LUPUS UK

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Resonable adjustments, problems at work.

Could I please ask for an advice regarding resonable adjustments at work place. I am struggling with early mornings and at my job that I've been for 6 months (I have to start at 6.30am) and we have three shifts available . I've filed a grievance email and after a month I succeeded to meet my managers. I sent all doctor notes previously. No response After another month a different manager sends me an email stating that he cannot locate any conversation regarding my health issues and that my doctor's letters are no good because it does not state or outline "resonable adjustments" .

Finally one of the gp had to write a letter explaining to my manager what resonable adjustments means and sent him a government link as well. This is absolutely not fair! And clearly a victimisation as I had to chase my 3 managers for quite a while, they were always cancelling our meeting, they were sick and so on, plus rude emails that they sent me.

After my last email sent to them it has passed 3 weeks and I have no response, no outcome of the grievance meeting . They refuse to answer although I sent them several emails. What could I do in this situation as it is really frustrating and the bulling and intimidating emails are not quite appropriate for the health issue that I'm struggling with, lupus not to mention that I have myasthenia Gravis as well. We all know that any upsetting problem is enough and our condition gets worse which of course was my case struggling with my work place and my managers.

Any advice would be helpful.

Thank you in advance for your time.

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GeorgiaAny

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38 Replies

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Sorry to hear this Georgia.i don't work now but would suggest contacting the CAB.im sure others will have more advice xx

Thank you. I've contacted ACAS but I wanted to know if I had a chance or not. Or shall I just quit. 😞

Lupus uk helpline might be worth a try too.x

😘🤗

Unfortunately there is no accounting for unscrupulous arrogant management. I was told I'd be put on a warning for sick leave even though I would of been returning with a disability and was entitled to adjustments.sod that I didn't return.i dread to think how I'd of been treated during covid as I had to shield xx

😞 As if its not enough we have to struggle with our health, we have to deal with arogant management and pressure also.... I shall see if I will be able to fight for my right. We also have to be included into the society not marginalised because we're different.

I was in a high infection unit which with no immune system wouldn't of worked but I could of done my job in a residential unit.we can still contribute just as much if we are considered properly. Xx

😔 Sorry they have treated you badly as well... We have to stay strong, we have no choice. Xx

I finished 7 years ago so its history now .it only makes us stronger 💪 xx

TBH…don’t just quit, but if I were you I would definitely take advice from the CAB- they have solicitors who are very familiar with problems like yours.But from what you say …do you really want to work for this company?

You say they employed you knowing you may need reasonable adjustments, but now say they didn’t understand what that meant?

Even if you “won”…..would you feel comfortable in such an environment?

I’d start quietly looking around for something else…& this time sort out hours & conditions & get them all in writing before you accept the job.

This seems to be happening a lot these days…..so try to be patient…it may sort itself out…but start calmly looking for something more suitable.

Hiya. So sorry to hear that you’re having so many problems at work. Have you tried going direct to your HR department? They should be able to help. OH should also be able to put together a reasonable adjustment plan for you at work. I have recently had an OH appointment, who did a report to my employers in relation to a reasonable adjustment plan for me. You do have the law on your side. Keep going up the chain of command, you will get there.

Fingers crossed that you will get this resolved. Thinking of you and big hugs ❤️

Thank you so much loopy1971. The management is quite bad. They have just took over the building where I'm working at as a receptionist and for three months they made lots of salary mistakes, they didn't forwarded us any payslips, all my colleagues are struggling with them . HR... No sign of it, whether we are part of any union... As well, they refuse to answer.

Hi Georgia. No job is worth putting your health at risk, and this sounds like a very stressful position you’re in. If I were in your position I would walk away. You can always get another job but you can’t replace your health. I understand that it will be hard to do, as you’ll think they’ve won, but your health is way more valuable xx

I know, they say sometimes a kick is just a step forward 😊

Unfortunately it sounds like you just have bad employers and it depends on how badly you want to stay in this job. Although you do have the law on your side, getting a company to actually follow it can be very stressful and the toll on your health may not be worth it. They will just hang out in the hope you go away and quit. You have two options, you can write them a formal letter setting our exactly what you want and tell them that if they fail to answer you will go to an employment lawyer. Mention how many times you have tried to engage with them and keep all the correspondence as evidence. It sounds like you would have a case for constructive dismissal.

Secondly you can stay but look for another job and then get out of such a stressful environment. I hope things work out for you.

Thank you for your reply. Constructive dismissal is the case only when you are employed for 1-2years onwards. And I only have 6 months. To be honest it does not worth the fight as the impact on my health is quite bad having to hassle like that. Just to mention... One of the directors of the building has recommended me for this job and I have previously worked as part of security for the second director of the building... Therefore I have very good feedback from them but unfortunately they are too busy to help out

They may well find they have time to deal with it if you write them a formal letter.!! You have nothing to lose by doing that and if not as you say it’s not worth the stress when there are so many jobs around at the moment which might suit you better.

Yes writing a formal letter focuses one’s thoughts and problems but will take time to outline. Best of luck!

Hi Georgia

If you have a disability , that is something that lasts and present now , the 2 year employment law does not exist .

I know by experience has I took a company to tribunal and won my case. I was struggling and had to go on sick , I was sacked !!!

I took them to a tribunal , it was very stressful , I got a law students from the university of law to help me with my case .

I won , large compensation too . Had to sign a disclosure not to speak about this horrible company . So who ever says you need 2 years service , or you have no rights is wrong . Having a disability and especially asking for help with regards to it , does not matter , even if you’ve only done an hour of work for them .

All can can suggest be strong , you Can’t loose , but be prepared for them with the employment laws . They are wrong , if you leave , it’s constructive dismissal . So you will have the time usefully spent at work now helping you prepare your case if you have to leave your job . Keep everything , and send emails telling them how you feel and why your handing in your notice .

Of coarse this is just my advise , and I speak from experience .

Your health is most important .

This company clearly has no training in employment law , and maybe suggest they read it , especially in regards to disability’s .

Hope you can ding a way forward .

🦋❤️

Thank you so much for your reply willow1414. That is really good news that you have won your case. I'm really happy for you. As I was reading through people's experiences they were even struggling with their management for 10 years 😳

At the moment în my case ACAS is mediating the dispute but if management refuses to answer to them as well they will give me a certificate and I will definitely take my employer to the employment tribunal. Your experience made me think that probably it will be best to take advice from a lawyer specialist in employment law. ACAS informed me this as well as my company sent very disturbing emails to me which was really unnecessary trying to intimidate.

And I am almost ready to quit as I really cannot take it anymore. The schedule really kills me and in the morning I wake up so depressed with my head and eyes hurting so bad. I remember once I woke up on time but I literally stood on the edge of the bed for 2 hours. Couldn't get out of the house that depressed I was and tired.

Hope you found a better job and a management that appreciate you more 🤗😇😊.

Will keep you posted of the outcome.

Take care!

Hi Georgia

Yes , good on you .

If you I on sick , in case you Carnt take any more from them . If you win , sounds like you will . You will be paid all your list wages Ls16 etc and compassion . I was worth it to me , ji don’t tolerate bad management . Remember keep everything .

The company will want to get rid of the persons causing you this problem when they realise you mean business . It’s a dam shame that companies like this still exist .

Wishing you all the best .

After my ordeal and my failing health I decided to take early retirement . No choice . But it felt good when the judge decided in my favour , funny thing is they thought they where going to win .

🦋❤️

Hi Georgia

Hope you can make sense of what predictive tx has done to my messag 🤦‍♀️🦋❤️

I managed to understand. Thx once again for your support. 🤗😇

Hope you are keeping well Willow1414. Could I please ask you some advice regarding the students help you received from law University in your case? Do you still have their contact details? If you could forward I would be so greatful.

I have been struggling a lot lately, I have asked ACAS for the certificate and unfortunately I only have around 20 days to take my company to the tribunal. Acas forward me some info regarding help but none of them were right at all.

I've called local law center, no one is willing to even pick up the phone, I could only leave messages but no one ever calls you back .

No win no fee lawyers wants me to resign in order for them to take the case. I wanted to join an union but unfortunately I did not know it takes up to 6 weeks to join an (for the membership to be processed). I also contacted an employment lawyer recommended from another lawyer I was dealing with in regards to other case of benefits but everyone seemed to have dissappeared into thin air. Such unlucky I am.

I contacted another lawyer as well from Internet but they told me that I could only go court if I have been within the same company for 2 years. Such confusing information. No one seems to be knowing what to do!

Do you happen to know In case I loose this deadline of the Acas certificate whether I can still take my company to the tribunal within three months of my resignation ?

I believe I've read it somewere.

I guess I'm a little bit into panic right now as I do not seem to find the right help and the deadline is Knockin at the door :(.

I would really appreciate your help and advice as I do not know where to go anymore.

Take care!

Hi Georgia

Sorry fir the delay , I’ve not been on this site for a while .

Sounds like your struggling , all I can say is apply to the employment courts to get the ball rolling . If you’ve been delayed , you can request still to be seen due to ill health . But I suggest you apply sooner .

I’m from Leeds , so I applied at the university of law in Leeds . There is a problem , has they may well be Finnish until September , maybe try Leeds’s and ask if can be forwarded to your nearest for consideration , nothing is instant so start with the courts , read up about employment law , as this is what the judge will follow ,.

One thing the lecturer told me was , don’t worry , the judge will ask all the right questions , and also add ask the other party to prepare the file of correspondence . You then read it , your employer will miss out important information , this does not look good in court , you then sent the missing information to the courts . All this takes a while , and you should have enough time to complete , and can ask for an extension if not well , of coarse this ask to be written by your consultant or doctor , although I would suggest , getting everything in by the deadlines . You can represent yourself . Don’t be afraid , judges will not let injustice happen . Don’t exaggerate or assume , base everything on facts . In fact you may be notice mistakes in the file made by your employer . Just get collect the evidence needed to prove any none truths .

It takes time to go to court , do don’t worry .

I do wish you all the best .

Please let me know if you need further help .

The admin at the courts are brilliant too , try to focus on one admin assistant when communicating with the courts .

Has long has you can prove disability , and that you have mentioned your disability to your employer , you have nothing to loose .

Kind regards

🦋❤️

Of course what you say makes sense…but when you have any sort of illness, unless it’s a dream job you really,really want- life is definitely too short to wrangle with these employers……think what it would be like…walking on eggshells & always wondering “what next”?

Having similar issues at my work place too - just can’t seem to get an answer ! I have lupus tumidus and Sjorgens so fatigue can be an issue and I have asked for hybrid working ….. watch this space !

Good luck and don't give up. A free lawyer just advised me recently to just take... Sick leave if I cannot do the job. That will probably hurry up their decision. Because dismissal I'm not sure they would want to mess with.

Hi GeorgiaAny. Firstly I am so sorry that you are being treated so appallingly. You have rights so keep copies of everything. Have you heard of Disability Rights UK? They can help with support in the workplace based on the legislation and obligation on Employers to make reasonable adjustments. If you are up for it it may be worth one last try if you like the job. I am guessing that your employer has no Occupational Health service or Union. That said you can join a Union such as Unite and as a member they can negotiate for you . I wish you luck, if you cannot resolve the issues then your employers simply do not deserve you xx

Thank you for your advice. I'll look it up into joining an union.

Hi GeorgiaAny

I’m so sorry you are experiencing these issues and you are absolutely right that this kind of stress can have an adverse effect on the health of someone who is already dealing with a chronic health condition.

We have two publications in relation to working with lupus – one for the employee (which explains your rights) and one for the employer (which explains a little about lupus and also details their obligations to you as their employee).

lupusuk.org.uk/wp-content/u...

I hope that you find the above information useful and that the situation can be resolved for you, but if I can help further, do please let me know.

Kind regards

Alida

Thank you so much for your suport Alida. I will definitely come back to you after I read the publication. Enjoy the weekend and take care 🤗

Hello and I am so sorry to read this. I have had a battle with my employers for over 10 years and have just completed the second round and won again.

From my experience I would ensure that you have copies of their attendance management policy, which should include disability and reference to the Equality Act 2010. That should give you an insight to their thoughts and understanding of the wider situation. If you are in a union contact them. If you are not then join one. My union has been an invaluable support throughout my experience.

If they have no documentation which references disability and the equality act, but includes pregnancy or general ill health or cancer, then challenge them, ideally with your union in partnership. SLE is a named condition within the equality act. You might even request that they refer you to

Occupational Health for an assessment of your needs and a report on these, which you should receive a copy of, as well as them. My lot got told that my health needs were covered by the equality act 2010. So that made them sit up.

Then it’s hard, but be a courageous self advocate. My employer had no reference to disability in any policy 10 years ago and never gave it any thought or consideration. They thought they were going to sack me due to my at that time frequent ill health. I had 4 years of major diagnosis’ and flares. So I went through their policy and told them why it and they were wrong, in great detail. I told them it didn’t comply with the law! This meant that the whole attendance management policy and actions changed for my employer. I was delighted. It also meant that they backed down. I explained to them that the law set out the right for reasonable adjustments to be considered. The key is reasonable of course. If you research it online, there is loads there to read. My employer is a large public organisation, which made this all the more shocking. It should have been reasonably easy for them to consider adjustments without a fight, but they didn’t understand anything nor did they want to. So we(me and the union) made them.

So I have a number of agreed reasonable adjustments. I start up to an hour late in the day to allow me time to get painkillers into me and to be functioning. I make it up at lunch/end of day, which works really well for me. I have had a number of access to work assessments which you apply for, not your employer. They assess you in the work place and recommend what they suggest will meet your needs. Depending on the size of the organisation you work for, depends how it works. Again research it online. It comes under the umbrella of the DWP. I have a chair, keyboard, mouse, wrist rest, footrest, leg rest, 2 laptops to save me carrying one into work so I can easily work at home or in the office(in non covid times) and now a support worker and additional time(days) allowed to be ill before an sickness absence review kicks in.The latter two arose as a few years ago the reasonable adjustments I had of dragon voice activated software ( so I didn’t have to type) was removed in an IT upgrade. I was left with nothing and it had a detrimental impact on my work functioning and my health. So round two was challenge that. I ended up being off for two periods with a diagnosis of work related stress due to the difficulties created by the removal of the reasonable adjustments(the software). I put in a grievance re the length of time the matter was taking to resolve and as I had my reports from occ health from years ago who had recommended this software, I quoted them. My grievance was partially upheld and I was given a support worker, partially paid for by access to work, but mainly by my employer as they couldn’t make the software work again on the IT system. So my worker is employed for all my hours and does all my typing and supports me in my role. Through this more recent experience I learned that if you have an agreed

reasonable adjustment then if your employer removes it, you have 3 months less a day to take legal action ie disability discrimination.

I am awaiting them to put the agreement re my allowance of days to be off into writing as a further reasonable adjustment.

With reasonable adjustments what needs to be understood it is an adjustment to support you the employee who has a disability (I don’t like that word really) to function and perform the same as a colleague who isn’t in this position. By having an adjustment you are then able to have an equal opportunity to perform.

Hope my experiences are helpful to you and enables you to have constructive conversation with your employer.

Thank you for your kind reply. It looks like you have been struggling a lot with your employer 10 years... Omg . I'm so sorry for that. Must have been extremely stressful but you seem tough and strong! I couldn't deal that long and I'm just about to give up, my energy is quite low . I have spoke to ACAS about my case for an early conciliation. I'm waiting for them to call me and then for them to call my employer as well. It will take a lot of time unfortunately. And time is something I don't have as I'm completely exhausted from starting job at 6.30 am. Luckily I have found in my contract references to the Equality act 2010, so I'm covered :). Will see what will happen next. Thx so much for your advices. Makes me feel better when I see someone that has succeeded :). Take care!

Please remember that the law backs you and they not treating you fairly or appropriately. What they are doing is wrong in law, not just morally wrong to you. I can see that others have advised of their challenges with employers and how they succeeded. Unfortunately because invariably our challenges are invisible, they can’t see it and don’t get it. It is difficult because it is stressful and that does have an adverse impact on your health and daily life. Many sleep disrupted nights, upset and increased pain/ill health in my case. However, regardless the law backs you and with the right support you should be fine even if you have to leave. If you do as others have said, make sure you tell them why you have to leave and quote the law at them, then get support to challenge the treatment and reason you had to leave.. All best wishes.

So sorry to hear this GeorgiaAny. I’m in Australia so workplace protections etc. might be different, but in the first instance I would approach Human Resources. They should support you with any grievance you have that you have already tried to resolve with the people involved. Is there anyone in HR you could approach?

Otherwise, if you are a member of a union or professional body, they can offer support and/or legal advice. In NSW Australia we can go to the Ombudsman as a recourse; do you have something similar in the UK? (I assume that’s where you are?)

In Australia, such workplace matters are governed by FairWork policies. I’d be checking your equivalent to clarify your rights in this situation, as well as your workplace’s responsibilities.

Sorry, my suggestions all involve energy you probably don’t have! I know this stuff is exhausting, and you’re probably sick to death of it. I hope you find some allies who can help you and go to bat for you. 🌻

Thank you for your support MusicalFurBaBy. Everything at my work place is hidden away . I have asked whether we belong to any union and they refuse to reply. As well HR.. We haven't heard anything about them. We barely could contact their accountant as we have salary problems for over 4 months and no payslips at all. After hundreds of emails to management they bothered to forward us accountant email adress. Still no payslips My manager only came twice on site and we only deal by emails. When they don't want to reply to the emails they just ignore us. Lately I have contacted ACAS, employment law advice and now they mediate the dispute. They informed me if manager refuses to cooperate I could take them to the employment tribunal. But I'm very exhausted to fight... Will see if I can get the strength. Take care

Oh boy, that sounds utterly exhausting! Good on you for getting this far. I truly hope you get the support you need. Look after yourself, no matter what happens. 🌻