hello I am hoping someone can help me. I posted on here to say I have now resigned from work as I feel that I had no other choice but to give my job up after 3 and half years of working for the company . A temporary team leader came in to the service and changed the Rotas. She gave me 30 hrs and the other woman I work back to back nights with her usual 40 hrs . My contract is 40 hrs per week . I was told to go to another sevice to make my hours up or pick some day shifts up. Which I declined , I could no longer work days because of fibromyalgia, this is the reason I went from day shifts to night shifts. The other member of staff has child care issues which left me to work every thurs Friday sat and sun. The company gave me one last option , to leave my service ( which is in the next steet to where I live ) and travel to Huyton. Which is 1 hour away on the bus. I explained it takes me all my time to walk to the next street with the pain I am in never mind one hour away. I also stated in my email the lady in question can look into her childcare , she has options. Unfortunately I don’t have options as fibromyalgia is a life long debilitating illness. In the end I felt like they where pushing me out and I was forced to leave my job as the options they gave me I could not do. The other lady she got her contracted hrs of 40 hrs and nothing affected her. I have contacted a few solicitors who have advised me I have 2 cases , 1 is constructive dismissal and the 2nd one is discrimination. I don’t understand how it works , I have asked for no win no fee which I thought their was no payment up front for this but there is. I am wondering if anyone knows somewhere where there is no payment upfront ? I have also contacted Cab, spoke to a lovely gentleman there , he advised if I choose for them to support me it would cost nothing as Acas help. The only thing is with this if it goes to court then I have to represent my self . I don’t know what to do in this situation. Has anyone got advice please. This is a stressful situation which has brought on flare ups , not to mention my mental health of the anxiety and worry , wondering how I will cope financially as this is a big change for me. The company in question put nothing in place for me atall and yet I’m the one who feels like I have failed.the manager stated they know I have fibromyalgia and they was trying to help me to give me options. I advised them to familiarise themselves with fibromyalgia as it’s clear they have not got a clue about this illness. How can they be supporting me by wanting to send me 1 hr away to travel to work on public transport so my shifts would then be 11 hr shifts sorry this is long guys I just don’t know what to do
Thankyou
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Kazzza1976
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most employers take a gamble on their ex-employees not affording to issue proceedings. I’ve done it on behalf of husband and got a considerable settlement and we didn’t have to go to court😁
yes people have advised me it may not get as far as court. I have decided to go through cab and if it does go to court then I will represent and stand up for myself. I Definately cannot afford solicitors fees atm due to being out of work. This is all taking its toll on me now. Thankyou for your reply
Did you have an occupational health assessment if not this does not bode well for your employer. You are protected under the Equality Act 2010 and my husband's company's failure to ask for an occupational health assessment cost them a lot of money.
Even if it does go to court, you should be fine representing yourself. You say the company put nothing in place for you and have even made things worse. I once represented myself when a solicitor said he wouldn't represent me because I was unlikely to win and the judge didn't like women and people who used unnecessary expressions such as at this moment in time. (it was a motoring issue many years ago). I kept my defence to a minimum; the judge said I was an "excellent witness" and I won my case. You can do the same, so long as you answer the questions succinctly. I am so sorry you have had to give up a job because of the FM. It must have been really hard working so many hours. I know I couldn't do it, especially having to use public transport. So yes, use the CAB. They are usually very good, look into getting some benefits if you haven't already, maybe find a better job, and good luck.😊
Thankyou for your reply. I think representing myself is a confidence thing but I have the support of friends and family they have all said I can do this. Yes this is why I went from working days to night shifts as on nights I could work at my own pace but was still really hard on my body working 40 hrs on the run. My place of work was in the next street to where I live but even that was painful just walking there. And this company asked me to leave here and travel to Huyton which is nearly 1 hour from me on public transport to which I declined and advised them to familiarise themselves with fibromyalgia. I am now on uc and have applied for esa and pip. I have an esa assessment on phone next week and I am waiting on a pip assessment I have not had another date for this yet , it was supposed to be a few weeks ago but they wrote my mobile number down wrong so I have to wait now
It does sound like constructive dismissal. I hope you get somewhere with your benefit applications. Getting them can be tougher than representing yourself in court, but get the CAB to help you and get some rest.
Yes a few solicitors I have spoke to have said it is constructive dismissal and also discrimination. Problem I was having is not being able to afford the fees for a soliciter now I am out of work. They are so expensive. I am grateful that we have cab and Acas who can help without it costing a fortune. Thanks again for your reply
yes I have been treated very unfairly. No I have not tryed a law centre I just called a few solicitors but their prices are really expensive. I have decided to stick with cab and Acas hopefully they can help. Thankyou for your reply
yes I have sent all my correspondence to cab they mentioned Acas as well. I am in a Union I explained my situation they have not done anything yet. How does a union work ? I’m not too sure I only joined them last month
Hi hun, the first thing you need to do is to read your contract thoroughly and particularly the role description. Read the what is expected of you and where your place of work is. At your interview, did you advise them about any disability or illness? If so, then these are protected characteristics. If not, then they can argue that you are now not fit for the job that you were employed to do.It really is a nasty situation, I have been through the same 3years ago after working in care for years.
Are you in the UK? If so, pop to your nearest cab and apply for universal credit asap. I wish you well x
hi I have been working for this company for 3 and half years. When I first started I was working day shifts and I knew something was wrong with my body , I had severe pain and was exhausted all the time , I found that I could not keep up with the work. I went to my gp and was refered to a rhumotologist who diagnosed fibromyalgia. There was a night position available which I asked for and explained I have fibromyalgia and how this affects me on a day to day basis . I had to have another interview for nights and I got the position. Staff and management and hr are all aware of my condition
hi Hun, sorry to hear what you’ve been through! I took my company to court few years back for age discrimination. I went to acas he pass my detail on to a solicitor that was no win no fee. It was a long process and I had to right date and time and thing that was said or done by the company and a court date was set and a couple of day before court they offered a settlement which I took
I am sorry to here this. I do think your work are in the wrong. They are to help and make work more adjustable to you. Due to your condition. I think you are being treated unfairly. I had something similar in a job I was being bullied. I left as I had not bean there long. But then I went out in the community and the people I worked with were lovely. I have bean off work for 9 months. I am looking to go back evenings only reduced hours to see how I get on. My work have bean very good. I hope you get this sorted out and I hope that you get a good outcome . It is I believe a form of bullying to be honest.
I had a similar problem. Do your hr team know of your health issues? If they do go through a work tribunal. I did and it came out in my favour because I had declared my fibromyalgia before I started working and let them know in writing when I had further diagnosis confirmed. They have to legally prove they have done all they can to support you but only if they were aware of it previously.
I started with this company 3 and a half years ago and was diagnosed with fibromyalgia around last June.Staff , management and hr are all aware I have fibromyalgia.even though I was only diagnosed last year my rhumotologist thinks I have had it since 2017 as I had all the same symptoms back then and that is also when I had my accident as well. A few times I mentioned occupational health but this fell on deaf ears. The company have done nothing to help. They have just made matters worse
Your employer should have been giving you "reasonable adjustments" to help accommodate your fibromyalgia.Good luck and you deserve everything you can get. Shareholders can make profits, but not by damaging the people who make them wealthier.
I have had no support from my employer at all and no adjustments put in place. They did not even know that fibromyalgia is a disability up untill a few months ago
Recently my employer terminated my employment at the point where it was at my probation review period.
In addition to fibromyalgia I am currently battling a macular hole in my left eye. This is causing sight issues which needs consideration when working as an Energy Analyst on computers.
The company employed me in full knowledge of my fibromyalgia, I disclosed this on application.
Unfortunately the eye condition cropped up just after starting with them.
I had a phone OH appointment on which minimal adjustments were advised. This was triggered by my eye condition!
Following this they then decided I needed an OH for fibro. This also by phone. Again it was only minimal adjustments such as frequent screen breaks.
In the 6 months I was with them they piled work on, even when I said it was too much.
Asked manager for support but she kept pressing me to take on more clients in my portfolio and do other work, create reports etc for her and our team.
Then put me on a 4 week Performance Improvement Plan as she'd decided I wasn't performing well.
When this ended they terminated my contract 'just within' probation.
However I also think that a major contributing factor is that my eye condition requires surgery with a non-working 12 week face down recovery period.
My partner has suggested I may have a case for discrimination and/or constructive dismissal.
Hi I’m sorry to hear this. It sounds like you do have a case for discrimination and constructive dismissal. Please seek further advice and good luck With everything
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