Am i going back to work too early.

Hi Debbie,

Did you have the same op and if so how long were you off for and how many hrs did you sit on a till when you went back?Our company has judt changed it's sickness policy and i don't understand it.It is either 2 or 3 periods of sickness in a year and then you go on report.A lot of people are always off and i am not normally off but i had 3 days off in Aug aswell so i am now on my 2nd absence.If i go back Tues and then get signed off again they do treat that as another absence.I am just going to phone my head office for advice.I will let you know what they say.

xxx

Hi Theresa, I didn't have the same surgery as yours but I was told I would need 6-8 weeks off to recover from my surgery. I ended up having 15 weeks off due to complications. My first shift back to work was 8 hours with 2 trainees who had been set on during my absence. I was exhausted and in pain, so went to see my People Manager about a phased return until I felt capable of working my normal hours. Looking back, I now know I returned to work too soon. Last week I had surgery to repair a large incisional hernia (another complication of the previous surgery) and this time I wont be going back too early! Company sickness policies don't make it easy for us to understand our entitlements but generally I think the fewer absences, the better, even if it means longer absences. The "recovery" period can only be used as a guide, everyone is different. I work for Asda and have to admit they have been very understanding with my absences, but this is the first time I have been off since my last surgery 2 years ago. I would check your entitlement with your Company HR or perhaps seek advice from your union if you have membership. Most importantly, don't feel presurised into returning before you are ready.

Hi Debbie,

My head office phoned me back yesterday and wanted me to get my manager to do a branch referal where i will get a phone call and i get asked some questions and then they decide on the number of hrs i should be working.I got told by my manager that they phone back very quickly but i didn't get a call yesterday.I wasn't sure if they work on a Sat so i tried this morning but my case manager is not in until Mon so they were going to email her to let her know that i phoned.I phoned my manager at work this morning to update him and he told me not to worry but if i don't find out until Mon and i am due to start back on Tues i feel that this is short notice for them.The manager is only my department manager and not my branch manager.They will probably try no more than 4 hrs a day but i don't know yet how long for.I am back for 2 weeks,have 1 weeks leave,back another 2 weeks and then another weeks leave.I found out that i can now have 3 periods of sickness in a year.This changed in Sept so i don't think my sickness in Aug should count if they changed their policy.I will let you know the outcome tomorrow.

xxx

Hi Debbie,

I had a phone call from occupational health at my head office this morning.She asked me my concerns and then she said if i did my hrs over 5 days and not 4 but i told her that i like my 4 day week.She suggested that i return to 6 hr shifts this week and then 7 hr shifts next week.This week would be 7 hrs short of my normal hrs and next week only 3 hrs short.I said that i was worn out after the 3 hrs i tried last week let alone the thought of 6hrs.She said that there were lots of light jobs that i could do like tidying up stock on shelfs etc.She felt that after 4 weeks i should be back to normal and then she said 4 -6 weeks.I have been told by a doctor not to lift any more than 6lb for another month and she said no more than 3kg (6.6lb) this week and 5kg(nearly 11lbs ) next week.She then told me 5 hr shifts this week and 6 hr shifts next week every other day.She has also put restrictions on not to stand or sit any longer than 1 hr at a time.When i said the doctor was prepared to do a phased return to work for no longer than 4 hrs a day she told me that she couldn't do that and i said she can she is a doctor and the answer i got back was that the doctor was only there for advise.My wound is still not healing properly at one end and at the moment i feel like not going back to work at all.Hope you don't have all these problems in your job?

xxx

Teresa these OH people make my blood boil! I bet they wouldn't apply the same criteria if they themselves were struggling to return to work! What does your Doctor say? Will he/she be willing to supply you with another sick note? I would speak to your Doctor again with a view to submitting another sick note - I don't think your company can argue against this. I would also give the Citizens Advice a call or send a query through their website to see if they can advise you about your rights. The last thing you need is a set back caused by overdoing things.