Hi there ,
Hope you guys can advise me!
I was Diagnosed in 2015 at the age of 41 I work in retail management full time . I had a meeting with my line manager at the time of diagnosis. And it was agreed I wouldn’t cover other stores , this was put in my employment records as a verbal agreement .after some discussion it also agreed to move to a store closer to home (5mins away)
So 4 years on -at the minute , My condition is slow in progression , So feel whatever I’m doing regarding work is working/ helping me
So my original line manager left a year ago but she made sure that my verbal agreement was definitely in my file .
So a year on and my new line manager has decided that I can cover a store …on Monday for 2-4,weeks , she not been to see me since taking over the role , no discussion has been had regarding my illness
She informed my manager (I’m an assistant manager) that she was aware of my agreement but I was still going -
My own manager has always been aware of my verbal agreement has made it clear that my line manager that she has got to tell me I’m covering this store herself
I’m back at work today after being on hols for a week
So my line manager should be calling me Today regarding this
So any advise regarding this would help!
Are you in a Union? If so, I would say to contact them ASAP.
They know the law and can fight your corner.
If not maybe Citizens Advice could help
also, does your work have an Occupational Health department? If it’s a large concern it probably does.
worth a try if available.
Not sure if we have a occupational department think we are too small of a company .
Thanks for you’re reply - No I’m not in a union
And she rang me today and I was informed I was covering store
I asked if she was aware of my verbal agreement I’ve had in place she said no …
but she wasn’t moving me there permanently it was just temporary ,(as if she doing me a favour )
I wasn’t asked , I was told . It had all been arranged without my knowledge . My welfare/ illness never came into consideration .
So I think next step for me is HR
And go from there …
Yes, HR is a good idea, and try to find out if Disability legislation would be any help.,
Maybe a chat with Parkinson’s Nurse, if you have one or GP would be helpful .
good luck
Hi @suemac,
Glad to see you’ve already received some support on this.
My initial thought was to file an employment discrimination complaint; however, this is quite a tricky situation as it can only be discrimination if a) the person has a protected characteristic (disability in this case) and b) the line manager is aware of the protected characteristic. In the information you’ve provided; you mentioned your new manager was not aware of the verbal agreement, therefore, it will be difficult to go down the discrimination route.
You have the option of raising a grievance with the HR team and going over the line managers head as you don’t appear to work directly with the line manager it may not be too much of a problem. Although you state that you had a verbal agreement in your record and that custom and practice has made working at a particular store part of your contract, in reality it is usually more difficult to enforce these rights. Here is some more information on implied rights in employment:
Therefore, your best option is to continue doing what you are doing - raise it with the HR department. If that doesn’t work then raise a formal grievance. Lastly, you should be aware that the employer can change a contract of employment and this puts you in the position of accepting the changes or refusing the new contract, and likely losing your job. It’s a difficult situation but it’s usually best to start with negotiation.
I appreciate that this is a lot of information to take on-board, but I hope you find it useful. Our helpline is always here to answer any other questions that you may have on this. Feel free to give us a call on 0808 800 0303.
Thanks,
Reah
Forum Community Manager
Hi @suemac
I would think that negotiation is required here and a good place to start good meditation is A. C. A. S.
They are free to use and can take the heat out of a situation like this thereby reducing the pressure on yourself.
Best of luck.
Tommy 
™