Sick Leave: Get it right, get advice!

4 minute read time.

Hello Community,

It’s Polly and Emma here. Welcome back to our Work Support blog. Today we thought we’d do something different and share the experience of two people we’ve spoken to on the Macmillan Support Line. We’ve changed the names of our customers to keep their identities confidential, however we hope you’ll be able to compare their experiences see how they dealt with them to help your experiences at work remain positive.

Mary’s Story:

Mary started to work for a large supermarket 17 years ago. Before her cancer diagnosis she worked night shifts in the petrol station.

Mary was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had to go on sick leave because she needed surgery and chemotherapy. Mary was daunted by returning to work nights as she felt very fatigued and it took her a long time to get over her treatment.

At first Mary’s line manager rang every month. Her line manager was very supportive and kind and there was a good relationship between them.

When Mary reached the sixth month of her sick leave, her pay dropped to zero and she received stern letters from work.

One letter was an invitation to an occupational health assessment and it contained a consent form. Mary signed it and sent it to work. The following week she attended the appointment. She told the Occupational Therapist that she remained unwell and was expecting further surgery. She did not know when she would come back to work, and she thought she could not do night shifts anymore.

She was soon invited to a formal meeting. The letter explained that an outcome of the meeting could be dismissal, and she could bring a colleague or a Union Representative to the meeting. Mary could not believe that someone with cancer and 17 years’ service could be sacked. 

Throughout the meeting she felt that she was the one who was in the wrong. They asked her several times “when are you coming back to work?” They reminded her about what she said at the occupational health appointment. They said that the business cannot sustain her absence and she must go. She was dismissed.

When Mary called us, the dismissal took place over 3 months ago and she was out of time to apply to an Employment Tribunal. This might have been a successful unfair dismissal and disability discrimination claim.

Margaret’s Story:

Margaret worked for the same supermarket. She knows Mary because they started work for the supermarket at the same time. She was shocked when Mary was sacked and was frightened when she too was later diagnosed with breast cancer. Margaret also worked nights, however she worked in a role re-stocking the shelves.

Margaret took a different approach to Mary. She contacted the Macmillan Support Line and spoke to the Work Support Team (0808 808 0000 – option 1 followed by option 3). We were able to talk her through every step.

We suggested the following steps:

  1. To ask her employer for a copy of their sickness and absence policy. This prepared Margaret for the process that followed and helped her know what happens at each stage.
  2. When Margaret contracted an infection, which delayed her treatment, she asked her employer to delay her Occupational Health appointment because she was so ill. The employee can ask the employer to make reasonable adjustments to their policies if the employee suffers a disadvantage related to their disability.
  3. To ensure that she receives a copy of the Occupational Health report before it is sent to the employer. This is an option on the consent form and this is permitted by Law.
  4. To keep messages to work truthful but positive, for example: “I love my job and I want to come back when I am well”.
  5. Margaret was encouraged to contact her trade union who were able to support her.

So, what happened to Margaret?

Margaret successfully delayed the Occupational Health referral until she felt well enough to make positive moves to return to work. It was good that she received a copy of the Occupational Health report before the employer because she noticed several mistakes and was able to ask that they be corrected before the report was sent to the employer.

The Union Rep went to formal meetings with her.

Together with her Union, she successfully obtained a phased return to work when she was ready and was able to start on light duties on day time shifts.

The Union Rep successfully raised Health and Safety concerns about night shifts and the possible link to cancer. This meant the store manager reviewed and changed the rotas, allowed staff to be employed flexibly and not be on permanent night shifts unless they chose to.

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our blog. If you do require any support, then please do call us on the Work Support Team. We can be reached on 0808 808 0000 – option 1 followed by option 3. Or you can ask us a question using the Ask a Work Support Advisor page of the Community.

Anonymous
  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    It is awful people get treated like this. No-one wants to get cancer. I hate the phrase For the good of the business. I means we don't care!

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    Hi all it’s absolutely disgusting how people are treat at work with cancer. I myself have have been in a very bad situation at work I fully disclosed my cancer from day one. It still didn’t stop them from terminating my contract they called it a betrayal of trust for not telling them the full extent of my cancer which they couldn’t even get right they sacked me for having lung cancer. I’ve never had that. The company lied to get rid as they knew they had broke so many laws. I felt worthless and contemplated suicide as I didn’t want to go on. this was all due to pathetic stupid managers who didn’t know what they were doing. I was very low then I realised that I had beaten cancer and took the company on and won. The moral of this story people is don’t be pushed around by companies there’s laws that protect us. Cancer is a battle we don’t need to lose our jobs because of it shame on companies and employers who think we don’t matter. Keep on smiling 

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    I have recently been diagnosed with MGUS which is a pre cancerous condition. The haematologist told me I need to attend 3 monthly appointments for bloods and review as small chance could develop into non Hodgkin lymphoma. When I told my boss she said I wasn't entitled to any time off for hospital appointments and to arrange them in my own time. However, the haematology clinic only runs on Tues mornings and GP says I need to attend these appointments as a specialist clinic. I contacted my union rep for advice and my boss has now agreed to give me special leave for all the hospital appointments. Just feel I shouldn't have had to involve a union rep and boss should have been more supportive in the first place.

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    I had bowel cancer 10 years ago and I had worked for the company for 29 years and they told me if I could not give them a date when I 

    would return to work they would have to sack me. I had not finished chemo and was told I had non Hodgkin's lymphoma . They aloud me

    £350 to find a solicitor to represent me which I could not find. In the end they made me sign a compromise deal and gave me £500 not to talk about what they payed me which was 2 months money and on minimum pay was not much. And the solicitor told me they could do that. This was from the biggest company in the world in there field.

    best thing they ever did

    Trevor

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    Hi Everyone this is the first time I have posted on here but hope to get some of your thoughts about what it is like to return to work I feel like I'm being pressured to return to work by my bosses. I have been off work for six months after having mastectomy and a reconstruction operation a few weeks ago.  I'm still in lots of pain following my operations. I'm now on Letrazole and feeling very fatigued and have pains in my joints. I was wondering what my rights are and what my employer has to do in terms of making reasonable adjustments to my work. I feel so stressed and feel pressure about returning too soon..

    thanks for listening