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Doctors Note for Stress

Summary of postings

Doctors Note for Stress	worried	28 Jun 07
Re: Doctors Note for Stress	Rod Teague	4 Jul 07
Re: Doctors Note for Stress	Humphrey Klinkenberg	4 Jul 07

Details of postings

Doctors Note for Stress	worried	28/06/2007 14:43
Hi, I'm currently off work with stress as I'm being bullied by my Operations Director. I've never had stress before and would like to go for a walk on the beach (which is 5 minutes away from my home) to try to relax. I'm scared that if anyone see's me it will give him yet another excuse to discipline me. Just for the record, I've been with the same company for over 10 years and have never been disciplined until this man took over...

+ Re: Doctors Note for Stress	Rod Teague	04/07/2007 13:07
Dear 'worried' After reading this I am reminded of the case where a Manager, seated on a train home after a weary day, viewed a member of his team playing golf. The same member of staff he had recently spoken to regarding absence and who was currently signed off by a GP. The Manager's incandescence was such that as soon as he got home, he phoned the employee and told him with some relish that he was summarily dismissed. What the Manager was not aware of was that the GP had recommended golf as a method of alleviating stress for this employee. Therefore the settlement prior to a Tribunal was far higher than it should have been. So as far as your current situation is concerned, if the GP has stated, preferably in writing, that walking on a beach helps you to relax then you are fireproof in every sense of the word. However to balance this there are plenty of absences where stress is used as a 'catchall' term. You must keep in regular contact with your immediate manager and commence some form of dialogue with a view to returning to work at the earliest possible opportunity. Then if the situation does not improve there is a clear record of your genuine attempts to solve the problem. Finally bear in mind that stress is not a recognised condition. Clinical Depression is. It can only help your difficult situation by not using provocative and misunderstood terminology such as stress and bullying unless an independent authority has verified these terms as genuine and not self-certified. I hope that common sense will prevail to prevent this from escalating. Good Luck.
++ Re: Doctors Note for Stress	Humphrey Klinkenberg	04/07/2007 15:17	humphrey@ klinkenberg org uk
I don't think it is safe to state that 'stress is not a recognised condition'. It may be approptate to consider the situation with regard to stress and the Disability Discrimination Act. The following was extracted from TUC guidelines: Disability and Stress. Schedule 1 to the DDA as amended by the DDA 2005 now provides that people with a mental health problem no longer need to show that their particular impairment is ‘clinically well-recognised in order to satisfy the definition. The claimant would normally be required to prove that: a. the impairment has lasted twelve months or is likely to last twelve months or more b. the stress is having a substantial and adverse effect on the ability to carry out normal day to day activities So, if a person is experiencing stress, but has only done so on and off for six months, they may not satisfy the ‘long-term’ requirement. However, if the substantial adverse effects of a condition are more likely than not to recur, they are treated as continuing. And if those effects are likely to recur beyond 12 months of the first occurrence they will qualify as ‘long-term’ under the DDA definition of disability. A person with another condition, exacerbated by stress, may be covered by the DDA because of the cumulative effects of both conditions together. The key thing to consider here is whether the stress is rendering the employee unable to cope with his other condition, which without the stress, he would normally be able to cope with. Humphrey