Epileptic daughter sacked

A question about : Epileptic daughter sacked

Hello all, I'm posting on behalf of my daughter. She's been working for a national restaurant chain (Ask) as a server since 1st September 2014. She is epileptic and had made her employers aware of this. This last weekend she had a serious of seizures (she assumes - she was unconscious) and her flat mate found her on her bedroom floor with carpet burns to her face.

Seizures exhaust her and confuse her so consequently she missed work on Saturday and spent most of Sunday asleep, recovering. She tells me she woke up sometime today, realised she had missed the whole weekend and went straight to work to apologise and tell them why. Her manager said that as she hadn't turned up and not contacted them, they assumed she had resigned. She told them she would have told them had she not been unconscious but was told she had lost her job. She is devastated. Any advice?

Best answers:

• Why did her flat mates not call an Ambulance ?
  She is going to find it hard why she could not get any type of message to work.
• Could she really not have let them know Saturday considering the open late?
• Is she a union member? If so her rep will be able to support her with this
• 1. She seizured in her room, the flatmates have their own room. 2. It's hard to message when you are unconscious. 3. The recovery period is different for each epileptic 4. No union membership
• The Equality Act 2010
  I guess you could ask them to reconsider and state above explaining as you have that long term disability and they should take that into account and accommodate. You need to be clear on why she did not contact as it isn't obvious if you are not epileptic and in most circumstances you would expect the employee to contact. I guess they could argue she should have had some type of system in place to avoid but you can equally try arguing they should accomodate.
• Quote "Because as I said, I hadn't been getting much sleep, so I took a sleeping tablets on Friday night so I would be all awake and on it for Valentine's Day? And the next thing I know I wake up in the lounge ., so Must've had a few seizures by the looks of my face"
  Me: had you taken them before? when did you wake up? its hard explaining away 48 hours
  Daughter: No I hadn't, I just wanted to be on it for valentines but it backfired obviously .. I woke up about 1 in the morning on Monday morning, and fell back asleep again and woke back up at 3, and went straight to ask
  Well that's what happened mum, well yes I suppose so! But I think I had a fit mid sleep on Saturday morning, then fitted again.
• They have to accommodate under disability law but they also have to provide a safe working environment.
  Serving surely includes serving hot liquids, if she can black out without warning as she states the restaurant would have a very good defence.
  It's a difficult one.
• This is the only time its happened. She has a long term condition and is still under the neuro team at the hospital. She is really upset (she's 24 and has only been epileptic since 17 after a couple of brain ops) and says she doesn't feel she can go back to work there but doesn't think they should get away with it either.
• When she's awake she gets 'notice' and can make herself safe 99.9% of the time, so is therefore in as much risk of harm as you or I would be tripping over. When she's asleep then obviously she cannot feel the 'cues', I think they are called auras.
• Has this episode been logged at her Doctors, if it is so severe she might be better making a DLA or PIP claim.
• I'd have to agree that an appeal to their better nature is probably the only viable option here. Although there might be some cause to look at disability discrimination, especially based on the fact that there appears to have been no process, and no attention given to a disability (which they know about), I suspect it is only a slim chance because in the end she was dismissed for not reporting in to work as sick for over two days. Whilst it may be understandable from the point of view as to her own condition, there is a two way responsibility here - if she knows this is even possible she should be making some provision for someone else to phone in if she has a seizure. Few employers are ever going to be happy when their employee disappears for a few days, no matter what good reason there may be.
  My suggestion would be to write to the employer (she writes - not you) and explains again, pointing out her (hopefully) good record to date, asking for a second chance to prove herself, and explains what she proposes to do to ensure that there is never a repetition of this. That way she is demonstrating that she understands that she bears some responsibility for herself here, and that the employer needs to know if she is sick.
  Incidentally, I assume she has been risk assessed for her condition in the role she has been working in? Because if someone is subject to epileptic fits, it just seems to me a disaster waiting to happen dealing with hot (boiling?) food and beverages and hot equipment.
• Has your daughter had any other time off sick since she started?...
  While disabilities are covered to a degree with the Equality Act I would think an employee missing for 3 days would even test the Acts boundaries. A job as a server may not be the best occupation for someone prone to seizures for obvious reasons, I would also maybe making sure any flatmate would be aware of steps to follow if your daughter has another seizure.
• I think you should seek informed advice regards the equality act. When your daughter declared her disability her employer has a duty to carry out a risk assessment which would include the work she can do and also the process for notifying her employer if she is ill. The employer may not have considered this and an assessment could have ensured that she had a plan for her employer to be notified of any absence.
  It may be a way back in to her job by making a complaint that they failed in their duty. The risk assessment would then establish whether she can do the job.
  https://www.hse.gov.uk/equality-duty/...y-act-2010.htm
  My greater concern would be that her flat mates left her for two and a half days without seeking help or contacting anyone. Whilst it is not uncommon for some epileptics to sleep the clock round post seizure, a series of seizures over a short period should not go un-investigated or undocumented. I would be ensuring that she has a support system in place even if it is an isolated incident.
  Good luck, epilepsy has many variants and is still misunderstood.
• I have to say from an outsiders POV it does look like she's trying it on. Sounds like she 'got on it' all over the weekend and is blaming her condition.
  I work with someone who has epilepsy and she has never failed to contact work when ill. Never. And she lives alone.