Hi all.. apologies for the long post, I'll try to keep it short and sweet,

I split up with my partner in September last year after a hypomanic episode which resulted in a referral to a psychiatrist. I had to move out and my partner was living on his own for the first time ever and really struggling. He went back to work (after being off with an unrelated back injury) shortly after and just tried to keep his head above water. He became severely depressed after his hypomanic episode and was the worst I'd ever seen him.

In October he was diagnosed with a blood clot and was having a lot of appointments and treatment for that. (I'm telling you all this just to give you an idea of what he was going through at the time.) In October and December he was rushed to hospital from work with chest pains; both times cleared by the doctor and just took some time off to rest (its likely these were stress related rather than clot related the doc said). The second time he took a week off at his employer's insistence and they said they could use his holiday instead of paying sick pay (company sick pay had run out).

His psych appointment was on 7th December while he was off and he was diagnosed with bipolar type 2. He was put on 200mg of quetiapine. He went back to work 4 days later - he made the decision to go back as he wasn't struggling with drowsiness (he was a bit groggy in the mornings but his shifts started at 2pm so he felt fine).

On 11th December he went back to find out that they hadn't used his holiday for the time off so his wages were going to be down. He then had a back to work meeting told them about the bipolar and they signed him fit for work. He then saw Occupational Health who asked about the medication. Chris was honest and said the mornings were a bit drowsy but it wore off in plenty of time for work. The OH nurse said to Chris that he was concerned and was going to recommend his employers medically suspend him.

10 minutes later his health and safety manager came up to Chris in the hallway outside the general office and said 'OH said youre not fit to work, you need to go home. Come back in January' (thats actually word for word). Chris's initial reaction was panic about how he was going to afford to be off work - he told the woman that and she said she'd ask about using his holiday (same story as before) and he would get a phone call.

As he was leaving work he rang me absolutely furious and ranted about how unfair it was (I remember trying to calm him down) and then (stupidly, as I've told him since) posted on facebook that he was 'being sent home by work until January with no pay and that work were a bunch of c****'. I'm sure you can guess what happened next.. when he went back in January (later than expected because his depression was so bad) he was immediately suspended because a so called 'friend' had reported him.

When it came to the disciplinary he apologised and explained his situation - the diagnosis 4 days before and the severe depression plus the added stress of the other health problems he was suffering from. He also pointed out that the way it was handled was wrong - why did he need to be off for so long? He had discussed the drowsiness and it seemed his opinion about his own health was ignored. He also reminded them that his previous requests for holiday pay had not been met and the problems he was having financially.

They sacked him and said his mental state was nothing to do with his comments and that they appeared reasoned and well thought out.

We appealed this and when the appeal came I wrote it all out for him in more detail. He pointed out that he didn't need to go home that night - instead of heavy lifting and forklift driving he could have done light duties instead but this wasn't an option apparently. He also felt that since his drowsiness was only in the mornings and subsided by the time his shift started, making him take 3 weeks off was a knee jerk reaction that put him at a disadvantage. We felt if they HAD to send him home (there were reasonable adjustments that could have been made) then surely a week then a review of the situation would have been sufficient. They postponed the appeal and then we got a letter asking him to attend an Occupational Health meeting with a doctor.

We attended and the OH doc said he was happy to support what Chris is saying about his frame of mind and mental state at the time. He has written a report to that effect. He has however said he thought it was reasonable to send Chris home (no mention of lighter duties though) but doesn't say anything about the duration.His union are all over this and say he's got a good case so it's likely if the appeal fails it'll go to a tribunal.

Sorry for the long post, I'd be grateful for any advice/thoughts.

Katie
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