Sick and being Threatened

calliopeia

Hi,
Wondering if anyone know, I've been working for my company now since February, in the last 2+months I have taken a lot of time of work due to stomach pains/cramping (IBS) and a hole list of other things. I went to the company doctor, and the doctor said that I was should be fine and that all I need to do was change my diet! I'm hardly eating as it is and I had told him that. Any way I was told when I went back to work that If this happened again other action would have to be taken (in my mind, we will fire you)

Now although I can understand there point of view, I want to know if they do fire me is it just! Do I have any recourse?

Sorry just needed to mention, I've called in sick today to!

mkdon05

Just make sure all your days off are certified. This will give you a stronger position. Also you should read you contract of employment as sick days are usually mentioned in it. The contract may have disciplinary proceedures laid out regarding you situation (prolonged absence).

Best of luck with everything, I know how frustrating IBS can be when you feel like crap and there is nothing you can do and other people justy think your making it up. (Someone close to me suffers with this.)

These are just my opinions and are not intended to be legal advice.

MrPudding

calliopeia wrote: »

stomach pains/cramping (IBS) and a hole list of other things. I went to the company doctor, and the doctor said that I was should be fine and that all I need to do was change my diet!

Go and see a nutritionist. i had trouble with this for a while and a change in diet solved it completely.

MrP

eth0_

Why don't you do something about your situation other than take sick days?
Ask for a referral to a consultant who can actually treat your condition.

mkdon05

eth0_ wrote: »

Why don't you do something about your situation other than take sick days?
Ask for a referral to a consultant who can actually treat your condition.

IBS is cannot be treated.

The only thing you can do is play around with your diet and hope to eliminate what element/elements are causing the harm.

keefg

A good strong Vindaloo will clear you out

As for the company situation, go onto the entemp.ie website. You may find some useful info there.

deman

mkdon05 wrote: »

IBS is cannot be treated.

The only thing you can do is play around with your diet and hope to eliminate what element/elements are causing the harm.

It can be treated. Just not cured. Changing diet (as you suggested) is a form of treatment.

minxmad

IBS is nasty so I can sympathise ..however I agree with another poster on here that you should be focussing on trying to manage your condition effectively rather then taking sick days. I suffer from it to and fortunately never had to take sick days, but I understand not all cases are the same..
As regards your absence, you havnt been in your job very long and then all this happens, what was your attendance like before the last two months? this will have a bearing on any outcome of what could happen to you if the company takes disciplinary action against you.
The compny cannot fire you without taking you through a formal disciplinary prorcedure( you should have a handbook or something relating to their disciplinary processes)`, if not request one as soon as you are back to work.
In the cases of absence it would be very rare to get dismissed without a formal warning of some kind. This could only happen if you were caught and proven to be "throwing a sickie" as that would be a breach of trust as opposed to an absence issue.
The company would take action regarding your "capability " to do your job and as you have been out sick quite a number of times then you are showing reduced capabiliity to do your job and the company can fire you for this (but only after they have gone through their procedure)
Sick notes would help your case, but they wont protect you as the company is not disputing your genuineness, they are qerying your capability.

There is a form of protection for any underlying medical condition that may have to be verified by their doctours and this could provide you with some job protection in the short term, but not long term as if this continues and there can be nothing done to support you recovering from your illness then you may be dismissed due to reduced capability to do your job.
hope you do recover, diet and reducing stress is very important , good luck

calliopeia

Hi Again,
mkdon05, thank you very much for your support I have been getting certs, so I'm covered there

Mr pudding, unfortunately I seem to have chronic IBS, the best I'll get is short breaks. It will never be completely gone I've spoken to my GP about this but they're as helpful as a new hole in my head!

etho_ My doctor has said they have referred me to a specialist but that was 2 months ago and when I phoned up to ask how long it normally takes for an appointment I got 'You haven't received a letter yet, I'll phone and get back to you!' nothing yet going to phone my doctor again today!

keefg I wish something worked, I've tried everything the doctor has given me (hasn't worked) Chinese herbal medicine (hasn't worked) Just regular herbal medicine (hasn't worked) But I'm pretty sure a vindaloo would kill me at this point

Deman's right can be treated, just can be cured!

minxmad, my attendance was fine, I did catch the flu when I first got there and they sent me home to recoup I was off for 2days as soon as my temp had gone down a bit i was back in there, I think (because there a big company) that they would go for disciplinary proceeding first. The one thing, I haven't asked them a lot of people that work at the company work from home, and although I would not want to do it permanently if they could provide me with a phone at home, when I was really bad like today I could still get my work done (with lots of breaks, I need them!)

As to managing my condition, I am trying I've given up most of the food I used to live on, making my diet as bland as possible till the symptoms die down and I can slowly introduce variety back into it again and see what my triggers are!

Thanks so much for your support and for posting, I've changed my doctor on Monday and the new one seems a lot better, he's doing tests for Celiac disease to rule it out and he also didn't refer to IBS as 'it's just IBS (pat on the head)'. IBS get mistaken a lot for Celiac disease, and more Irish people get it then anyone else, it would not be the best or worsted news ever at least living on a gluten free diet would stop the stomach problems!

minxmad

originally posted by calliopeia

The one thing, I haven't asked them a lot of people that work at the company work from home, and although I would not want to do it permanently if they could provide me with a phone at home, when I was really bad like today I could still get my work done (with lots of breaks, I need them!)

This should really help your case as you are showing you are prepared to continue working while trying to overcome your condition. the company will have to show that they are taking steps to support you if your illness is a result of an underlying medical condition, I am not certain but I think Coeliac disease and or IBS would come under this. A doc would help with this.

best of luck, I have been suffering for years myself and lately seems to be getting worse, coeliac disease never occured to me think I will check that out!

calliopeia

What ever the out come I hope you feel better to! It's nice to know that there are other people out there to talk to about it!

eth0_

calliopeia wrote: »

etho_ My doctor has said they have referred me to a specialist but that was 2 months ago and when I phoned up to ask how long it normally takes for an appointment I got 'You haven't received a letter yet, I'll phone and get back to you!' nothing yet going to phone my doctor again today!

That sucks
Do you have health insurance? If you do, you can go to a private clinic. See if your GP can refer you to Charlemont, Blackrock clinic etc.

nesf

calliopeia wrote: »

Now although I can understand there point of view, I want to know if they do fire me is it just! Do I have any recourse?

No one here can offer you legal advice, you need to talk to a solicitor to get that.


As far as I am aware (and I'm not 100%) it's proportional. If you're missing a lot regularly then it's reasonable for an employer to fire you.

Mezcita

Not legal advice but you can't be fired legally without the company going through proper disciplinary procedures. Am assuming that you are a permanent member of staff though.

the_syco

I'm always amazed at people when they admit their doc is crap, but keep going back to them.

My family doctor was crap, so I went elsewhere. New doctor (who I've now been using for about 2 or 3 years) is way better.

Likewise, OP, find a new doctor, and go to them, and explain whats happening. You pay them between €45 and €65 for a bloody visit, they better f**king do their job.

nesf

the_syco wrote: »

Likewise, OP, find a new doctor, and go to them, and explain whats happening. You pay them between €45 and €65 for a bloody visit, they better f**king do their job.

With the caveat that sometimes there's little a doctor can do and blaming them is the wrong way to look at things.

the_syco

nesf wrote: »

With the caveat that sometimes there's little a doctor can do and blaming them is the wrong way to look at things.

Although I admit that sometimes there's little a doctor can do, I found the new doctor knowing about more modern stuff. There's only so much a doctor can know, and sometimes if the doctor hasn't dealt with your type of case for a while, he may not know as much as another doctor who has.

Remember: the doctor is human, and not an encyclopaedia, and thus not know everything. If he can't help you, try looking elsewhere, is all I'm saying.

Pythia

Hi,

I have been diagnosed with chronic IBS too.

What you haven't mentioned is the element of IBS that is related to your head. Often it's related to underlying stress, worry, etc. I would take a look at your life and evaluate everything. One of the problems is you stress about IBS which causes more stress!

I went to a consultant (privately, so got an appointment within two weeks), got all the tests done, nothing showed up. It seems like when it's not everything else, it's IBS.

I'm on two different types of presciption pills as well as modifying my diet to not include much white bread, dairy or pasta and cutting out certain issues I was having.

I recently started a new job and was really worried I'd have to take sick days but it's been great, I haven't and I hardly have any problems at all.

Hope that helps!