can i get sacked for being sick?

LegacyUser

I work for a large company with very generous sick leave benefits. No complaints there. Year before last I had to have major abdominal surgery because of a cancer scare. It ended up being a 4 month recovery. Messy.

Now again this year, I've had another unrelated problem that isn't going to go away. It got really bad, which brought on investigation and the diagnosis, and my GP put me on sick leave for a month. It turned into 4 months, trying to get the situation to calm down. I have cooperated with everything my GP has suggested/ordered. I'm a lot better. Not well, but not excruciating pain non-stop now at least.

But now that I'm back in work (and the same thing happened before) my manager is angry with me because of the backlog of work that resulted during my absence. (It didn't occur to them to hire a temp until about 2 weeks before I came back.)

I appreciate the frustration, but bad management decisions created the problem. I'm not THAT unique!!! And my job is not that complicated and specialised that a person trained in the software couldn't pick it up... and a lot of them are out there right now!

Mgr threatened my job the first time. And now is alluding to it again. I did not get sick on purpose. I came back to work when the company doc said I was fit (graduated return to work, thank goodness). I'm worse for the return, but have pressed on anyway. I'm back full time now and my manager is on my back, being rude, demanding, demeaning, insulting, intimidating, and intimating that my job is in jeopardy. "We'll have to do something." I asked what that meant. Mgr deferred saying let's just tackle the problem.

If they take me out of my job and move me to a paper clip counting job or something like that, can they hire another person in my place? I'm the only one who does my particular job. Or can they "outsource" my job (that is, have someone on contract doing my job full time)?

Or are they stuck with me? I can do my job, they are just making changes in my situation that are making it harder to stay well, etc. I think I'm being squeezed out.

I am going to talk to my union rep, but I'd really rather not go the formal route if I know they can't actually get rid of me. I obviously need my job. I'm close enough to retirement that they ought to just chill out. I have not had one single bad or negative review, no warnings, etc. Just bullying type behaviour. My manager has been cited for it before, btw.

The stress is not helping.... I'm not trying to get a lot of special favours or anything, but it would be nice if they'd help out a little to make a few concessions to help me stay well enough to do my job.

Can they sack me? Can they take me out of my job and put someone else in it? There is an absolute hiring freeze in our company, so it can't be an outsider, unless they manage to terrorise me out of the company.

help?

Sick of Being Sick

DonnieBrasco

scared of sack wrote: »

I work for a large company with very generous sick leave benefits. No complaints there. Year before last I had to have major abdominal surgery because of a cancer scare. It ended up being a 4 month recovery. Messy.

Now again this year, I've had another unrelated problem that isn't going to go away. It got really bad, which brought on investigation and the diagnosis, and my GP put me on sick leave for a month. It turned into 4 months, trying to get the situation to calm down. I have cooperated with everything my GP has suggested/ordered. I'm a lot better. Not well, but not excruciating pain non-stop now at least.

But now that I'm back in work (and the same thing happened before) my manager is angry with me because of the backlog of work that resulted during my absence. (It didn't occur to them to hire a temp until about 2 weeks before I came back.)

I appreciate the frustration, but bad management decisions created the problem. I'm not THAT unique!!! And my job is not that complicated and specialised that a person trained in the software couldn't pick it up... and a lot of them are out there right now!

Mgr threatened my job the first time. And now is alluding to it again. I did not get sick on purpose. I came back to work when the company doc said I was fit (graduated return to work, thank goodness). I'm worse for the return, but have pressed on anyway. I'm back full time now and my manager is on my back, being rude, demanding, demeaning, insulting, intimidating, and intimating that my job is in jeopardy. "We'll have to do something." I asked what that meant. Mgr deferred saying let's just tackle the problem.

If they take me out of my job and move me to a paper clip counting job or something like that, can they hire another person in my place? I'm the only one who does my particular job. Or can they "outsource" my job (that is, have someone on contract doing my job full time)?

Or are they stuck with me? I can do my job, they are just making changes in my situation that are making it harder to stay well, etc. I think I'm being squeezed out.

I am going to talk to my union rep, but I'd really rather not go the formal route if I know they can't actually get rid of me. I obviously need my job. I'm close enough to retirement that they ought to just chill out. I have not had one single bad or negative review, no warnings, etc. Just bullying type behaviour. My manager has been cited for it before, btw.

The stress is not helping.... I'm not trying to get a lot of special favours or anything, but it would be nice if they'd help out a little to make a few concessions to help me stay well enough to do my job.

Can they sack me? Can they take me out of my job and put someone else in it? There is an absolute hiring freeze in our company, so it can't be an outsider, unless they manage to terrorise me out of the company.

help?

Sick of Being Sick

document every remark that insinuates moving you on..

in short, it appears to depend on your employment contract details.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/employment/employment-rights-and-conditions/leave-and-holidays/sick_leave

good luck with your recovery.