Royal Mail attitude to "On Application"declared health problems, TERRIBLE!

[bexley129]

After 21 applications I eventually achieved an Interview (ONLY ON MY SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION DID I DECLARE THAT I HAD A HEALTH ISSUE,THE PREVIOUS APPLICATIONS WERE WITH OUT INTERVIEWS,I HAD NOTICED THAT RM WERE AN ACTIVE DISABILITY EMPLOYER)and was offered a position as "Postman/Driver with the use of a light weight trolley" in a DO. Having declared on application that I had a "Health condition" ( Historic prolapsed Disc)I felt confident that I was entering employment with an Employer that understood disability and its implications.

WRONG! I arrived at my DO to find that only HC trolleys were used and there would be no van driving or allowance made for my health issue! I'm sad to say that I have only lasted 2 weeks and been in pain from day one. After delivering half the round a van is sent out to fill the HC trolley again, I've managed to walk for 7 hours dealing with hills etc., but now I can take no more pain, and drug usage (Prescription)to simply earn a living.
After explaining my application health disclosure to my DO(Screen capture as proof) and requesting other work as a relay/collection driver(And clearly advising that I can not continue as a Postman under these "revised" conditions) in ANY Depot I was informed that this would never be available as others had priority.
So now I find myself down the Benefits office explaining Royal mails attitude and complete contempt to disability and its effect, to say the least they were shocked.

The staff at my DO were lovely and had not been informed of my health issue, even now I could not work there if offered ,I feel embarrassed and humiliated that I can not do my job as efficiently as every other employee does.

I have received no help from HR, only to advise that I will not be paid while off sick. So be warned prospective employees ,all is not as Royal Mail portray ,they do not want you if you can not give 100% of bodily function and more! I started early and finished late to try and compensate for my problems!
As a CWU member I hope that others may see my experience and not raise their hopes, perhaps an issue that the CWU should address with Royal Mail.

Regards to all and good luck

[Lincox]

Royal Mail has never cared about health and safety. You could be dieing on the street and there is never anyone available to take your phone call. They have a couldn,t give a toss attitude and openly break their own guidelines when it comes to grievances and harrassment. In all of the 49 years that I have worked in different companies including highly regarded blue chip companies I have never seen such an arrogant management structure that treats the workforce on the same level that children were forced in to pitwork and up chimneys during the Victorian era. This comes from the very top and has been brought across the pond by a chief executive that has carried forward the same principles that she used whilst working at the Canadian mail service. Unfortunately the CWU has not been blessed with a chief executive in the last ten years that has had the members welfare at the heart of his convictions and it has continually paid more attention to political issues than holding the management at Royal Mail to account.

[datasaint]

Sorry but you were applying for a job in delivery, it's a physically demanding role. Even once healthy posties end up with a range of ailments due to the nature of the job. On a rural duty which is mostly driving you are expected to get in and out of the van some 200 times a day, multiply that over 5 days, 48 weeks a year, repetitive strain injuries are going to be an issue, and that's the easy end of the scale, do a van share with 1400 delivery points you're walking >8 miles a day up all sorts of terrain hills/steps, you have to be physically fit and able to do it.

So while I can sympathise with your situation, Royal Mail did give you a chance so no discrimination there, but it didn't work out, at least you got to try it.

[cpsteve]

I can not understand why you was given a job that you could never have been expected to do with a back problem, did they explain that we are walking for four hours plus with bending, lifting getting in and out of a van multiple times bad enough in good weather but in the cold and rain it gives you a bad back and knees let alone starting with them. Most new starts and senior management have no idea how tough this job is on your body.

[Lounge Lizard]

I can not understand why you was given a job that you could never have been expected to do with a back problem, did they explain that we are walking for four hours plus with bending, lifting getting in and out of a van multiple times bad enough in good weather but in the cold and rain it gives you a bad back and knees let alone starting with them. Most new starts and senior management have no idea how tough this job is on your body.

Yes, and maybe that has something to do with why the first twenty job applications were unsuccessful.

[bustedflush]

To be fair I'm surprised you kept on after all those rejections. Sorry, but they were correct to reject you previously as you have now found out because you can't make a square peg fit the round hole. It's not like an office job whereby if you are say wheelchair bound but can transport yourself to and from work and the company has disabled toilets/wheelchair doors etc. then you are equally suitable as an able-bodied candidate. I was IHR'd for possibly an issue of less magnitude than they took you on with! The job is crippling people who were hitherto fully able and yet they gave you an OPG position with an inherent disability! I think maybe they didn't want to be accused of discrimination so eventually offered you the position, who knows?

As for the light work like collections or driving there is a queue of long-timers for those jobs dying to get off delivery, so the manager was right as seniority and operational needs would fill those jobs, for example a long-timer who didn't want IHR but could do a lighter job. Those vacancies are seldom advertised for that reason. There is also the fact that you were on a temp contract which can be ended for nearly any reason, i.e. unable to do the tasks employed for. With your condition there is no way you could sustain doing the job with HCT's, pouch trolleys, or pouches alone and that's before the heavy parcels. I find the whole thing bizarre; they haven't discriminated against you but something went wrong somewhere.

[bexley129]

It was a permanent contract by the way . I worked for Parcel Force before this and coped .(3 month contract )
I ALSO ONLY DECLARED MY HEALTH CONDITION ON THE APPLICATION THAT I WAS OFFERED THE JOB FOR ! The other applications were without mention of this fact . As I read that RM were a disability employer , I decided to declare the fact on MY SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION , thinking they had some sensitivity to the situation of disability , hey presto , interview, job offer , and grateful acceptance !

[Lincox]

There a disability employer alright. Fit when you join, disabled when you leave.

[wacko74]

Even if you were to use a ''lightweight'' trolley you would almost certainly still have had issues with your disability,

For one thing they're not that light when fully loaded and they're generally rather unwieldy and difficult to control. If you push it in front of you then you tend to need to walk with a slight stoop which causes back, shoulder, neck pain and if you pull it behind you then you're walking along with your upper body constantly twisted which is even worse.

I actually find a HCT less awkward to manoeuvre and less physically demanding to handle than a LWT.

[theargyspy]

I think that Royal Mail did let you down, they should never have offered you a position as "Postman/Driver with the use of a light weight trolley" in a DO.
I can't imagine that as part of the job interview they didn't explain the role you were applying for, which is, as others have stated a role you need to be fit and healthy
to do. So also you were applying for a job that you were not suitable for.

Not sure you can apply for a particular role in a new job, find after a week that due to a pre-existing health issue that you can't do the job then expect your new employer to
find you a different role.

You gave it a go, but it wasn't for you

[Destiny]

Poor management in allowing you employment unfortunately, I would persue it further, as it can be considered a possible discrimination from what you have written. Either way as a union member you have access to free legal advice.

[greengiant]

Is it disability discrimination though for the original poster though, if the OP had declared his health issues at the outset?

While employers should do reasonable adjustments, there is also the aspect of suitability of the employee for what is a physical job.

E.g. taking it to extremes, if someone in a wheelchair applied for a opg position in delivery, it would not be discrimination, as no reasonable adjustments could be made to the role? Unless they were applying for an indoor job.

However as mentioned above RM shouldn't have offered you a role, they knew you would be unable to do, especially if they could not ensure that you would be using a LWT only.

[datasaint]

How did the OP work at Parcelforce before? Lifting >10kg parcels can't have been any easier??

[bustedflush]

There a disability employer alright. Fit when you join, disabled when you leave.

Yeah, between a bad van accident as the passenger and wearing my knees out pretty much sums my history there up.

Parcel Force for 3 months then the OP got an immediate RM OPG permanent contract without a trial? VERY unusual!

[catch22]

Poor management decision to take you on.
Disabilities covers a broad scale.
It will have took them 6 weeks to vet you and put you in the job in the first place. Costing the company money, For you then to find it unsuitable, due to your exsisting condition.
The company cant create jobs for yours or anyones disability. It can however make adjustments, but i believe yours would be an indoor desk job. Which royal mail has limited supply of.

I highly doubt you would hire yourself for a physically demanding job when you wouldnt be capable of doing it. And then to be expected to he paid sick pay? After 2 weeks?

There are limited indoor jobs...
I think the job description itself will explain about carrying weights (which will affect your back if its historically weaker) being outdoors in all weathers. Driving in a vehicle. Getting in and outof a van.


What did you think the job entailed?
Its a physically demanding job.

Have you not thought of starting a business from home? Whilst you hahe time on your hands?