Dismissed while on Sick Leave

steadyeddie08

My wife has been out of work on certified sick leave for just over a year due to a back injury. She has sent in a doctors cert each week to her employer and is claiming sickness benefit from the Dept of Social Welfare.

She has visited specialists in hospital, has had mri scans and also been treated with different collections of tablets, physio, injections etc. Up to now these have not worked.

She has twice attended a doctor working for her her employer as well as the doctor representing the Dept of Social Welfare.

She recieved a copy of the employers doctors report last month with an appointment to meet with her employer.

The report agreed with her own doctors that treatment up to now had not worked and that she will remain unfit for work for the foreseeable future. She was now (as a last resort) considering surgery and this was discussed with the employers doctor and had been discussed previously with GP and Consultant Neurosurgeon. In his report he states that "while this is not guaranteed to cure her back pain , I feel it offers her the best chance of becoming fit again for work".

During this meeting this week she was informed that she was being "let go". She was taken by surprise considering what she had read in the doctors report. She was not given reasons in writing or a date of temination of her employment. She has been a good and helpful employee for the last 13 years.

Coincidently she was admitted to hospital that afternoon and had surgery on her back the next day which thankfully went without complication. This was not something she took lightly but she has tried everything else to get her life and health back to normal.

Any opinions on how she should proceed.

Thanks

Eddie

timmywex

http://www.employmentrights.ie/en/

Contact them tbh...

Shield

timmywex wrote: »

http://www.employmentrights.ie/en/

Contact them tbh...

...or a solicitor if she feels she has grounds for unfair dismissal. Be warned though - employers can dismiss employees who are off sick for too long, even if she did everything she was supposed to, by the book and on time, while sick.

If I may be honest, I personally think her employer has been very generous to allow her to remain an employee for over a year whilst off on sick leave.

I'm personally surprised at the number of people who think that their contracts cannot be terminated if they are off on certified sick leave - even if it was due to an injury sustained at work!

Yes, employees have rights - but so do employers!

eagle_&_bear

psni wrote: »

employees have rights - but so do employers!

Yes - absolutely

but still go see a Solicitor.

A rights commissioner may not see it as so but you won't get clear cut information here. Employment issues are never black and white and there are alot of technical issues when dealing with unfair dismissals, amongst other issues that are present, so speak to a solicitor, preferably one with employment law experience and go from there.

Hope your wife recovers fast and remains well

best of luck

UrbanSea

One of the reasons for fair dismissal is capability.
Capability being a long term sickness or injury preventing the employee from working on a regular basis