Osteoarthritis sick leave

Post by **debs6363** » 21 Jul 2017, 14:33

Hi, I have osteoarthritis in my knee which according to OH Assist is covered under DDA. I have been told that if I am off sick due to my osteoarthritis, it shouldn't count on my sick record, the same way an accident at work doesn't. Can anyone confirm this as I have just been issued a stage 1 and am a bit worried in case I need more time off. Also while I'm here, I wondered what the chances are of being considered for ill health retirement.

rehabron · Post by **rehabron** » 21 Jul 2017, 19:30

debs6363 wrote:Hi, I have osteoarthritis in my knee which according to OH Assist is covered under DDA. I have been told that if I am off sick due to my osteoarthritis, it shouldn't count on my sick record, the same way an accident at work doesn't. Can anyone confirm this as I have just been issued a stage 1 and am a bit worried in case I need more time off. Also while I'm here, I wondered what the chances are of being considered for ill health retirement.

Osteoarthritis is within the realms of disability and covered within the Equality Act 2010 ( incorporated DDA ) and below I give an extract from RM Attendance procedure on how mangers should handle such cases
.Does an employee’s absence count as part of the formal attendance process? Any absence that is considered to be related to an employee’s disability will still be reviewed but should normally be discounted as part of the formal attendance process
Bearing this in mind the issuing of a stage1 in your case should have been discounted.
Ill health retirement would be related to the long term effect your condition progresses and balanced against a specialist report on the prognosis of your condition improvement.

Post by **debs6363** » 23 Jul 2017, 10:41

Thanks for the info. So it's really at the managers discretion to issue or not. I have a hospital appointment tomorrow, hopefully I'll know a bit more then.

rehabron · Post by **rehabron** » 24 Jul 2017, 13:09

debs6363 wrote:Thanks for the info. So it's really at the managers discretion to issue or not. I have a hospital appointment tomorrow, hopefully I'll know a bit more then.

Yes this once again is how RM management are interpreting the wording of the attendance agreement to their advantage and ignoring the spirt of the agreement for which is was attended. Disability absence would still receive a formal review and would NORMALLY be discounted. It is the NORMALLY that is open to contention.