Broken arm and getting to work

[shouldbworking]

Hi,
I've managed to break my arm and am unable to drive for 4-6 weeks. My normal job is desk based and wouldn't be that badly affected, however there are 2 problems in that my journey to and from work becomes much more difficult, with 3 bus changes and some extremely tight connection timings, realistically it would make my current ~50min journey into about 2 hours 10mins.

The painkillers are also making me drowsy which would be a problem.

Has anyone else had this kind of experience and suggestions? I hope to discuss the possibility of working from home with my employer however this presents some technical difficulties and the director of the division is not keen on such as seen in the past.

Google suggests the doctors would probably sign me off work for the duration however I feel that's taking the piss a bit, as after all my job is typing, and I'm doing that now...

[shouldbworking]

Now having had a couple of days with the injury I'm realising that its more serious than i thought... sleeping upright is required and uncomfortable so my sleep pattern is shot and I'm getting sleep deprivation, the extra time needed for basics like preparing food and washing would cut into that time further, and the painkillers make it hard to concentrate and increase tiredness.

With all this in mind I'm going to be off at least until I can get a routine and reduce the level of painkillers, then hopefully i'll car share or work from home.

[shouldbworking]

tenpenceshort said:

What does the OP's contract say about sick pay? Statutory is less than £90 per week, which is an unacceptable drop for most people. The employment contract may offer enhanced sick pay.

Update..

been signed off for 4 weeks. My contract refers to 'company sick pay' and statutory sick pay separately, without defining (as far as I can see) what company sick pay is. Whatever it is, by the terms of the contract I'm entitled to me based on length of service, however my line manager is making noise along the lines of trying to get them not to pay it as the injury didn't happen at work.

I've asked my line manager to find out from HR what the situation is so I can go from there. Wish I could be sure of getting the truth from them!

[shouldbworking]

I wont disagree with that assessment.

Thankfully HR have set him straight so I should be alright.

Had an amazing moment last night when whilst dreaming I pushed up off the arm (not broken in the dream), and as I was just drifting off my body still sent the signal to my arm which tried to do the same thing for real. Just as painful as the initial moment of injury and a hell of a way to wake up!

[shouldbworking]

Angry hat on today. I've been arranging my return to work. It's all a bit inconvenient as you might expect, altered hours in order to lift share, and further time that would be required for hospital appointments and physio.

Work started off saying this will have to be unpaid leave or holiday. Strange as I've just been on sick pay for exactly the same injury and treatment, but if that's what they want, ok, unpaid leave it is.

The next thing is they then say they cant allow me the time off to attend a hospital appointment. I'm not going to compromise my long term health for their one day at work, so at a bit of an impasse.

Anyone else been in the same boat and have any advice?

[shouldbworking]

Countdown said:

What's the normal rule for hospital appointments?

I.e ignoring the broken arm/long term sickness, if you normally had to attend hospital would it be in your time or theirs?

Normally it would be taken from holiday time or given as unpaid leave, but to actually say 'you cannot attend your hospital appointment' is something I've not encountered before.

I've proposed I work another day instead of the one required for the hospital appointment. Fingers crossed reason is seen.