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Posted

Afternoon All,

This afternoon, I have received the report from the OH meeting I had last week. There is a small paragraph in there that is worrying me slightly and I wondered if any of you know what it means please?

'As I am indicating that I cannot see Dawn returning to work in the forseeable future, you may be left with no other option than to consider further management action.'

Any ideas what 'further management action' means?

Cheers, Dawn x

Posted

Dawn, call them and ask them what it means. It will save you worrying and thinking all sorts.

They should be advising you of what any possibilities are and what protections and options are in place for you. Your management may want to know how long you are expecting g to be off and what your return to work is going to look like. Occ health needs to tell you about your benefits and how it works. There should be an advisor you can speak with.

I'm very lucky to be in a job with good benefits and protection but even so it's very stressful to have a brain injury and try and sort out details such as how many hours to work, what does that mean to pay, how does it effect taxes, and so on. I still don't have it all figured out.

Go slowly and take baby steps. First thing is to contact your advisor.

Sandi K.

Posted

Hi Dawn

Did occupational health let you see what your manager had asked them to report on? Their reports depend on what is being asked of them by managers and you are entitled to see everything written about you. Was a return to work talked about at this session? If your mananger asked OH to give an idea as to how long you would be off, then it would be OH's job to try and give anopinion on this. In our NHS, depending on the illness, you have about a year before they start looking at ill health retirement. I think this is what is meant by 'further management action', they may be thinking about going down ill health retirement road. I agree with Sandi, phone them and ask what they mean by that sentence.

Posted

Hi Dawn

I agree with the others ring them and try to get them to explain it. Usually my OH send me the copy first before sending it to my employer so I can check my understanding. Its possible it could also mean to make arrangements for a " phased return" rather than a full time one.

Hope you have your worries settled soon

Posted

Hi Dawn

As a manager myself and a SAH'er - unfortunately I've been on both ends of these OH reports! Often they aren't fantastic...

From my experience, I would suggest that "management action" refers to one of a couple of options that your manager can consider - ill-health retirement (there are quite specific criteria that you have to meet to be eligible and usually involves a pay-off and retirement from that particular organisation with an agreement that you cannot return to that organisation in the future - though there is nothing stopping you applying for a job with another organisation) or regrading to a different role within your organisation (not sure if this is an option at your work place?). Regrading is usually to a lesser paid, less responsible role - and acknowledges that you are still able to work, but that not in your original role/grade.

You might be able to negociate other options such as a reduction in hours or job share etc?

Try not to worry though, your employer has a responsibility to work with you through this, if you are a member of a union, it might be worth engaging them early on so they are aware of what you are going through.

Hope this helps

Annie

Posted

Hi Dawn,

I have been down this road too. The OH report did respond to specific questions asked by my line manager. I have now been medically retired as Annie mentioned but I had gone through a phased return & been back at work for about 2 years. The criteria for my workplace (MoD) was that it had to be a permanent illness or injury from which I would not recover regardless of any treatment or intervention - this seems appropriate after 2 years. I think that you are much earlier on in recovery though so I can't see a Dr saying that you will make no further improvement - it seems far too soon for that? Also the advice to speak to your union, if you have one, is the best bit of advice you could have. Also the phased return/job share option may be credible options too.

Please PM me if you think I can help with explaining how the process went for me. Definitely ring them to ask what they mean by that sentence. I was allowed at every stage of the process to see reports 5 days before they were sent to my manager - that didn't mean they would change anything if I had disagreed (which I didn't) but it may be helpful for you to know in advance so you can think things through before any contact is made?

Good luck Dawn

Michelle xx

Posted

Thanks for all the replies everyone, you have been a great help as usual!

I haven't been able to phone them today because I had a visitor who stayed for 6.5 hours (:shock:), which was well after the offices had closed. I will call OH tomorrow, as a few of you have said, there is no point in worrying if a call can answer the question.

I did see the questions that work had posed, they were along the lines of 'when can dawn return to work?, can dawn return to her previous role?, can dawn return to full-time work?' Standard questions I assume.

It had never occurred to me until today that returning to work might not be my decision to make. I had assumed that as my GP had signed me off until August, my sick-note would run out and I would begin a (hopefully slow) phased return. I'm rather surprised to find that this might be out of my hands.

Must go, I'm absolutely shattered after my visitor!

Thanks again All,

Dawn x

Posted

I also think it's strange, did they give you a reason? I know data protection can be a pain but if they're concerned they're not speaking to the right person then they usually call you back on the contact telephone number in their file!

Posted

Hi Dawn,

If in UK, you can try to get them to release information by requesting its under the Data Protection Act 1998. They are the Data Holder - you are the Data Subject - so you make a 'Subject Access Request'. This might not do much for relations though if you try to force their hand!!

However, if they have nothing to hide what is their problem? They should perhaps be trying to help you, not hide things away!

Best wishes

Macca

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