Work Performance Due to uncontrolled thyroid

[SAUK]

Hi all

This might be a random question but I am back at work at full hours after being off sick for 2 months and phased return for several months. I have different responsibilities but work told me last week they will be performance managing based on performance prior to going off sick.

I feel my performance is due to the uncontrolled thyroid, which up to Jan this year have not been on T3/T4 which has made some improvement

Does anyone have any thoughts on how I can contest the performance management based that it may be linked to a health condition?

PS Work have been aware of my condition since before I started the job. When my TSH goes above 1 I get symptoms, but because I have some symptoms all the time hard I tend to mask them so I can carry on. It is also difficult to know if its thyroid or anything else like stress etc.

Any ideas will be helpful .

Thanks

[shaws Administrator]

Do you mean you were on a T4/T3 combination but now are not?

Research has shown many do better on this combination than on T4 alone. I am aware that T3 was withdrawn from many patients. If that has happened to you can write to Lord Hunt at The Lords who was shocked that T3 was removed from patients who cannot recover without it. It now has to be prescribed through an Endocrinologist but some members have had to source their own meds where necessary.

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/campai...

If you've not had a Full Thyroid Function Test recently and few doctors will do so, you can get a private blood test and, just in case, I'll give a link.

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin....

You need T4, T3, free T4, Free T3 and thyroid antibodies. The most important are the Frees (T4 and T3) which should be in the upper part of the ranges. If these are low we're not on a sufficient dose of levo or T4/T3.

All blood tests for thyroid hormones have to be at the very earliest, fasting (you can drink water) and allow a gap of 24 hours between last dose of levo and test and take afterwards.

Thyroid hormones should be taken (usually first thing) with one full glass of water and wait an hour before eating. Food interferes with the uptake of the hormones.

The aim is a TSH of 1 or lower (except doctors seem to believe that 'somewhere' up to 10 is o.k.).

Those members who are aware of 'work related' queries will also respond when they read your post.

I think that putting you under a 'work related performance' would add even more stress on someone who is struggling due to not yet being on an optimum dose and who are dependent upon their income.

[SAUK in reply to shaws]

Hi Shaw. Thanks. I'm now on combination T4/T3. Recent tests show I'm better on this and feeling better. My issue is my work have base their decision for capability on how I was prior to being on combination.

[shaws Administrator in reply to SAUK]

If you want to message someone privately, i.e. between you and that person, you just need to click on their name and it takes you to a new page.

[karenmyring]

Hi I'm sorry that you are feeling unwell I completely empathise . Regarding work if you have been on the managed sickness route they are required to offer reasonable adjustments . Are you able to get a note from gp or have they declared you fit for work ? I'm aware that gps do not understand our condition. What you dont want is for your employer to go down the capability route and to force a dismissal . If you need anything further please get in touch as I'm a human resources head

[MaisieGray]

It's not clear from what you write, exactly what's happening, or more accurately, it can be interpreted a number of ways. But if what you mean is that your employer is measuring your performance now, now that you have presumably been declared fit enough to return to work, against your performance before you went off sick, that seems perfectly reasonable ie they want to know if you have returned to what was your standard of competence or achievement at that time ie they aren't measuring your progress against an ideal, but against what you've demonstrate previously, that you can achieve. Having a health condition that impacts your ability to work as well as someone who doesn't, requires your employer to make reasonable adjustments so that in effect, the disadvantage is addressed and you have the opportunity to do your job as well as someone else, which presumably is what they have done in giving you the adjusted duties. But the adjustments you require, have to be reasonable, and you nevertheless, having been given the adjustments, must be able to do your job to the required standard, and fulfil the terms of your employment contract. However, if what you are saying is that rather than having been given reasonably adjusted duties, you've been given an entirely new/different job that you are now having to learn from scratch, your competency at that job can't be compared with your competency at a different job, although there are other more general or 'soft' performance indicators that may be carried over, such as time-keeping, no. of days off sick, attitude, knowledge base, team working etc. As with all things, the devil is in the detail, as to what exactly your employers are intending, and it's fairness or lawfulness.

[Aurealis]

Sorry to hear this. I think you should take legal advice as surely they would have had to notify you before now if there were concerns about you work months and months ago. There must be a procedure.

Perhaps if you are in a union seek advice from them, or if you have legal advice with your home insurance ask them, or if not maybe occupati9nal health or your GP / consultant need to be informed. Or check gov.uk advice.

You are absolutely entitled to have ‘reasonable adjustments’ made. It does sound as if they have been helpful, allowing you to return on a phased basis, the problem is that thyroid imbalance can’t be a quick fix, and that tends to be what companies are looking for.