Hi all, I have an issue which is causing grief at the moment. My girlfriend needs a B12 injection due to her having Vitamin B12 Anemia. She needs to have these injections once every three months, however, the injections need to be done on time - to the day as she starts to feel dizzy/clumsy and fatigued. She can't have it given to her even 24 hours before she is next due for as the nurse said she would be over-dosing on B12. Here's the dilemma, she can only book an appointment at the doctors to have the injection two weeks before it's due. However, her work have told her she cannot have the time off and would need to re-schedule it. My girlfriend has bent over backwards going back and fourth between her work and the doctors to find a suitable time, however, the company she works for have told her she can't have any time off due to staffing levels. She is now developing symptoms of the deficiency and is becoming more and more fatigued after being more than 8 days late. Due to the anemia, there could also be long term damage caused if this happens too often. We have done what we can with the doctors, however, I believe if the nurses worked any less they would be in the dole queue. So to get an appointment with them is like finding rocking horse shite. With the company delaying the appointment any further, her health will deteriorate further. Does anyone here know if we have legal standing to tell her company we have done what we can to resolve this and tell them she will not be coming into work during the next available appointment time? She would only need a maximum of 2 hours off work to get the injection and bus back to her work place.
1. Talk to the employers' Occupational Health department. 2. Is your girlfriend in a union? Join one. 3. Seek employment advice from CAB or one of the free legal advice centres. 4. Go anyway. If the employer decides to fire her, initiate tribunal proceedings under constructive dismissal.
can she take over the counter b12 in the meantime? they have it in pill form with dosage- might be a good idea to get a doctors opinion on that fast if she can't take the time off.. or a pharmacist may be able to help too
Warren, this link takes you to a pdf leaflet regarding rights to time off produced by the Citizen's Advice Bureau. http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rc...Oa2TpodkeDyuxexLw&sig2=_li1K7QXEVD5WOGDSlHYmw Could I suggest you have her doctor write a letter to her employers stating the importance of her treatment and the consequences to her health of not complying. When faced with formal documentation from a medical practitioner her employers are more likely to be amenable.
^THIS!!! I hate it when companies basically force their employees to re-schedule their appointments and such. What if there's an emergency (Example: Family emergency) and she can't get there due to her boss(es) saying "No, you will not go to the 'family emergency'. I bet you probably made it up just to get out of work"; quite honestly I'm quite disgusted with the ways that the company does this stuff. Just get her the meds that she needs to have. Screw the company!
Whilst it may be true that a good employment opportunity is difficult to come by, one has to question if it is worth their long-term health in trade for short-term employ. Without hesitation I would go to the next available appointment with as much warning given as possible out of professional courtesy, if nothing else (once it's booked confirm with the employer, and don't let them tell you "no", stating that there isn't any choice in the matter for any party involved). Unless you are in a mission critical position where your absence would cause the company considerable loss (we're talking running into bankruptcy levels of loss here), then there is no reason for them to prevent you from seeking required medical attention and treatment in a timely way, to do otherwise would clearly be insane. I honestly don't believe for a minute that her employers are selfish enough to think to themselves "Hey, this person desperately requires medical attention and only needs to be away for a short period of time to receive treatment, but those toasters won't sell themselves! Work 'em until they drop dead! Daddy needs a new Rolls!" Thus I honestly believe that given a sufficiently strong enough argument and evidence, they will relent, as only a sociopath would be so daft as to endanger their employees by outright denying medical treatment on such flimsy grounds as "staffing issues".
This may not be helpful but, I always put health & family above work. I'd go anyway and deal with the consequences afterwards.
Since your gf's health problems are an ongoing medical condition, this may be considered a disability under employment legislation - in which case the employer would be breaking the law. Get your gf to talk to her HR department (it could be that they don't know what her boss is telling her), but get her to go along to the CAB at the same time.
The problem with CAB is you can wait weeks for an appointment. Her doctor will know if her condition would be considered a "disability" legally and in the current UK climate re disability definitions I think it unlikely. The CAB leaflet I linked above does define standard rights, or lack of them. Edit: This is the relevant extract: Health ultimately is the most important thing but almost as important is the ability to earn a wage to afford to live so just going to the appointment and suffering the consequences - probably the sack in an economic climate where jobs are scarce - is not sensible when there are unexplored options. I'm making a guess here that the company she works for either isn't large, doesn't have a proper HR set up or is unconcerned with their corporate reputation. Her doctor is the place to start. Information and persuasion are your best tools and her doctor can give you them.
Ill just re-iterate a few of the points raised by others, plus mine because there are a lot of things to give consideration too. The company mission critical argument is a valid one, but if its just a normal business day this does not apply. Your girlfriends deteriorating health from missing injections or having them late, will actually hurt your employers staffing levels more in the long term than just setting time aside to get it fixed on time. You should emphasize this as long term problems will always be listened too by employers more so than temporary issues. The legal side of it will need consideration from an expert. Doctors notes carry more weight. If this has to be resolved before any fixed legal routes can be verified and applied, then your girlfriend could talk to the employer from the viewpoint along the lines of: "This is the problem, this is the long term effects for me, and the issues it poses to you. I will be getting professional advise to see where i stand in this issue but unfortunately I cannot get it at the click of a finger. I will also be going to my planned doctors appointment as my health is at risk and im sorry for the problem it poses to you. I'm not doing it lightly but it will only take a few hours of the day and im happy to make the lost hours up. By next time this arises I will have clear guidance on the issue and hopefully we can arrange a system that suits the my requirements and the companies" Something like that anyway
One other thought. Could your gf speak to her surgery and arrange to have the injections at a local NHS walk-in centre since they operate extended opening hours?
If it were me? I'd have just gone and got the injection when it needed it. 2 hours is not a lot of time, and if she's becoming as ill as you're saying, her employer isn't helping themselves.
According to here some types of PA can be considering disabling: http://www.pernicious-anaemia-society.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=10292 Either way, your gf's health should be primary concern, and two hours is hardly difficult for her manager to find cover for. I would tell her manager that she needs time off work for her condition - if they find her cover for those hours, they do, if they don't, they don't. I find it difficult to see how they could sack her when she suffers from a serious condition like PA.
don't you just love autoimmune diseases, my sister has PA also. looks above, i get one of those if my adrenal's finally go and a medi alert bracelet. to the op, her health is more important than her work, it is that simple and it is once every three months, what employer could argue that.
they're saying that due to legal reasons they have to have certain staffing levels, and due to a blunder by management, too many people had booked holidays. Hence their refusal for time off.
What's regarded as disabled for the purposes of benefits and what's regarded as disabled with regards to employment and the Equality Act 2010 are quite different - while she might not be able to get DLA or any other disability-linked benefit, she may still be regarded as disabled for employment purposes. WarrenJ, as far as management cock-ups, that's immaterial here - as long as your gf gave them due notice (a week is usually sufficient), I would regard their denial of her request for time off due to a legitimate medical reason is unreasonable. They must have contingency - what if one of the staff members were run over by a bus? Could they work around the issue by moving people's lunch and tea breaks around? There are ways round every problem, it sounds like they're more concerned with targets than with employee safety.
^This. If someone literally couldn't come in that day, they would certainly find cover, even at the very last minute. They're just not buying the severity of your gf's excuse that she has to have those injections because of her condition at that specific time, enough for them to pull their finger out and sort some cover.
In fact I didn't have in mind the benefits system when I made that comment. The fact of the matter is she has tried to obtain leave to attend the doctor's surgery and her employers have said no so her options are pretty much she: a) goes regardless and suffers whatever consequences, if any, they choose to implement b) reports in sick and goes to the doctors c) "collapses" at work and insists either on being sent home or having an ambulance called ... d) asks her doctor to address a letter to them, outlining the reasons that necessitate timely treatment, and/or informs them that her condition is classified as a "disability" (the doctor will know if it is or not and the surgery should be able to confirm that over the phone) e) agrees a time with her employer to have an appointment when staffing levels are back up to H&S minimum levels
If I tried to have a chat with the management about this and they refused, I would appeal against it, in the UK you can put in a complaint about a member of the company, then you can appeal against it and if your still unhappy the you can appeal again. Then if there was no luck there then I would be looking for another job, I know it's hard in the job market at the moment, but to stay at a firm that I would be putting my life at risk isn't worth staying at. Or use my holidays to cover 4 days a year. If your from the UK and you were her dependent then you could have time off unpaid. But to have time off yourself to see the doctor then it's down to the management to being sympathetic about your problem, unless your disabled then they have to let you have time off no questions. It's not like it's everyday or week, it's every three months and they have 2 weeks notice, which is plenty.
