Good Morning everyone
We currently have a situation where an employee has been attending Occ Health due to anxiety and depression following alleged bullying and harassment by his supervisor and colleagues in the workplace. The dept has had several documented cases of issues around dignity at workIn order for us to facilitate a return to work the employee was allocated a temporary position in another department in the company. Throughout the month that he has worked there he has significantly improved and he was no longer experiencing any anxiety. He was happy to return to work and was showing positivity and drive to succeed. He understood that the position was temporary and has been in meetings with management to discuss a phased return back into his original dept.
He recently spent an hour working in his old department and states that he is still being’ sent to Coventry’ which has caused his anxiety to return. He reported all this during routine health surveillance and he was visibly distressed. HR have basically told him that if he can’t go back in there that he will have to find another job, which again has added to the pressure that he is already experiencing.
The OHA advised that he is temporarily unfit to return to work in his original dept and has made an appointment for him to see the OH Physician.
HR didn’t take kindly to the advice and tried to manipulate what the OHA wrote in the report including a request for the report to be sent to her only and not the manager. As you can imagine my very experienced colleague stood her ground and declined on both counts.
I guess what I’m asking is… Is anyone aware of any case law involving an individual who has lost their job because they couldn’t return to an area because precipitating factors at work were affecting their mental health?
HR seem determined to rule out permanent redeployment regardless of his health needs or the fact that he is extremely productive in his temporary role. Obviously I am aware that creating another post for someone isn’t likely to be deemed a reasonable adjustment. However, the company currently employs 650 people and I’m not sure if they would be expected to try and make the adjustment.
Please note that we will not be getting involved in the management decisions, my request is based on wanting to increase our understanding and knowledge around how this may cases such as this may be treated in relation to employment law.
Kind regards
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Paula Highton RN BSc(Hons) SCPHN (OH)
Occupational Health Manager
Medical Centre ext 272
Please be advised that all e-mail communication relevant to assisting in the management of the OH process will be entered into the individual's OH file. This may therefore be disclosed to the client under the Data Protection Act (1998).
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