirement based on my work record and current wages, but if it goes on my pension contributions I am scuppered! Work messed me up some years ago when they forgot to pay it from my wages and I did not notice! I really do not understand wage slips and had become lazy. So long as I got what I expected I did not check!

Anyway I have been told I would have to make all the back payments in order to 'catch-up' to be eligible for the full pension. Great. Well I could not afford that and I have only recently asked about being reinstated without back paying it!

When I began with them I had a private pension. Then I was told the Govt don't allow both so I froze that and kept on with the work one. It was a better payout in the end I thought. Of course things changed a few years later and you could have both but by then all of my money was being used. Well you know what its like bringing up a family, soon every penny you have you spend and there is nothing left over. You live to your income. Before, as I had been unemployed for a year and prior to that a Childminder, I had not been used to such an income and paying out for a pension was not noticeable. I even added Union subs. Oh yes, they messed them up too! They stopped paying them automatically right when I needed to be a member and claim support for extra training. If you had been paying for 2 years you could claim. Thats when I found out.

So you see they have messed me about more than once and I should have been more aware. No use crying over spilt milk and no way to resolve that now. But is the Medical Retirement based on your pension?

Worried even more now!

Soft hugs [wish I had more brains]