www.iva.co.uk

Oh help! I have taken so much time off work since i had money problems before i got my iva due to stress etc which also caused stomache ulcers. Now i have another health issue. Last week i was diagnosed by my gp as having Sciatica, due to very bad pain in my lower back and it travelling down my left leg and into my ankle. I can hardly walk and after taking two days off work, Thrusday and Friday last week i feel that my pain killers are not working and i am heading off to the doctors again today. I call into my work and expain the situation and this new manager who started on Friday says to me "oh well what days are you due in" i said every day in the week normally.. Then he says "well if you are not coming into work tommorrow then i will need to know this evening and when i next see you i will need to have a chat to you"
Now i am left feeling guilty that i am taking time off "GENUINELY" and made to feel awkward!!! Wondering what to think and where i am going to end up!! What happens if you are in an iva and you go out of work if you get sacked??!?! Please will someone help me and sympathise with me as i feel so rotten right now [:(]

I can't answer your question.
Just wanted to give you a virtual hug to try to make you feel better.
(((((((O)))))))
xx

I can't help with your question either, but I just wanted to say I can sympathise with you about back and I hope you're feeling better soon x

It used to be shazzles if a doctor wrote a note and said you were not fit to work that it would be enough. In the nhs we are interviewed every time we are off sick. They say it is to help I dont think so. I am a worrier too and to avoid these silly interviews, even though I am never off sick I went to work, what was a cold then went to my chest and I ended up off longer, and really ill.
If you should lose your job, and only my opinion it might be possible for your Ip to give you a payment holiday for a couple of months in which time hopefully you can get another job. Sciatic pain is awful I suffer myself on and off, another thing 28years of nursing has done for me. Ooh I am having a moan now.
Go back to your doctors honey and tell him the tablets are not working. Your gp can change them for something else. Work wise it is up to you, I dont know what you do, some may be better sitting others are better up on their feet with back pain, but in all honesty you should take time off and get better because in the long run your sickness will be shorter, go to work and damage it more and you end up off longer.
I am rattling a bit ,as I quite often do, do what is best for you dont make it worse.

Ang

When I worked at the call centre, I took time off due to depression after I lost my mam. They called me in for an interview after just 2 weeks! I didn't go as I had an appointment. I felt sick with worry, so much so, that I couldn't face going back at all, I sent my resignation letter in while I was off sick. After 4yrs working there all I got was my p45, no letter saying thanks for your service or kiss my a*se or anything....

Try not to worry shazzles, your health is far more important than money !

I had the same problem when I worked in a call centre Chris - the day after my dad died my manager phoned me to ask me when I'd be back as she was short staffed. I ended up being signed off for a month and I left not long after.

Yes, call centre management seem to be a breed of their own... nobody goes into management to be liked...
Thankfully, as my 2 eldest work in call centre's, management seems to be becoming more human. Less like dictators who forgot how to deal with people on an equal basis.

when it was the start of all my problems i too took lots of time off, i felt so guilty that i was letting everyone down, in the end i wrote a letter to my boss and explained everything, he was gob smacked, but so helpful, and has really stood by me, he said he didn't want to lose me and understood what i was going through, it actually helped as when i was feeling off i could actually talk to him and after that didn't take as much time off sick.
kerri

That's really nice of your boss, Kerri.
My last employment was term time agency work and because of the time off I was having, the contract was terminated so now I'm not working. It's really difficult working around the kids and some employers don't seem to allow for some of the problems that can arise when you have kids.

I know what you mean about 'return to work' interviews. A couple of years ago I had an 'annus horriblis' with my both my father and my husband having heart bypass operations, hubbie going back into hospital with pulmonary embolisms and me having to do all the running round for both. I also had health problems of my own with gall stones. I ended up going off sick for three weeks with those, and then off for another five weeks with stress. When I got back to work I was made to feel guilty for having this time off and told that my sickness would be monitored as it was at an unnacceptable level! It was the first time I had been off in three years!!!!!!

Keep your chin up and don't let 'em get you down! If you are ill, you are ill.

we have a welcome back meeting with our manager when we go back. PLEEEAASE!!!

when I worked at the c/c, it was their policy to have the 'back to work' interview before you went back on the phones....how often did that happen???? Never!!! you got the interview when they had a spare 5mins and it was just a 'what's been wrong with you? you ok now? have you any issues?'
The only time you got a proper interview was when you were off sick and HR would call you in, 'to assist you to get back to work asap and as smoothly as possible'....Rubbish, push you back to work and make you feel guilty for having time off.
I was so relieved when I left that place. Management were horrible and my eyes wern't the right colour!!

Why is it that all HR departments are the same? I wonder who interviews them when they return to work?

I think it is a new Hr strategy to lower sickness. Unfortunately it afects those that are ill more. Great to know you are going to be interviewed and monitored when you are already suffering with stress. I had five ops the other year and had the interview and was told I would be on stage 2 if off sick again. Sorry but after working 28yrs everything is getting a bit old now and needs some attention, its not my job its my age. I wouldnt have minded but never lost a day due to the actual illness just for the ops.

Ang