When should employers consider DDA

[siriusb]

Thank-you. It helps to have someone outside the problem looking in. Union first thing!

 

Regarding the PI claim - I am hoping the evidence I have (broken light, wet floor, wet floor sign permanently left out nullifying it's effectiveness [supported by H&S rep report] and replacement PPE footwear [requested urgently in June]provided in October, one month after slip) are quite demonstrative of a lack of duty of care contributing to bilateral rather than previously unilateral back problems. I understand the existing condition clouds things but I feel I have been left with no other option.

 

Anyway time to take some more of those delightful pain meds.

 

Thank you for your advice papasmurf.

 

Hx

[Giggins]

The fact you have made a claim for personal injury in no way diminishes the employers "duty of care" to you. Based on what you have elucidated, I would say that your back problem amounts to having a "physical impairment" which very likely falls under the auspices of the Equality Act 2010. The impact of your impairment has an "adverse effect" on your ability to perform your "day to day activities" which is palpable. Further, the effects of your impairment have lasted longer than 12 months.

 

The employer has a "duty of care" to make a "reasonable adjustment" when it has "constructive knowledge" that the impairment impedes your "abilities and capabilities" to perform your job role. The employer cannot argue that it is unaware you have an impairment.

[Giggins]

Further to the previous post, I would suggest that what you state to your employer is (i) placed in writing and (ii) sent via email. This way you can prove the date and time you notified your employer of your impairment. Remember, the employer is obligated to take what you tell it at "face value", and should undertake a "risk assessment" to assess the "risk of harm" to either your "health" or "safety".

[siriusb]

Thank-you for the advice Giggins.

 

One of the women at my 'new' place of work was going to do a DSE(workstation assessment) today. She saw the way I was trying to sit, and as soon as I told her my problem she said that I needed an Occupational Health Assessment due to change of work duties and work location to ensure that I incurred no further pain or injury.

 

So it seems like all the professionals are saying the same thing but my senior line manager - who is fully aware of my problem - is disregarding this.

 

I have to go and do some paperwork at my normal workplace tomorrow so I shall most likely bump into this senior manager but I do plan to put it in writing (I always print my emails off too) and cc my Union rep.

 

It is driving me nuts. All the sitting down is setting me back physically.

 

Hx

[siriusb]

Went into work today at my normal location to do my personal statement for the slip in the toilet in September - which has been the main reason I have had to be of work sick (hell, most of it was because I was sent home by my line manager).

 

Asked my acting line manager if they were supporting my claim that my sickness was due to the fall and apparently they aren't. I dion't have a copy of the report yet so I don't know why. But you would think a wet floor, a broken light, a wet floor sign lacking gravitas because it was always at one end of the corridor outside the loo, and worn down PPE that they had not replaced when requested to do so in June may be enough. I have my medical notes which never mention left sided sciatica until after the slip, and all the notes from when I have attended A+E and seen my consultant.

 

Am I being blinkered in thinking it seems quite reasonable that the slip in my workplace was significantly causal in the left leg sciatica? It's not even as if this is about 'compensation' it is just to have my sick leave discounted and the shift pay they stopped paying me paid back.

 

Legal eagles and savvy Caggers - what am I missing?

 

Hx

[papasmurf1cx]

The Manager is only 'not admitting' anything that would cause the employer problems when fighting the liability issue and this is what you would expect. On liability there is always another side to the issue eg if you knew of the problems in there and the fact that you ignored your own doubts about using the facility will be pounced upon as evidence that you caused or contributed your own problem. PI cases can go on forever.

[siriusb]

I think that is clearly why they wouldn't admit any of it being their fault - because as a seperate matter I have put in a PI claim on the advice of my TU rep.

 

I take on board what you say about 'knowing the problem was there'.

 

Well I can truthfully say I did not know the floor was awash with water, nor that the light was broken. I knew that my boots needed replacing (as they needed to be non-standard my organization operates a voucher scheme) and I asked for them to be replaced as a matter of urgency in June. I have a large quantity of email exchanges with my managers and stores dept trying to get the vouchers issued. I finally got them in November! However despite them beeing very worn I had not slipped on the floor on any other occasion when it was dry.

 

I can confirm the wet floor sign is always out. Ten days after my slip the H&S rep did an assessment of the area I work in and highlights that the sign is likely to have lost it impact through being constantly out .

 

I feel crap having to do all this. I feel like a traitor but I really do feel I am being pooped on from a great height and feel powerless to do anything.

 

That said today I have initiated a request for an OH referral to get an appropriate chair - though a standing station is actually going to be more comfortable for me.

 

This has all dragged on so long that I think even the Union is getting sick of me.

 

I do apprecaite all the input here - it is the straight advice I need.

 

Hx

[Giggins]

First: I would be inclined to get a copy of the "RIDDOR" report which your employer would needed to have lodged with the local Environmental Health Dept. Contact your local Council, and obtain this report. The employer would needed to have stated the reason/s why you were "sick" from work. It is possible the RIDDOR report may shed some light on your employer's liability or culpability with regard to this "incident". Use their own words against them.

 

Secondly: The employer is legally obligated to provide you with a "safe place and system of work". This means the employer is obligated to undertake health and safety training to communicate it policies and procedures to its "ordinary employees". The fact it had a slippery floor notice is not a panacea to limit its liabilty.

 

Further, H&S training should be undertaken every 12 months. A failure by the employer to implement reasonable or adequate "preventative or protective measures" germane to its Health & Safety obligations can be used to draw inference against the employer in the Tribunal or Court.

 

Directors have fiduciary duties to ensure their organisations policies and procedures are implemented within the workforce at large. See HSE Bulletin INDG 417

 

Thirdly, I would request the last "risk assessment" your employer undertook with regard to that particular work area, to see if it knew that a potential "risk of harm" potentially existed. If it did, the sign in itself was inadequate, and other preventative measures ought to have been implemented. You could argue it was an "accident waiting to happen".

[siriusb]

Wow!

 

I think I need to sit down in a dark room after that! Some VERY interesting points to act on though. I will be requesting that RIDDOR report tomorrow, and be asking about the risk assessment for that area. That should get me a big black mark against my name to join the others!

 

I briefly saw my Union rep today and I queried whether the dept were failing their duty of care in placing in a role which was fundamentally sitting when my current OH (Aug 2010) clearly says no sitting for prolonged periods, as this causes me more pain. He intimated the dept would say they couldn't offer me any other role. He presto! a few hours later the HR guy 'pops up' to see me as I now have a date for my next OH referral.

 

HR manthen moves on to discuss my problems with sitting and, to cut a long story short, basically said ' if you cant do your full regular duties, and you can't do sitting work then you will have to go sick because we are not going to let you do anything else'. I emphasized I could do some of my regular duties, and that there was one particular function I could do, and that someone else who had restricted ability had been allowed for that to be their role for many months so I couldn't understand why I couldn't. This was met with confusion and a smidge of squirming and the suggestion of a meeting with myself, HR, Management and my Union rep.

 

The big question is - albeit rhetorical - is there any point?

 

Do I have any legal weight to be allowed to do the other role? (This is something that routinely forms part of my duties). What happens if OH say in 4 weeks time that I shouldn't be doing a primarily seated role?

 

I am frazzled. Can I wheel you all in at my next meeting? Would certainly get a different result I think!

 

Hx

[siriusb]

Are there any legal seagulls out there?

 

I have a quite specific question in relation to culpability that i would rather not post on the open board unless no other option.

 

Hx

[honeybee13]

Hello siriusb. You seem to have a lot of advice available to you already and I'm a bit confused about why you're asking for advice on the forum.

 

How will you know whether someone on an open internet forum is giving you the right advice? Have you tried speaking to ACAS or the CAB for example? I realise that CAB could well refer you to an employment lawyer and I don't know how that would play out with a lawyer your union might have involved, just thought I'd ask.

 

Forgive me if I've missed something in your posts.

 

My best, HB

[siriusb]

Hi,

 

I have had some really good advice from members, and I really appreciate it.

 

With regards to asking if there was anyone legaly savvy (though bizarrely I wrote seagulls not seagulls), the only reason why I would like to avoid open forum is because I think it may a bit of a trump card(ish). I know that some people from my organization also read this forum so I'm trying to keep this card close to my chest.

 

You are right, there is no guarentee on any forum the advice given is accurate. Based on my experience here the advice given has always come over as balanced.

 

Hx

[siriusb]

Me again!

 

If in order to do my job fully I have to regularly stretch to reach/see something - and sometimes overstretch - and there is no other standard way to do it (and it is common practice in order to perform this duty) does it mean that I am less likely to lose any of the actions I am taking based on the fact that 'overstretch' is the word used in most of the paperwork from that period?

 

A small matter, I know, but am getting 3 'bundles' together at the moment and I am trying to explore allavenues as they come up.

 

Many thanks,

 

Hx

[siriusb]

Things rumble on... I'd appreciate advice on something said to me from senior line manager...

 

... regarding my accident at work he has said that 'they' wont be liable as the facilities are rented free of charge from xxx, and as xxx provide and maintain them it is xxx that must argue liability. Now is he correct? The facilities are provided for our use by my employer, no-one else uses them. The area is assessed by our H&S rep, and problems reported to line managers to progress to xxx to get sorted. I, as an employee, have no contact with xxx.

 

I just wonder if there is some wriggling here as they are worried, or are they right?

 

Hx

[elpulpo]

Poppycock.

[siriusb]

 

May I commend you on such a well-rounded answer.

 

That was what I was thinking as he was talking to me. I think that because I am usually very chatty, outgoing and always looking for the compromise he expected me to say - OK, I will forward the PI claim to xxx, but for once I had the good sense to be especially vacuous and just say I'd leave it to the professionals to sort out.

 

I'm learning fast how wriggly employers can be.

 

Hx

[siriusb]

Hi everyone,

 

As some of you may know I have an ongoing problem with my employers over an injury and an accident at work (2 seperate things). They are slowing going through the hands of the managers and other people that need to see them, but I am constantly facing an uphill battle, being told I can't ask for certain things when I can, having to show the managers I can, and then being told that I don't have the right to ask for certain administrative things to be done.

 

Anyway the crux of this posting is that where I have been moved to a primarily seated role I have had to double up on the two strongest painkiller I take. Now this is making me VERY woolly headed, and the side effects have been bad enough for me to get sent home one day last week.

 

In the space of this one day my ex line manager, my current reporting line manager and my acting line manager all appear to have been in a meeting together. I draw this conclusion from my acting line manager asking me to submit my work attendance to my reporting line manager in order for my T&S to be checked as accurate, and the same acting line manager handing me an original of a certain document that has come from my ex line manager. My acting line manager had put this in an envelope and sealed it (her handwriting was on the front).

 

Now I am very jumpy anyway as I suspect I am seen as 'difficult to manage' when in fact I am just doing what I believe to be right for me in respect to injuries sustained at work.

 

All weekend I have been worrying that I may be being watched very closely so that they can get rid of me if I put a foot out of line. I submitted a T&S claim on Friday and I think I may have done it wrong accidentally due to being woolly headed due to the painkillers. I have been worried all weekend. If I have will they be able to penalize me giving that medication is the reason behind it.

 

I am trying to be squeakly clean about everything as it is but I am worried that they may punish me for the smallest transgression.

 

Sorry if this seems really trivial - bit stressed about it all at the moment.

 

Hx

 

Any thoughts?

 

Hx

[elpulpo]

T&S? Probably something obvious, but I can't think......

[SteveH2508]

Travel and Subsistence?

[siriusb]

Yep - travel and subsistence

 

I am claiming the difference in fares between my normal place of work, and where they have put me at the moment - so all of £1.60 a day. I am not even claiming subsistence even though according to the guidelines I could!

 

I have seen the darker side of my employers and I wonder if they would go for gross misconduct over the theft of £1.60 (one day that I think I attended the office at my normal workplace and I may have put incorrectly on my T&S claim).

 

As I said - working myself into a lather over something that seems trivial (I will be checking first thing tomorrow).

 

I just get that feeling that somewhere (and not in the sanitized SAR I received last year ) a little seperate file is being kept on me.

 

Hx

[elpulpo]

Well, who knows?

The thing to do is keep a record of everything that happens on a day to day basis, don't react emotionally to anything that they say or do, and if you think things are getting too much go back to your doctor.

From what you've told us before about the way management behave, it may well be that they're 'planning something'. Keep calm, and don't let them provoke you. That's what bullys always aim to do.

[siriusb]

At work I am like a swan these days (or I like to think so) calm on the surface but paddling like the clappers underneath.

 

I think combining the wriggling from a senior manager over 'liability' the previous week and the rather sudden 'meeting' of my numerous managers this week there certainly is something afoot! I just hope that I haven't added to this by messing up my T&S claim. In itself could the £1.60 potential overclaim be grounds for gross misconduct/theft?

 

I do try to keep a log of everything I do, meeting etc but I think I am going to have to try harder.

 

Hx

[elpulpo]

I can't remember what your length of service is off the top of my head, but I'd say they'd be pretty damn daft to sack you over £1.60. Certainly given everything else that's going on.

[siriusb]

Agreed - but I can imagine it making it's way onto my management notes without my knowledge.

Regardless I shall be checking and double-checking tomorrow!

 

Hx

[Bunty Rothsay]

I agree with Elpulpo write everything down, dates, times who with. Whether they treated meetings as being informal or said you could bring someone in with you etc etc - you may think it overkill now but in future you may wish you had done it! I do!

 

I dont know what everyone else thinks but is there any way they would order a special chair for you? At least then it would be record too to show you are having difficulty with your current situation and seating situation generally 9so you are creating an audit trail for yourself.

 

Dont let it keep you awake at night (I know its easier said than done) just keep everything noted!

Maybe with your expenses keep your bus or train tickets so as to give yourself evidence and also good way to check you are claiming right amount.

 

Good luck