MIL issues at work

mikeoc85

Hi all, I figured this might be the best place to get sound, informed advice.

My mother in law has been working at her current employer for nearly 30 years. In that time from what I can gather she has been a good employee and has liked her job (granted I’ve only known her for 9 years of those). She’s a hard working woman and not a **** stirrer in any way.

In the last 4-5 years she’s had a lot of health problems and has hurt various parts of her body (some on the job). She’s had short stints off work due to this also. Her current role is on the factory floor and she has the most physical job on the entire floor (this has been verified to me by others working there and they find it hard to believe also as she is a 62 year old woman.) she comes home from work crippled some evenings.

She has asked the factory manager if she can change jobs only for a couple of days a week to take some of the burden off her but no one else will work the job (while she was out sick two replacements quit within a week). He has told her if she doesn’t like it then she can quit.

I have witnessed how much pain she is in at times from the job. I would recommend going to her union but she doesn’t want to be the person crying about work and from talking to others who work there they tell me yhe place is pretty toxic and her union rep is unlikely to be too helpful.

What are peoples suggestions? I know she can’t carry on like this. I understand you can’t provide legal advice but from an employment perspective what can she do?

jmreire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058310007/mil-issues-at-work

As a start, she should go to her doctor and let him / her examine her, and based on the results, see what she needs to do next.

Ezeoul

If she is going home crippled every evening and the nature of the work is causing her harm, meaning she has had to take sick leave, she should ask for a Health and Safety Risk Assessment to be carried out - through her Union, if necessary. If the union rep is unhelpful - go over their head.

Her boss sounds lovely, too.

StupidLikeAFox

Worth a read: https://www.traceysolicitors.ie/en/accident-at-work/health-and-safety-breach-claims/

What sort of training or risk mitigation has been put in place? The employer is leaving themselves wide open if they are ignoring health and safety complaints and haven't done anything to improve work conditions

mikeoc85

Thank you all For the replies,

They brought in some safety mechanism recently to help with the burden, while I think it helps the damage has already been done somewhat re her injuries and it’s still s very physical job. She needs some respite from it as she’s not fit enough to do it every day and she’s trained to work in other areas also so moving shouldn’t be an issue from that standpoint, only that no one wants to replace her.

She has gone to the doctor regarding this probably a dozen times, her condition has even meant she’s seen a specialist. She’s on a lot of medication to help with the pain and the advice has been to not do this particular job anymore.

While her boss sounds like a nightmare, she does have a certain amount of loyalty towards him and she says he had been good to her in the past which probably also makes her reluctant to do anything.

If they continue to refuse to move her and she can’t physically do the job, what options is she left with?

Shes a quiet woman and my sense is she’d be easily enough manipulated to not rock the boat. My honest feeling is the situation is worse than she says

Mrs OBumble

She needs to get the doctor to put in writing that she must be assigned to alternative duties.

Also she may be loyal to the manager- but her colleagues clearly are a$$holes if they won't share the load. She needs to think about that, and think about who she's actually being loyal to. The manager needs to man up and start managing: direct who does what and if people refuse, apply consequences.

mikeoc85

Thanks for all the advice and feedback.

I have no personal knowledge of this sort of stuff, I work in a completely different industry and have only dealt with great people.

After my wife pleaded with her she finally asked her union rep to contact their SIPTU rep. That was 2 weeks ago now and no word back from them. This seems odd to me but maybe others here can give personal feedback?

I know she feels like a whiner but I’ve seen myself how much this has taken a toll on the woman, she’s regressed so much in the past few years and she wouldn’t be one to ever complain so when she describes how bad it is I know it must be much much worse. All she is asking for is a couple of afternoons or a day here and there on another job to get a bit of a break from the physicality of it.

Doctor has already put this in writing and so has a consultant. They have put it in writing that she should be taken off the job completely. This was probably a year ago and the response has been, ‘if you don’t like the job then quit’

Forgive me for my pessimism, this may be all normal but everything I hear about this place makes me not trust people there

mykrodot

I feel sorry for your mother in law. There is far more wear and tear on the body as we age, much harder to do manual work. Most people at 62 would be opting for part time if possible or a less strenuous role in the workplace. Its odd that this is being completely ignored by her boss. I have found in the past that employers were pretty accommodating with staff if they had medical issues. Could she go on long term sick leave pending the union doing something??

At the end of the day the company and her boss are not worried about her long term health. She has to take this into her own hands and decide what she wants to do. None of us are indispensable ! We only have one life and there is no point in her living a life of pain or indeed shortening her life for a job and a boss that show no appreciation for the many years she has worked there and no care for her future physical health.

I think I would be weighing it up and looking at my options if I was her. Could she take early retirement and survive on a slightly smaller pension either or get a part time job somewhere else?

mikeoc85

She could from my understanding but she won’t because she’d hate to be seen as someone looking for a soft touch or ‘pulling a sickie’.

Do people know how long it usually takes for SIPTU to respond? Something about this isn’t adding up in my mind. I can’t understand how her rep in the job is speaking to the SIPTU rep but he hasn’t had time to call my mother in law…maybe it’s normal but it seems wildly inefficient to me

mrsdewinter

My sympathy to your mother-in-law - her health and welfare here should be her priority.

But from the employer's perspective, this highlights a major issue for them: there's a essential task that just 1 woman on the workforce can complete? A woman who will be retiring in a few years? That's obviously not sustainable.

As someone else said upthread, the manager needs to get their finger out and do a bit of managing. The very worst thing here is mgmt's response when your MIL clearly outlined her issue. But for the company's own sustainability (not that I care much for the company here), they have a big problem if this is how they handle feedback about their system.

(Give the union another shout - your MIL deserves better than radio silence)

HildaOgdenx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121070778#Comment_121070778

Is there anyone that she would be likely to listen to, within the family, about the possibility of longterm health issues? (In my family, for example, it would be our oldest sister who would be willing and able to talk sense into any of us, if needed.)

She really needs to get herself signed off asap and worry about the battle with work at a later stage. She should be eligible for Illness Benefit and needs to be persuaded that this situation is potentially very very serious for her health. It would be anything but 'pulling a sickie'.

The place will run on just fine without her, and it's 100% their problem to solve, having someone doing the task she is killing herself with.

Ezeoul

Your MIL needs to go over the Union reps head, and contact the Union directly herself. Sounds like the Union rep is dragging their feet.

Then seek a consultation with a solicitor who specialises in employment law to explore if there is a case for constructive dismissal here, should she have to resign. It sounds like you think she can't keep going on the way she is.

Constructive dismissal (citizensinformation.ie)

I would take the manager's attitude of "if you don't like it, quit" as very damning, especially in the light of the information that your MIL has told the employer of the medical issues, and has a letter from her Doctor that she needs to be on different duties.

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121071181#Comment_121071181

This, a 100 times over.

Except don't expect much from the union: a union is simply the collective strength of the workers, and its clear that the other workers on this site don't give a toss about your MIL's welfare.

TaurenDruid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121071181#Comment_121071181

This, a 100 times over.

If the union was contacted a couple of weeks ago, it's quite possible the Industrial Relations Officer/union staff member who handles this sector/employer was on holidays - August is peak holiday season - and is catching up with a backlog. Get the rep to call them again towards the end of this week, or call them directly.

Nobody is talking about going on strike here, so I don't know what Mrs OBumble is on about.

A meeting or call to the manager from the union head office saying "so you've a staff member with medical advice from a GP and a consultant saying not to continue with the job she's doing, and the person is already trained in other jobs there, but you're ignoring the medical experts even though health problems have already been caused, and you've said to quit if she can't do the job. And you're happy to have those facts laid out before the Workplace Relations Commission, are you? Or... maybe there's an alternative, like transferring her to another role, hmm?"