Hi all
Hope you doing well.
So here I am almost 1 year post stroke and today I have been told I am being dismissed from my job on capability grounds. I'm sure it's just coincidence but this evening I feel my symptoms much more, headache right over the stroke site, fatigue etc etc. So I guess I need to regroup and rethink. Moan over ! Xx
Sorry to har that your employers are adding to your problems. I hope you get a massive payout.
Stress seems to affect all the symptoms. And worsening symptoms increase stress.
Please try to view your new situation without the hassle of trying to get to work.
New Mo arise.
Best wishes
Colin
Mo, How awful for you. Employers never have as much sympathy as we hope they have. Dismissal will clearly send you into a downward spiral, but your symptoms have not been affected. They are there anyway. Stay strong, your health is more important than any job and you are more important than any employer.
hi Mo
I wasn't dismissed but my employer went to great lengths to get me out and avoid charges of disability discrimination. in the end they offered me a settlement, which I took. I was over a barrel. the alternative was a dismissal route, where I would have ended up with nothing. it was gruelling and cost me money I hired an employment law solicitor to negotiate for me. I recouped some of the costs but I am still recovering from the emotional toll it took. I was effectively thrown out. I was in a senior role with a local charity. no they don't behave any better than others.
glad to be out of it but still putting myself back together. fortunately the settlement means that I can have a rest for a while but I will need to find something eventually this is dauntingat the age of 60 and significantly disabled after my stroke, which was over three years ago now.
are you in a Union? they may be able to help. though mine wasn't great. worth having a chat to see if they can help. they may be able to suggest that your employer settle with you. at least you will get something. and they may be able to talk to your employer about alternative roles. dismissal should not be the first recourse but seems often to be. many employers use an occupational health assessment to support them to dismiss employees on health grounds w, which is perfectly legal. I had an OH assessment which recommended a phased return to work. I think my employer was a bit nonplussed by this, as I don't think they really expected me back. it didn't work out, and got pretty nasty after about a year. I started back after about a year following the stroke I really was not too well and in the very early stages of understanding what had happened to me. in retrospect I am amazed I did it at all. I had to as my sick pay had run its course and we only had my wife's income to support us. as we do now, but she is doing ok so we keep afloat. I can only offer my experience. and would urge you to get support from someone who knows employment law. it is a major stress because your livelihood depends on it,, and self esteem. for me it wasn't just having my contract terminated it was the trashing of my previous work record that I find hard to forgive. After stroke we are very vulnerable and this stuff is a major stress. look after yourself as best you can and try and get someone knowledgeable to talk to. mind you, talking it through was stressful enough, so it helps also to have someone around for emotional support too, if you have friends or family who can do that for you that will help. try the stroke association's helpline they might be able to give you some pointers. it's a tough time no doubt about it. I hope you can negotiate something that works for you.
best wishes
Tony
Hi Mo
If it isn't enough that we have to cope with a stroke, but losing youre job is terrible. However, I would say if they made you feel that uncomfortable then you are probably better off out of it, and as you say at least you left with something. I am very lucky I have an amazing boss who is all ways checking up on me, and even though I only do 2 five hour days, has done everything possible for me.
Forget them Mo, they are not worth it look to the future, onwards and upwards as we all say.
Wendy
Hi Tony thanks so much for getting in touch and your situation has real parallels to mine! My main problem was that the OCC health physician said I would not be fit for at least another year. So basically my employer said I go now or wait on unpaid leave for the year and quite possibly be dismissed then anyway. I really can't face that uncertainty. My union really said it is best to go now, and my husband who is also a trade union official has been in on all my meetings. Where we are going to have a fight is that I have variable earnings, they are offering me 3 months salary plus holiday pay, but no-one seems keen to say how that will be calculated. Therein lies the fight I guess! At this time of the year I am on my lowest pay, earnings are much higher October to June! Just my luck. Anyway we shall see, I realize how incredibly lucky I have been in many ways, and just bad luck that the stroke hit all the bits of the brain that I need for my job! I am usually quite a positive person and hopefully that will return soon! Thank goodness for this forum where folk do really understand. Wishing you all the best x
Hi Wendy
Thanks so much. It certainly is a bit of a sore one. I've been with them near 20 years from very part time to now full-time. I will miss the work. Never thought I'd say that! However could be worse.. take care xxxx
Hi John Jeff, thank you so much you are absolutely right. I just need to move it on and be grateful for what I have. I'm sure I will find a new role, paid or otherwise in due course xx
Hi Colin
I like the idea of new Mo arising! I don't expect to get much money wise, they are offering 3months pay but I have variable earnings, which are lowest over the summer typically! So I wait to see how they will work it out xx
Dear Mo
The finance side is difficult and uncertain. But there will be a new Mo. That is certain. I am getting to know New Colin and it is surprising me just how I now have some friends that didnt know Old Colin.
Best wishes
Colin
the uncertainty is really stressful, so I hope you can get a resolution. you may find that you have more resources in you than you think. if you were a positive person previously. the stroke won't take that away altogether. it is great you have the support of your husband and hisexperience as a union officer. a year unpaid waiting to be probably dismisssed sounds grim. sounds like you have a fight on your hands. by the way my understanding of occupational health assessments is that the findings are recommendations and not binding on the employer. my employer also require a "fit note" from my GP which she provided. the OH assessment said that I would be ok t return on a phased basis. this didn't work out at all well as my employer took the recommendations very literally and made me work very reduced hours for which I hd to produce a time sheet. my job didn't really work out like that, it was a leadership role and it didn't lend itself to clocking in and clocking off. on top of I returned to an organisation that the board h restructured in my absence, one of the restructure proposals involved making my job redundant. I had to fight back for that but it left a bba taste and I knew they just wanted me gone which was very demoralising and skewered my confidence for a long time. I am sure that they were hoping that the O report would recommend that I didn't return but it didn't do that. so I really struggled in w becam and increasingly hostile environment I did get some help from acess to work. in retrospect I should have raised a grievance, but at the time I just did not have the energy. there would have been grouns for disability discrimination but I didn't have the resources to fight tht battle and didn't want to take it to tribunal. when the crisishit, I was in a similar position re capability scrutiny. t attempt to avoid me pushing the disability discrimination angle they attempted to make a case that I hadn't been up to it even prior to the stroke, though concerns had never been raised with me before. we were talking about six years service. it was bizarre and bewildering. the grievance would have helped g some of the allegations into the light. I was advised that I should do it if I could anticipate an unfair dismissal claim. it resolved with the settlement. but I am still recovering. I had to sign an NDA, n pleased to see that the use of these is now being challenged.
btw, what do you do?
I am s glad you have th support from your husband I don't know if I would have coped without the support of my wife and family and I was lucky to have a friend who is an HR consultant. and as I said before in the end I paid money for a solicitor.
good luck and look after yourself. there will be an end to it and after that a new beginning
all the best
Tony