Dismissed

[Himaggen]

Neither your Manager or your H&S Rep need to investigate anything. It is in their remit to investigate accidents and near misses, not health problems.

You could have asked for an ATOS referral, provided doctors note(s), supplied your own orthotics or highlighted the issue with either your IR/H&S reps etc. after the first absence for this problem. If you can prove that you did this then you have grounds to suggest that you had a known problem which was not treated appropriately. If not then you'll be found to have had a health problem which you knew about and ignored, the problem has worsened as a result and you want to pass the responsibility for that onto your Employer.

[Jayfin]

I did provide my own orthotics and rm was aware between stage 1 and stage 2 warnings of my injury I believe rm should have offered me light duties indoor work not expecting me to do a full round it's no different to u breaking an arm u can't post , I couldn't walk very far without if anybody had police mans heelthey will know so yes they did know and ignored it . Hence absence hence stage 2 warning

[Himaggen]

If you provided your own orthotics after the first absence for that health issue, then how can you claim that the footwear was to blame. Orthotics can be either pre-made items for mild/medium cases or prescription made for more acute less general cases. If your orthotics were pre-made, I'd argue that you had selected a non appropriate orthotic, if a specialist product then I'd argue that the specialist had failed to provide you with the support you required.

It is not Royal Mail Managers responsibility to decide upon an Employees capabilities based on their stated medical condition, (we argue that point here often, they are not medically trained professionals). If you felt that you were asked to perform duties which were detrimental to your health then it was your responsibility to report that; you should have requested an ATOS assessment. Without the input of a medical professional you were the only party in a position to assess your capabilities, not your Manager.

To sum up, if you can show that you provided your Manager with a documented medical assessment of your condition and capabilities and they were ignored then you have a very good case.

[Jayfin]

Problem is I'm more confused now obviously everybody got different views on this subject some saying there's mitigating circumstances others not . Hopefully the appeals manager will revert her decision like I've said before my manager feels my dismissal is harsh and he doesn't want to lose me as a member of his staff , so I really don't know time will tell . If I could have worked with my injury I would have done because ididnt want to be off

[Himaggen]

Don't be confused, I'm not saying that you have no mitigating circumstances, I'm simply trying to bypass hearsay and arguments which boil down to ones word against another's. It is unlikely that you'll win based on having the most plausible argument, you need to concentrate on proven evidence.

In this case there will be very little documentation. I doubt you'll be able to prove dates of order and receipt of particular footwear, (just receipt), and if you did you'd likely not be able to disprove the reasons for any delay. You'll be very unlikely to prove that your specific footwear was faulty or not fit for purpose. these issues should of course me mentioned, but only additionally to your main argument.

Your dismissal was due to absence, (illness), your best course of action is through the documentation of this and your Employers knowledge and/or ignorance of it.

[mazza111]

I think not getting your boots after all that time is mitigating circumstances tbh. Anyone with any problem in their lower limbs knows that wearing worn down boots exaggerates the condition. Did you keep asking your manager about the boots? Did he follow up on it?

Can you believe when I was in the job, I had one pair of boots that I was advised not to wear by the hospital, waited about 7 weeks for new ones. When they arrived they burst within 5 days (in the locker, guess it was the bending). A certain manager who reads this site (insert appropriate smiley )then informed me that I had to wear one of my old boots and one of my new boots. I tried it for one day, put my boots in the bin, never again, and he actually had the cheek to get the union rep to tell me this and fished my boots out of the office bin. Quite rightly I told the union, that I had been told by the podiatrist that my old boots hadn't to be worn. No union backing on this one whatsoever. So I told them I would go sick, my knee was already swollen from wearing the old boot the day before. Needless to say that's when they backed down.

If RM are not providing the adequate footwear to do the job, surely they are failing in their duty of care to their employees. We all know there are great difficulties getting boots sometimes. And I'm pretty sure some management don't order them for you when you ask them.


If you definitely think these worn down boots contributed to your condition and you spoke to a manager with regards to this, then I would definitely be raising objections too.

[Jayfin]

Rm seem to pick and choose when they want to play the health and safety card , when it's not convinent it's down to the individual . Rm make a point of wearing issued footwear , I did I can't prove this caused my injury but my gp said it wouldn't have helped , I asked my manager numerous times about my new boots , I was on a course of injections to ease the pain , so I could do my duty , this is highlighted in a return to work, it's the response from rm which angered me then and still does , they had the attitude of they couldn't care less as long as I did my job , if I went on long term sick for this injury I probably wouldn't have been dismissed because rm understand long term absence more than short term , which doesn't make sense in my depo theres 3 guys who's more time of then me , I'm talking months not days here but because they're long term sick they seem to be able to get away with it . Which isn't right , so my advice would be to have long term sickness and not like me who gad tangent illness and 3 absences which I couldn't control , a bit more understanding from rm would go a long way because I felt guilty for being of I'll being interviewed on stage 3 and appeal like I'd committed the crime of the century .

[roger]

Does your condition come under the DDA?

[Jayfin]

What's dda m8

[Himaggen]

Disability Discrimination Act

[not me]

seems PF can come under DDA

http://www.eortrial.co.uk/default.aspx?id=1094583" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Jayfin]

Found out from another post , that royal mail have a statutory right by law , to give an employee a risk assessment on Their first day of returning to work . (return to work interview ) . After my first case of pf my return to work was 15 days after I returned , 2nd time of with pf , rtw interview 13days after I returned . If it's correct they have to do it on the day by law . Rm are breaking the law and there procedures in the case of my dismissal

[stokes11eg]

how did your shoes give you this problem..as we must know the most unnatural state of shoes is brand new,as you wear them they get worn into your perfect gait.so unless you slipped i fail to see your complaint

What are you waffling on about now?
Are you telling us your shoes wear down to a "perfect gate" whatever that is and then stop wearing?
Have you got magic shoes bitchface?

OH Dear Bitch face, a lot of us out here have problems with R/M footwear--I was lucky enough to get a doctors line which allowed me to be excused from wearing them and now buy my own,it took three years for the skin on my feet to return to normal.

[Red Robbo]

Jayfin, submit an application to an Employment Tribunal immediately for discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, you say your manager wants you back then ask him to speak with the appeals manager to give you your job back, it has been said that occasionally appeals managers ask local managers do you want your man back and oblige.

[parcelboy]

seems like anyone with a potentially long term problem is being sacked.

im fuming the head office cwu didnt take my case up and imo this is fuelling such instances because rm know the union are not fighting the member's corner on such issues.

ive been sacked with an ongoing knee problem which they have turned into willfull delay.

dodgy knee cost me my job "strange" guess what "WILFUL DELAY" there was me thinking i was losing it they appear to be ridding the company of anyone with a medical history W******