Dismissal due to being medically unfit?

kranky

If you hire someone and after 6 years of work they request their hours to be reduced and then over the next year they gain A LOT of weight, do I legally have to send him for a medical? It is manual work and Im worried that its too much for him. But if he is declared medically unfit for this particular job then do I have to pay him off? I know he would be out of work but this would be due to him neglecting his health.

ResearchWill

kranky wrote: »

If you hire someone and after 6 years of work they request their hours to be reduced and then over the next year they gain A LOT of weight, do I legally have to send him for a medical? It is manual work and Im worried that its too much for him. But if he is declared medically unfit for this particular job then do I have to pay him off? I know he would be out of work but this would be due to him neglecting his health.

If you are an employer who all this has happened to, call your company solicitor and ask him the question. If you are just asking a question about Homer Simson then watch the particular episode.

kranky

I cant afford a solicitor right now and If you`ve nothing helpful to say I dont need your smart ass comments!

johnnyskeleton

kranky wrote: »

I cant afford a solicitor right now and If you`ve nothing helpful to say I dont need your smart ass comments!

You can afford to pay for a doctor but not for a solicitor?

miller50841

Could you not have a friendly chat off the record and ask how things are god knows there could be troubles at home or more then likely depression and I would like to see more people try to help people that get down.

Recently my close friend's uncle commited suicide and nobody knew he was depressed.

ResearchWill

kranky wrote: »

I cant afford a solicitor right now and If you`ve nothing helpful to say I dont need your smart ass comments!

It was not a smart ass comment, the charter (rules) of this forum do not allow the giving of legal advice. I was telling you that in what I thought was a light hearted way. But if you want cheap advice go to FLAC or citizens advice.

househero

kranky wrote: »

If you hire someone and after 6 years of work they request their hours to be reduced and then over the next year they gain A LOT of weight, do I legally have to send him for a medical? It is manual work and Im worried that its too much for him. But if he is declared medically unfit for this particular job then do I have to pay him off? I know he would be out of work but this would be due to him neglecting his health.

Im pretty sure you would have your arse sued off you for dismissing somebody because they are over weight.

There are lots of legitimate reasons for sacking an employee, play by the rules and you will find that even a model employee slips up. Time to do some reading Kranky.

shanered

You should fire him by the rules, although if you don't know what your at and make a mistake in the process, you'll have solicitors brining you to court and will likely be paying out much more than you solicitor fee now.
You can always do the research as stated above, even model employees can be got rid of is done correctly.
Good luck

mad turnip

househero wrote: »

Im pretty sure you would have your arse sued off you for dismissing somebody because they are over weight.

There are lots of legitimate reasons for sacking an employee, play by the rules and you will find that even a model employee slips up. Time to do some reading Kranky.

I'm sorry but being out of shape for some jobs makes you unqualified foR example, being a life guard, if your incapable of saving someone your not fit to have the job. Its nothing about being a model employee and slipping up if your job entails you being fit, YOU MUST BE FIT!

deandean

If fitness is a requirement for the job it can be so stated in the employment contract, as in 'A good standard of fitness is required' or the likes.

If employee becomes unfit IIRC the employer is supposed to make efforts to accommodate employee in another post where fitness is not so important. (edit: like what Smithers did when he re-located Homer Simpson from the fuel prep area to the control room)

kranky

I'm not looking to fire him. He has just been struggling a lot lately and gets mad at me when I tell him to take a break. He keeps at me to let him go so that he can go on the dole full time and then obviously get a pay out from me.

I'm worried he'll have a heart attack while working. If I don't send him for a medical when I'm concerned about him and he has a heart attack while at work then ill have to pay out to him or his family. If I do send him for a medical and he's declared medically unfit for the job then I'm assuming ill have to pay him a sum for being out of work. I only have hired one person and its all manual labour so there would be no option of putting him in another position.

endacl

Hey! I want free legal advice too! If I don't want to pay a solicitor's fees can I PM some of you guys?!?

:rolleyes:

deandean

endacl wrote: »

Hey! I want free legal advice too! If I don't want to pay a solicitor's fees can I PM some of you guys?!?

:rolleyes:

You really need to do your own research so you can contribute as well as receive.
Suggest you watch a few episodes of:
The simpsons
CSI
Ally mcbeal

endacl

deandean wrote: »

You really need to do your own research so you can contribute as well as receive.
Suggest you watch a few episodes of:
The simpsons
CSI
Ally mcbeal

On it!

JustAThought

You'll need to read up a bit - have a look at employment rights on the citizens info website - this will give you a perspective on the protections due to an employee.

As regards you deciding s/he is medically unfit to do the job, I ve no doubt a judge would ask your qualifications for making this call. Are you going to pay for the medical evaluations weekly/monthly and the necessary medical tests?

You say your employee wants you to fire him so he can go on the dole. Maybe this is what he wants - for whatever reason- going on the sole that is, not Wong sacked. However he cannot walk out of a job because the sole will not lay him if he walks away from his employment - and they might check .

So. You can say that the nature of the work has changed and that you are restructuring the role to something quite different that he does no have the skills to do. With general manual labour this will be very difficult I Imagine and possibly out you in legal trouble . ( unless you now need a full time electrician/ hydro mechanic and intend to take one in?) .

You can say that due to financial pressures/ downturn in the vusiness you have to let him go & are then looking at redundancy - check citizens advice for how much this will cost you - te typical is a x rate per year of service . X might be a week or a month - you will have to see - it Lso depends on full or part time & I'm not sure you have to pay him redundancy - but if it's not a lot it's a nice thing to do for him. Taking on a new fit person the next week for the exact same job under the same terms may get you in trouble thou.

You can also find justification to fire him however you will need this to be legit as its not a very nice thing to do. Issues with performance, behaviour, spoken warnings, first written warnings, chances to reform etc. lots of effort & HR processes & problematic areas - that is assuming he is in a contract & has been working for you for more than a year ( 6 I think you said).

If he has openly said he wants you to fire him have you tried bringing it up in conversation with him? He can't be more direct that that. It might just be that he wants the e200 a week for doing nothing & can't get it while he's in a job.