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Ben Jones
Ben Jones, UK Lawyer
Category: Law
Satisfied Customers: 50178
Experience:  Qualified Solicitor
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In November I was granted 2 weeks off work including 1 weeks

Customer Question

In November I was granted 2 weeks off work including 1 weeks unpaid for IVF treatment. Our treatment was unsuccessful, my manager was supportive during treatment but on my return back in I was requested for an investigatory meeting around my performance. While I was off a contract I work on had complained that they had seen no progress. My manager was wanting to find out why. I justified my working time and it was agreed to enable me to do what was needed, they woulod take some work off me to concentrate on that contract. I felt really hurt as feel my manager should have covered resource while I was off. I am now off work with stress, signed off by my doctor from tomorrow. It was my birthday yesterday, so to cheer me up my husband took me out. My manager turned up in the pub and was asking what was wrong and that she was worried. I felt very intimidated. She stayed there most of the evening and by the end of the night, her and her sister were taking photos of me. How can I deal wioth this situation, what are my legal rights? Any advice would be helpful
Submitted: 4 years ago.
Category: Law
Alice H
Expert:  Alice H replied 4 years ago.
What precisley would you like to know about? The issues at work or the taking of photographs in the pub?
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Customer: replied 4 years ago.

Both if you can please.
Expert:  Alice H replied 4 years ago.
No problem. It will take me a while to consider the issues and give you an answer. I will post an answer as soon as I'm done.
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Customer: replied 4 years ago.

Do you have any further answer for me on this yet please Alex?
Expert:  Ben Jones replied 4 years ago.
Hello my colleague has decided not to continue with this question so I will help you instead. How long have you worked there for please?
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Customer: replied 4 years ago.

6 and half years, never had any issues in the past wth anything.
Expert:  Ben Jones replied 4 years ago.
I agree that the employer should have made arrangements to cover for your work whilst you were away. The same would have happened if you were off on holiday - the employer would have had advance notice of your absence and they would not have expected you to undertake any work whilst you were on authorised absence from work, as in your case. So you should not be officially blamed for not doing work whilst you were off because by granting you the time off the employer has basically agreed that you will be away from work and it would be implied that your employer had taken responsibility for your work whilst you are away.

In terms of the incident at the pub, then whilst it was ok to come and ask you to see how you are doing and just to show genuine concern, this should have been a brief encounter and once the manager found out how you are she should have moved on. Whilst she cannot be prevented from being in the same pub all night, it would be an issue if she was constantly bothering you and certainly if she was taking photos of you. This could amount to intimidation or harassment.

If you wanted to deal with this then you are really looking at the following as your options:
• You may approach the manager informally and try to resolve any differences between yourselves
• If that does not work or you believe this is not something you can do, then you can raise a formal grievance with the employer and they will treat this as a formal complaint by you
• The last option, only to be used as a last resort and if you believe that you have tried all you can but the situation is so bad that you cannot see yourself continuing to work there, is to resign and make a claim for constructive dismissal.

I hope this has answered your query. Please take a second to leave a positive rating, or if you need me to clarify anything before you go - please get back to me and I will assist further as best as I can. Thank you and feel free to bookmark my profile for future help:


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