Taking sick leave for mental health

Foweva Awone wrote: »

Umm the GP has to write on the cert the nature of the illness.

Some might (if requested) write something ambiguous, but that's at their own discretion.

So it's misleading to advise that the employer won't be told the nature of the illness.

This is absolutely incorrect. The employee's GP does not need to specify the illness, only that their patient is unwell and unable to attend for work. Patient confidentiality is sacrosanct and cannot be overridden by an employers request for medical information, the GP will provide info only with the consent of the patient, if the patient/employee does not consent, then it is omitted from the cert. The employer can request info for H&S when the employee returns to work, but again the employee can refuse it, but at their own risk.

I would not be compensating for earned time off by working longer hours during my working weeks unless I got overtime payments for those extra hours.

The fact that colleagues are not talking to you since finding out about your time off is appalling.

I once had an episode of burn out and anxiety due to bullying by another colleague and had to take two weeks off. The doctor did not hesitate to write up two weeks due to my distressed state and hunted look on my visit to the doctor.

I took voluntary redundancy 6 months later from the job. Two years later I was diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome which is a form of autism and went a long way explaining my lack of progress at work, lack of social skills and reading agendas and lack of ability to navigate office and workplace politics.

I would strongly advise cutting back on the workload, unless you are getting paid overtime for the extra work you are being exploited and used by the company and this could be affecting your personal relationships. The fact that the other employees won't talk to you seems to suggest a hostile, exploitative workplace where everyone is being overworked and proper coverage and provision for holidays and sick days is not being made. You need to step back and analyse the workloads of your peers in your workplace. More importantly you need to examine the workloads and demands in similar workplaces in competing companies.

I would suggest that you spend the time away from work in writing down clearly everything about your work-life, what motivates you, what your financial obligations are and how you might be able to move to a more beneficial work-place.

It might happen that you may not be able to move from your existing workplace but you may have at adopt a more survivalist approach to working there. You may have to learn to say "no" more often when unreasonable demands are made on your precious time. You may even have accept lower pay for shorter hours in order to keep your health and sanity from going under.

I recall a colleague who had physical health problems and was on a shorter working week than her peers, at a reduced salary. Every year she had to fight to maintain her part-time status and it was a source of resentment to her colleagues, in spite of her getting pro rata less pay. She took the first opportunity to leave the company when redundancies were offered.