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Surly if the job is causing so much harm to her mental health then the company HR should take action as they are putting her at risk,(according to her), it would be unwise to continue employing her in this role if the job profile includes working on the check out and it causes her stress, you would not let an asthmatic who has become allergic to animals work in an environment that would potentially cause harm to health. Regards Pauline ----- Original Message ----- From: "Belinda Fox" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2010 8:13 PM Subject: [OCC-HEALTH] keeping the peace Hi all can you share your thoughts with me on the following scenario. I had an email from a supermarket manager, who was frustrated at an employee (22 year old female) who was refusing to train as a checkout operator as it stressed her out. It is part of the job requirement that sales assistants in the store are checkout trained for busy periods to help reduce queues. On the day of her training she produced a medical certificate for 1 year stating fit for ammended duties, suggesting this lady refrain from checkout duties as she becomes stressed and agitated and it is affecting her mental health. Trying to keep the peace and give an objective perspective, I asked the manager to refer the lady to occupational health and I assessed her to establish if there was any underlying medical condition which would prevent her from doing the duties. I could understand the manager's frustration as he felt it set a precedence for all other staff who didn't want to train as checkout operators to go to the GP and ask for a medical certificate stating a reason for not doing it. On assessment, I found that the lady did have a skin problem affecting her scalp, similar to psoriasis, which I know can be exacerbated by stress, but no other medical problems. I didn't feel her condition itself would prevent her from doing till training, however I tried to focus on what her stressors were and suggested we tried to address these. i.e if she required additional training and supervision until she felt confident and competent. The reaction I got from the lady was well if I have to do it I'll just leave. I suggested a further management meeting between the employee and personnel to try to see if she would buy into the suggestion of additional training. I tried to focus on a positive outlook saying that it could be good for her personal development. I suggested to management that I could obtain a further medical report from the GP if required. I don't know the outcome from the meeting yet, but I anticipate the lady will not be receptive to the suggestions, and I anticipate management won't be willing to accept it as a reasonable adjustment. It would be great to hear your views to enable me to offer further advice. Many thanks Belinda Fox. ******************************** Please remove this footer before replying. OCC-HEALTH ARCHIVES: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html CONFERENCES AND STUDY DAYS: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=OCC-HEALTH ******************************** Please remove this footer before replying. OCC-HEALTH ARCHIVES: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html CONFERENCES AND STUDY DAYS: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=OCC-HEALTH