RANT REQUIRED. Please scroll on if you’re in a good mood ☺️
So. I’m still employed. Since diagnosis I have been told by my employer, to take more time off sick. So I did. They then said I’m out of sick pay and wouldn’t pay me. So. Back to work I go, really not functioning at my best.
Despite this. I work up to the full range of my job requirements on a phased return. I’ve been waiting for further input from occupational health since I returned to work months ago. Not a dickie bird.
Until today. I get a call. Don’t recognise the number. Don’t answer. Also, happen to be on annual leave from work. For a much needed rest.
Then I check my emails before bed. Turns out my employer has outsourced my occupational health referral to a third party company. WITHOUT TELLING ME. They want to ask me to get in touch. CC’d my employer on the email. Like ——>look see we’ve tried. Can’t reach her.
Well no. Of course you can’t. Because
1) I’m on annual leave (which you would know if my employer had bother to share that piece of personal data)
And 2) I had no idea to expect random calls from numbers I don’t recognise, which as a matter of course I don’t answer assuming it’s spam.
I naively thought, that if my PRIVATE medial information would be shared by my employer with a third party, that I would in the least be informed of this. If not my consent for this information to be shared.
Apparently I was wrong.
I can only presume they need to outsource my assessment in order to stay on the right side of the law whilst they casually wheel me out of the organisation. Because it’s not to get me to return to work, because I already did that! With F*** ALL help from them!!!
I mean, is it not crap enough, trying to hang onto the remnants of your life, your body, your mind, your job with this super fun debilitating condition? Is it not quite enough to loose control over the simple things that ever healthy person on this planet takes for granted? Without losing control of the simple thing I thought of as - my personal data.
Especially when you’re already breaking your back trying to continue to meet the entirely unreasonable demands for a healthy person, that are put on you in the work place.
🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
And rant over. I’m sure I’m over reacting. But. MS gets me like that sometimes. Just. Rage. I want my life back!!!! 🙃
Hello - my employer did similar. Are you in a union? Even if not you have rights. Its over a year now since you wrote. I hope things went your way.
Where do you work? I do think you are over reacting about them sharing your medical info. tbh and I don’t think it really matters if they call when you are on AL. I’ve had some shit managers but my last team they were fabulous, why don’t you try looking for a new job? I think occupational health referrals are something managers have to do, box ticking if you like, I’ve never found them any use and my experience of unions is don’t waste your money! Try not to stress about it, it is frustrating loosing your independence etc but personal data will be kept confidential by OH - it their job and they only use it to assess your needs and they want to try and help you. I had to take medical retirement last year from the nhs. I miss working so much, I was a nurse for nearly 20 years and I had to retire aged 41 but you have to stay positive because there is always someone in a worse situation and I am grateful for my past life and the things I still have. Keep positive and sack that job off if it’s not suiting you. The only useful thing the union rep did for me was saying ‘Helen, you are just a number, put yourself first’ … he was right and I did xxx