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Zoe Girl
7-10-18, 8:42pm
For a half day tomorrow, got cleared and talked to sup. He wants to pick up where we left off with my improvement plan meeting! I have no clue what that is going to be like since i challenged him before i left. Surprisingly i am calm.

My counselor was super surprised that there is no meeting to work me back into work, about any limitations, and with no support from HR.

So i have one more interview on Thursday and the one tomorrow is for 2 potential jobs. So basically i have interviews for everything i applied for just last week. Cant get cocky about it but feeling super hopeful

Mrs. Hermit
7-10-18, 9:09pm
Maybe your counselor needs to contact HR and suggest this? This crew really has no clue how to handle basic management practices!

iris lilies
7-10-18, 9:44pm
Your work “limitations” are defined by your Dr. , that is how it works.

I would think that your physician would consult with your therapist and if therapist had suggestions for limited work, Dr. would write that up assuming the Dr. himself has no recomendations.

It is not the role of your “sup” or your organization’s HR department to define limited work for you. They might give you reduced tasks and responsibility if that is their choice I suppose, but that comes fraught with issues.

Who prescribed part time work for you this week?

Gardnr
7-10-18, 10:11pm
Is your case being handled by employee health? (it should be they who direct your supervisor as to work restrictions). Who approved you for return to work and with what limitations? Were those limitations shared with you?

Example:

I on a surgical FMLA. I cannot return to work until my employee health case manager contacts me. She will share with my boss my restrictions per Dr order and request that these can and will be accommodated. This is the correct process.

This is how it works when I have an employee returning from FMLA.

razz
7-10-18, 10:15pm
Don't go back to the same mess. Something has to change - you or the situation. The sup does not run the show.

mschrisgo2
7-10-18, 10:49pm
For a half day tomorrow, got cleared and talked to sup. He wants to pick up where we left off with my improvement plan meeting! I have no clue what that is going to be like since i challenged him before i left. Surprisingly i am calm.

Who cleared you to go back to work? Who said it is to be half time, and what does that mean, in your work world? 4 hrs, 6 hours, split? Have you been in touch with an HR person? Did you Dr. give you accomodations? Going into an improvement plan meeting is, IMHO, totally inappropriate. Is there someone you can take into that meeting with you??

When I broke my wrist, the HMO (Kaiser) emailed my paperwork (Dr clearance to return to work) to HR, who reviewed it, spoke to my principal, then called to tell me to report to the site "as usual." That's how it should work. There are actually not only Best Practices around these things, but federal law and procedures for FMLA.

iris lilies
7-11-18, 11:59am
Is your case being handled by employee health? (it should be they who direct your supervisor as to work restrictions). Who approved you for return to work and with what limitations? Were those limitations shared with you?

Example:

I on a surgical FMLA. I cannot return to work until my employee health case manager contacts me. She will share with my boss my restrictions per Dr order and request that these can and will be accommodated. This is the correct process.

This is how it works when I have an employee returning from FMLA.

Who does “ employee health” in your context work for? I think it means someone from your employer’s Human Resources Dept. but am not sure.

Tybee
7-11-18, 12:41pm
Zoe, can you call EAP and get guidance on the return process? This does not sound quite right, what they have set up, as it does not seem to follow what Iris and Gardnr are saying should be happening?

I would call therapist and psychiatrist and say that sup has scheduled a performance improvement review on your half day back??? This doesn't sound right, either.

JaneV2.0
7-11-18, 12:43pm
If you had, say, broken your back at work, slipping on a wet floor, would they expect you to drag yourself back to work so soon? You have IIRC, weeks of earned vacation and/or comp time coming to you. Now it's back to the boss who caused all this so he can finish the job, I guess. What are you thinking?

iris lilies
7-11-18, 12:50pm
If you had, say, broken your back at work, slipping on a wet floor, would they expect you to drag yourself back to work so soon? You have IIRC, weeks of earned vacation and/or comp time coming to you. Now it's back to the boss who caused all this so he can finish the job, I guess. What are you thinking?
From day one of her leave, she said she was off for 3 weeks. That is likely a standard absence prescribed by her physician for this sort of mental health event.

In order to be absent from her job for longer periods, she needs her physician to sign off on that. Plus, remember she is off all next week.

Seems like a decent plan for easing back into work, this week being part time and next week being off completely.

But
I do not like the idea of her supervisor starting off with a performance review if that is indeed what is taking place today. this meeting ZG is having with her “sup” could also be a meeting about “here’s where we are now, here is where we are going with your job in the next X days/weeks.” Some version of that would be appropriate in this back-to-work situation, we just do not have access to the full set of facts here.

Gardnr
7-11-18, 1:28pm
Who does “ employee health” in your context work for? I think it means someone from your employer’s Human Resources Dept. but am not sure.

Employee Health is completely separate from HR. They handle all FMLA processes as well as all OTJ injuries.

Zoe Girl
7-11-18, 1:35pm
Thank you Iris. Any vote of confidence in this is helpful, I have no idea what is a good idea. I know what people do for injuries but I have never known of anyone who took a leave for mental health. I do have DR notes approving what I am doing, I could have asked him to add that I can't work over 8 hours in a day or that I should not work schedules that change more than 2 hours in start time. That means not working at 6 am one day and 10 am the next. That kinda messes with my brain although I have been doing it all year.

Okay I am in the building, I saw 2 nice people so far, and I am about to open emails.

iris lilies
7-11-18, 2:16pm
Employee Health is completely separate from HR. They handle all FMLA processes as well as all OTJ injuries.

ok, they are separate from your HR
department, but are they paid by your employer? By an insurance company? By a government entity? Or ?

I ask because I truly dont know, having never worked for an employer who has “employee health” workers involved in any personnel issue.

Zoe Girl
7-11-18, 2:20pm
I am not sure what employee health is like either. I know we have an EAP (employee assistance program) that have certain benefits like my 5 free counseling appointments and a free legal consultation.

I started at 295 emails and now am down to 143. A lot of pinterest updates since I have a few boards for training staff. Check in is in 15 minutes. I didn't get the job I interviewed for on Monday but had a good interview this morning. I have to wonder what they were looking for? Or maybe I am too high on their payscale with the masters and years of experience. The one this morning actually brought up pay and that was good. They had a concern it was a paycut. It is within my living wage range, so I told them it was fine and that I wanted some energy for side projects like teaching crochet.

Gardnr
7-11-18, 2:32pm
ok, they are separate from your HR
department, but are they paid by your employer? By an insurance company? By a government entity? Or ?

I ask because I truly dont know, having never worked for an employer who has “employee health” workers involved in any personnel issue.

It is a department of our organization.

iris lilies
7-11-18, 2:33pm
Zoe, I dont know what to say about defining limitations on your hours as you describe in post #12. On one hand, you are perfectly within your rights to ask for accommodation, just as your employer is within rights to say “no, those are extraordinary accomodations you are asking for, cant do that.” Would it benefit you in the long run? I dont know, and this is where you seeking good outside advice (not the uncredentialed job coach person) might be a good idea.

I would really like to see you get a schedule with regular, predictible hours for a while because I think it would help you so much in recovery and healing.

Having unpredictible hours where you are needed on the worksite seems to be an essential part of your job, though.But who knows, maybe not.

iris lilies
7-11-18, 2:35pm
It is a department of our organization.
Ah, ok, thanks!

danna
7-11-18, 2:53pm
When I worked Payroll in a large hospital, Employee Health was a separate department but, it was clear to
everyone that they were part of HR. This was more clear to people when your reason for being off work
was work related (Workmen's Comp or something like stress especially caused by work/sup).
I believe they sort of acknowledge this when they have an outside Employee Assistance Plan, these plans
are mostly for mental/emotional/family issues and no one at work is to ever know you even used the Plan.
Most of the people I knew would go to employee health Dr. for a sinus infection but, not home life stress (you didn't want them to know)