- April 15, 2024
- Posted by: legaleseblogger
- Category: Related News
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# Health Issues and Appointment for MRI Scan
## Overview of Health Issues
Recently, I have been experiencing health problems, specifically with my eyes. The loss of vision in the inner parts of my eyes has been a cause for concern. After undergoing multiple tests, doctors have been unable to identify the root cause of this issue.
## Appointment for MRI Scan
In light of the ongoing health concerns, I have been scheduled for an MRI scan of my brain. The medical professionals are keen to investigate further to determine the underlying cause of my vision loss. The appointment is set for Tuesday, 16th April, and the notification was received approximately two weeks in advance.
## Workplace Challenge
Upon receiving the appointment letter, I promptly informed my manager and requested the day off for the MRI scan. Despite booking the day as annual leave and providing a detailed explanation of the situation, my request was denied. The rationale for the day off was clearly outlined in the communication, stressing the urgency and significance of the medical appointment.
## AI Legalese Decoder Assistance
In this situation, the AI Legalese Decoder can be instrumental in deciphering the legal aspects of the employer’s decision to decline the request for time off. By analyzing relevant regulations and employment laws, the AI tool can provide insights into the legality of such actions by the employer. Additionally, the AI Legalese Decoder can offer advice on how to navigate this challenging scenario and explore potential avenues for recourse.
## Seeking Guidance
Given the importance of the upcoming MRI scan and the employer’s decision to deny the time off request, I am seeking advice on the legality of such actions. Any assistance or guidance on how to address this issue would be greatly appreciated.
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****** just grabbed a
You have a medical appointment at hospital for a potentially serious issue. You just tell them you’re going, you don’t ask permission.
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> I spoke to my manager again and was told “there’s no one to cover your shift.”
Then it’s your manger’s job to find cover. That’s literally one of the tasks of a manager.
It’s not your problem.
You gave them enough notice, and they didn’t do what they were supposed to do. So sod them.
Phone in sick if you have to. Your eyes are FAR more important than this job.
Edit : if you do phone in sick then you DO NOT need a doctor’s note, because you can self-certify for the first 7 days. If they demand a doctors note then push back.
Arguably you shouldn’t be in work at all. How are you getting to and from work – you certainly shouldn’t be driving.
Also if delayed treatment leads to permanent vision damage that’s a fairly hefty PI claim they’re risking.
What is your job that they can’t cover you for q day with notice?
See if there is a policy for hospital appointments.
What sort of company doesn’t let a staff have a day off for an MRI?
This is really low, really low.
What’s does your contract say regarding medical appointments? Is there someone above your manager you can speak to? It isn’t like a doctors appointment for an itch we’re talking about, and it was really your manager’s responsibility to get the shift covered, and you gave adequate notice.
It won’t be a good look for the company if something happens to you because they prevented you from going to the hospital.
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Go to your appointment. Call in sick and don’t give this a second thought. Your manager could have booked agency staff. They preferred to save pennies over your eyesight MRI. You have a really s*it employer. After this appointment, start looking for a new job and work for a company that appreciates you.
Look up the policies and procedures that your employer has regarding absence and sickness.
If they specify that they make exceptions for medical procedures/appointments, then you’re fine.
If they don’t specify that, but they do specify any absences will be subject to a review or disciplinary or whatever afterwards, you’re going to have to bite the bullet and call in sick anyway and deal with it after the fact.
Even without a specific policy in place regarding medical matters, they have a duty of care as your employer. As ACAS says:
>Employers have a ‘duty of care’. This means they must do all they reasonably can to support their employees’ health, safety and wellbeing
They are *very* unlikely to sack you for taking one day off. Even more so if another manager who does actually have a soul is in charge of the meeting and hears that your original manager turned the request down despite the seriousness of your problem.
If your manager has turned down your request and not offered you any other options (like coming in earlier and working whatever hours you could before you’d have to leave for the hospital, or other alternatives), then you could appeal any warnings or sanctions given to you on the (lack of) duty of care grounds, as stated above.
Right now calling in sick to work is the very least of your concerns.
P.s. if you want the strict legal answer, see here:
“There’s no legal right to time off work for a medical appointment.
However, employers have a ‘duty of care’. This means they must do all they reasonably can to protect their employees’ health, safety and wellbeing at work.”
https://www.acas.org.uk/time-off-for-medical-appointments#:~:text=There's%20no%20legal%20right%20to,employee%20cannot%20rearrange%20their%20appointment.
No it is not OK.
I don’t know about the strict legal situation but no reasonable employer would refuse to let you go for an obviously important MRI scan. You can’t realistically re-organise it at this stage without risking dangerous delays.
When I was supervising staff, I wouldn’t have dreamed of telling an employee not to go to a hospital appointment.
You have to get the scan done. You can’t risk your health. If they are as short of staff as they imply then it seems unlikely they would actually try to sack you.
Maybe speak directly to your manager and say something like “Look, the doctors have booked me in for an urgent brain MRI. I have to get it done or I might be risking my eyesight. I gave you plenty of warning and agreed to take annual leave for the appointment even though it really should be sick leave. If you don’t authorise my leave, then I will just have to call in sick on the day.”
Definitely go.
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Maybe they just saw ‘optician’ and ‘eyes’ and assumed it’s a routine appointment. Why don’t you try saying ‘I have an urgent brain scan at the hospital’. Perhaps when they realise that it’s more to do with a risk of a brain tumour, stroke etc. they might be more accommodating.
I’m sad that you even have to explain in the first place. How degrading… UK 2024
Whilst there’s no specific law in place for time off for health care appointments, your employer has a duty of care for your well-being. If you email HR and explain that further delay to your appointment could worsen your prognosis they should find a solution.
You work in Healthcare and they won’t allow you to receive care? JFC. Surely there must be somewhere else that you can work? Good Luck Op. I hope your MRI results are not anything ominous.
It is 100% illegal for them to do this if you have a medical appointment even IF you didn’t use Annual Leave!
Just call in sick…because you ARE, so sick you need an MRI. If they try and sack you, you’d have an open & shut case at an employment tribunal.
Loss of sight classes as a Disability, therefore your absence is covered under the Equality Act.
I got diagnosed with Posner-Schlossman syndrome a few years ago. I went to the optician, because I was seeing haloes around lights, and my eye pressure was in the 40s. The optician sent me straight to hospital and I got the diagnosis after quite a few consultations. Each appointment was paid time.
My boss couldn’t have been better. He said “I might be a dick [he’s not] but I’m not going to mess with someone’s vision”. He even started Googling and researching the condition so he could chat to me about it.
He is a photocopier salesman. I can’t believe the health sector would treat you so abysmally!
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Do you have an HR manager / owner / head office?
Stress that this is to check whether you may have a brain tumour. And it is medically urgent and cannot be moved.
What’s more important, your vision or a sick day.
It’s a hospital appointment, honestly what are they gonna do.
I’d explain that they’d have to find me another role seeing as they’re willingly forcing me to potentially go blind because of resource..
For a supposed care industry employer to treat their people like this is disgusting – look for a new job!
UNLESS – you have a poor record on other matters? Employers have a defence of dismissal on grounds of incapacity, and frequent unrelated sickness absences can be cited.
Not a lawyer but a doctor.
The MRI is an urgent and necessary test. Call in sick if you have to but please go to the scan.
NAL. See if you can start later or finish early, maybe take an extended lunch break. If nothing works just take the absolute minimum time required and hope if you get an absence review on the back of this, present all relevant documents and hope your justification is taken on board.
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I think the stress of the employer behaviour/workplace in combination with the loss of eyesight and worry about potentially terminal outcomes would be more than enough to get on the phone to your GP and get signed off for a week or two, while you get the diagnostics you need and find out what the issue is. Given it’s tomorrow, this would probably be my approach if you don’t have the confidence/relationship/state of mind to just tell the manager it’s non-negotiable.
For future though, less is more – “I have an immovable hospital appointment” should be plenty, I wouldn’t question beyond that (except maybe as a human to check how the person is, if I actually knew them).
Whoever approves leave probably got fixated on “something something opticians” and turned off – some people are like that, but it helps to be clear and just say the relevant parts. Reading what you wrote, it sounds like you’re not that worried (“they are concerned”) and it’s optional (“I’m requesting”).
If you want to give details (you don’t have to) then “I’m losing my sight and need Tuesday off for an urgent brain scan to check for cancer” is much clearer. It’s not really a request, it’s informing them. Regardless, I would not even consider missing that appointment in your shoes.
Hey OP unrelated to your query but I had a similar thing and it ended up being diagnosed as an AZOOR (they also worried it was MS but all scans were clear). Happy to talk about it if you want! It’s a scary situation, best of luck
Get a sick note and go off completely until this is resolved. NAL but I am a doctor and this could be serious for you so please prioritise your health and not your job.
I’d call in sick for the whole week and self certify.
Don’t worry.
Best way to go about this is, call in sick on the actual day and then when you return to work whether it be the next day etc take them a medical note from your opticians/hospital so they can properly see and understand that you were off for a proper reason.
It could be a potential H&S risk for you to be working, so play that card if push comes to shove.
From a legal perspective never take sick leave as annual leave. Your employer can deny leave requests, however, if they deny a medical appointment they create a health and safety issue and may breach their duty of care (as has been stated).
The simplest approach is to anchor the appointment to a disability or serious illness. I need to go for an urgent MRI as I may have a bleed on my brain that is causing a loss of vision. This is very different to I have booked annual leave (which they have the legal right to deny).
I hate to say but never give notice as it creates a sense of reduced urgency. Take it as sick and link it to the most serious possibility because one day it will be.
Please start maticulously keeping records for things like this. This is a clear sign that your employer has no regard for you or your health and you should cover your back. Email or text your manager saying that as you explained in your annual leave application submitted on [DATE], this is a medical appointment to find the cause of my vision loss and unfortunately I won’t be available. Refuse to discuss this over the phone.
Unbelievable your manager has even reacted like that. Go to your appointment and I’d start looking for another job because clearly your manager does not give a fuck about you and your health. Hope everything is ok with your eyes 👍🏽👍🏽
This sounds sufficiently weird that I suspect your manager, or someone else in your management chain, hasn’t understood what you’re asking for and believes you’re asking for annual leave on a certain date or wanting a routine appointment on a given date. You are not. You’re giving notice of a medical appointment.
If they want to call this annual leave, unpaid leave, sick leave, whatever, that is up to them, but they cannot seriously expect you to miss a hospital appointment for a potentially serious issue because your manager can’t balance the rota. That’s absurd. The legal consequences for them if this *is* a serious issue would be dire (no court would recognise this as providing adequate duty of care and loss of sight is a disability so other ramifications come in too).
Tell them you’re going to hospital. Go to hospital. Leave the ball in their court. If your manager is genuinely stupid enough to try and penalise you for this then whatever happens to their career is on their own head.
Wow. Your manager really sounds like a piece of work. They’re treating you like a unit of resource and not a valued employee whose health is essential to the company’s success. They’re being very short sighted (no pun intended). If your condition isn’t treated promptly and you become unable to work, they will have a much bigger problem than covering one shift. They would have to hire someone to do your job and still pay you because they would have an employee with a disability covered by the Equality Act. My manager is totally the opposite. He lets me take time off to take my partner to her medical appointments and stresses that, if I’m not at my best, I should take time off because he wants me on my A-game at work. He wouldn’t even think of denying me a day off for the issue you’re having.
Please go to that appointment. Your health is important. I hope it turns out to be something that can be treated easily
Look at your company policy to medical appointments as some allow for these rather than taking as vacation time.
But, if you already applied for and received confirmation of the day off then it would be difficult for your employer to insist you work that day as they haven’t filled the shift cover.
For the future, don’t go into so much detail about your reason for the medical appointment.
Only declare the bare minimum otherwise they could start a capability action to manage you out of the business.
Go to your appointment. Your health is far more important than any job. If your employer has an issue with that, take it up with ACAS.
There’s no legal right to time off work for a medical appointment.
However, employers have a ‘duty of care’. This means they must do all they reasonably can to protect their employees’ health, safety and wellbeing at work.
[check here from acas](https://www.acas.org.uk/time-off-for-medical-appointments#:~:text=There's%20no%20legal%20right%20to,employee%20cannot%20rearrange%20their%20appointment.)