The Company’s procedure was wrong and handled badly.
My Temporary booking was confirmed by the Agency the week before Covid-19 Lockdown in the UK. I had just been assigned to Temporary work and Training.
I missed the first week of Training with the Company because I was constantly vomiting, not realising that I had Covid-19, I thought my hay fever was affecting me, since I suffer with hay fever from February to September every year, but I soon realise what I was suffering from was no ordinary sickness. I suffered with hay fever since I was 11 years old.
I was diagnosed with Diabetes just after I got back from my brother’s funeral in America
in February 2019.
I was prescribed Metformin plus other medications for Diabetes, like Sitagliptin, Gliclazide and also Hypertension and Statin Tablets, plus other medications like Mirabegron for incontinence, plus others. Altogether, I was taking 13 Tablets every day.
I was working from home during this time. Because it was the early days of the pandemic, we didn’t know enough about Covid-19 yet. I didn’t realise that I had the coronavirus back in March 2020, however, I noticed I had lost my sense of taste and smell and kept vomiting for the whole of that week.
The previous week I was chopping up some onions prior to 23 March 2020 and I could not smell the onions. Then while eating a tuna sandwich, I was chewing, but it was like eating cardboard. There was no taste at all. I had to throw it away.
My body felt as though I’d been run over by a bus. I was in pain all over. My torso felt like rubber. That was round about the time when people were blaming 5G. We were told not to visit the doctors or hospital, so I stayed home.
I had to keep a bowl on my bed next to my pillow, because every time I lifted my head up off the pillow, the room was spinning, and I would start to vomit constantly. I vomited every day for one whole week. My next-door neighbour could hear me vomiting. She was kind enough to buy me some soup and leave it outside my front door, when she realised, I was very poorly. By the end of the same week, I had to ring my doctor and ask for some emergency anti-sickness tablets to stop the vomiting.
When the tablets arrived, the first 2 tabs I took, stopped the vomiting, but I was still poorly and very ill, even though I resumed work on the laptop at home. 3 weeks later I lost the job.
That same week 23 March 2020 I was supposed to be attending Training at the Firm (online). I had just got a Temporary Job with, (online working from Home), but obviously I could not attend because I was very sick. My close friend phoned me nearly every day to see how I was, and she said Jeez, you sound very ill, maybe you’ve got Covid-19, so I said “No, I don’t think so”. Then she said, “I’ve never heard your voice sounding like that before”.
I was extremely tired and fatigued. I did not have a Fever nor a Temperature, but I was very weak.
I kept listening to the news whilst laying down and it seems like everyone reacted to Covid-19 differently.
Everyone has different symptoms. I was extremely ill. Had I known I was suffering from Covid-19, I would not have resumed work on 30th March 2020 (albeit working from Home). I was still very poorly and unable to concentrate. I had brain fog and didn’t even know it. My skin had changed colour, I had gigantic goose pimples, which I still have to this day.
I was unable to open a bottle, because both my thumbs were extremely painful because of Covid-19.
My fingers were swollen. My eyesight was also impaired because of the virus. I have Long Covid now.
I was confused. I got up to go to the bathroom one morning and instead of turning right, I turned left and went outside my front door bare foot. I then caught myself and realised that I was not where I wanted to be, so I quickly went back inside and went to the bathroom.
My friend rang me later on to see if I was ok and said to me “it sounds like you have COVID-19, but I told her I didn’t have a fever, nor temperature, so how could it possibly be Covid-19?
I was obviously still extremely ill, but I was determined that I did not and would not go into hospital. If I did, then I would not come out alive, because too many people were dying in the hospital at the time. I’m not knocking the hospitals nor staff, just that the infection was high and spreading like wildfire.
It was weeks after lockdown, that it was announced on the news that if someone has Diabetes, they’re in the high-risk category.
Covid 19 really wreaks havoc on the body, because in July 2020 I had to go to the hospital for a scan (had a constant pain down the right side of my head and in my neck for nearly 4 weeks), but after the scan, the Consultant at the hospital said they didn’t find anything suspicious but told me that I may need to see a chiropractor.
One lady on TV said she is in her 9th week of contracting the virus and she is still recovering.
It definitely affects your cognitive side of things, I found it difficult and very hard to focus and concentrate. My eyesight had also altered because of Covid-19.
I was off sick from 23 March 2020 to 29 March 2020 and resumed work on 30 March 2020 and still had Covid-19 and trying to recover. The next thing I knew, I got a phone call from the Agency telling me that the Manager is pulling me off the assignment. By now I was 3 weeks working for the company. Who gets laid off for having Covid-19 or recovering from it? If it was Covid-19, I didn’t think anybody can recover from Covid-19 in one week.
My Agency rang me on 13th April and told me that the Company is pulling me off the job. I was so ill at the time, I forgot to ask them why?
It’s a very serious disease that has killed many thousands of people. The government is quite strict about this Covid-19.
At first, I thought it was my hay fever that made me so ill. I really struggled to type and concentrate.
All my fingers were completely swollen. Even my skin had changed colour and goose pimples were massive on my arms, but yet I wasn’t feeling cold!! How strange?
On certain parts of my body my skin was peeling like fish scales. I got frightened because I didn’t know what was happening to my body. I just didn’t know what was happening to me. It was on the news every day, that if you have Covid-19 or flu-like symptoms, DO NOT ATTEND THE SURGERY OR HOSPITAL. I had flu-like symptoms, so I stayed home.
Being a Diabetic as well with Hypertension and High Cholesterol (and being an elderly person in my mid 60s), I’m obviously in the vulnerable category.
When I had a Covid-19 Test in August 2020, the Consultant told me I had Covid-19 because I have the antibodies now.
The Prime Minister had Covid-19 and then he needed a few extra weeks to recover from it.
The thing is, I’ve been following the guidelines of washing hands etc, but I must have picked up the virus in the supermarket or on the bus a few days before Lockdown. I started working for this particular company (CMS_UK, a law firm) on 23rd March 2020 and on 24th March 2020 I started vomiting violently.
The day the Lockdown started 23rd March 2020 in the UK, which was the very same day I started working from home for the same company. That was also the same day the equipment from the Company was delivered to me at home.
My Question is this: Can a Company sack someone because they were suffering/Recovering from Covid-19 and could not carry out their duties because they were extremely ill with the virus?
No Duty of Care seemed to have been adhered to by the Company, where I was concerned. I was having trouble logging on anyway, apart from still being extremely unwell, delirious and my cognitive thinking was severely out of kilter.
On the two occasions I rang both the Agency and the firm, there was no reply. I did call back again later but got no reply from either.
The Agency phoned me on 13th April and told me that the Manager is pulling me off the job and also there is not enough work. “Not enough Work” was a lie, because I found out that he replaced me with 2 new individuals after I was sacked (even though I was a Temporary Worker).
I felt I did not have any support whilst I was sick. The sickness was bad enough which caused me great anxiety and confusion.
Being told that I was sacked made matters worse for me, my bills have all mounted up due to no income for quite a number of weeks now being stopped. This has thrown me into debt, in the middle of a pandemic. How can an employer sack an employee just because the employee because I had flu-like symptoms which turned out to be Covid-19? If I was doing something wrong or illegal, I could understand, why was there no disciplinary or Warning? nothing? The Manager failed to discuss any shortcomings with me (if there was any). He just was not interested in my wellbeing. This was in the middle of a pandemic; how can you not take the virus serious when so many people were dying from it every day? It was all over the news on a daily basis and was happening all over the world. I was lucky to still be alive. Many people died.
Obviously, the Manager was annoyed that I could not attend the Training, but he failed to communicate with me, instead, he sneakily phoned the Agency behind my back and asked them to pull me off the job. No one works harder than me. I even volunteered to stay late and help out instead of finishing at the exact time when my shift ends.
I was suffering from Covid-19 right in the middle of a Pandemic when the whole country was in Lockdown. Having the virus without realising I had it, affected my mental health and clarity severely. I was highly stressed at the time, as I did not even know what was happening to me.
When I kept ringing the Agency, they either would not answer the phone, or they were “in a meeting”. I felt my wellbeing was overlooked and I was treated unfairly as a Temporary worker due to Coronavirus illness. The Manager did not seem to care about how ill I was or wasn’t. I missed the very first week of training because I was constantly vomiting. I could not eat or drink any fluids. I felt as if I was at death’s door, no fluids or food would stay down. My skin even changed colour and started peeling whilst I was ill in 2020.
I don’t even know where I caught the Covid-19 virus from.
I really enjoyed my job as a DP (Document Production) operator (also known as a Document Specialist Producer). I worked as a DP operator nearly all my life I was with one firm for a few years until my department was made redundant in 2019. CMS has taken all that away from me. I feel that the Manager needs more training in communication skills and people skills. How could he not know that we were in a pandemic to show some empathy towards me. It’s alright knowing how to produce, manipulate, amend and format documents etc, but as a manager, what is the point if you have no people skills or communication skills and fail to correspond properly with your worker(s).
Now I stand to lose my home, even though I have been looking for work ever since, but unfortunately nothing permanent has come up. Hardly any firms were hiring. Those that were hiring were part-time. I also did not mind working from home.
I’ve sent off my CV to various companies, and applied for jobs, but they just don’t get back to you or sometimes they come back with the wrong “suitable” jobs, but I will keep trying.
I cannot go on like this with this worry about being able to pay my bills or not, hanging over my heard.
I sometimes sit in my bedroom in the cold with just extra layers on to keep warm.
Right now, I have no hot water, but that’s okay. I can get round that by boiling the kettle to have a wash and wash dishes. The other little luxuries like a washing machine stopped working a few years ago, so I put the clothes in a trolley and take them to the launderette. I’ve had the same washing machine for 34 years. It just needs throwing out now. The fridge is on its way out too, but I can still get by with it. Its rickety and making funny noises, but it’s still keeping the food inside chilled. I can get by with these old items, but only the Mortgage is really urgent now. The Freezer packed up a few years ago, but that’s the least of my worries. It’s not essential. The priority right now is to keep a roof over my head. It’s just too cold for an old lady to be homeless on the streets. Universal Credit (welfare) is just to get you by with Food, it cannot pay all your bills. I’m not ungrateful, just wish things were a bit different and affordable. I’m even very ashamed to tell you when I last had a shower, but at least I can have a strip wash by boiling the kettle and use a basin.
That firm has really messed up my life, because depression set in so badly when I lost my job.
My Credit score, my health and my whole life is in ruins now.
I found Temporary work on and off, but the duration of these temporary work is only for either 1 or 2 months or a maximum of 6 months. I’ve just finished doing a 6-month Temporary assignment (May to November 2022). Now ‘ve been jobhunting since. I will keep trying though.
As a Temporary worker, here in the UK we don’t have any rights. You must be working with the Company for more than 2 years before you have any concrete rights.
My mortgage is an interest-only mortgage. When I asked the bank a few years ago if I can start paying off the capital, they said I would have to pay £20,000 up front first. I told them that I did not have £20,000 up front at that time, so I just carried on paying the interest-only payments just to keep a roof over my head. Now the interest rate has been rising here in the UK at an exponential speed. In January 2022, I was paying £464 monthly. The interest rate has gone through the roof now. I now owe the Bank more than £193,937.77 plus a further £29,000 Loan that I owe on my previous current account with the Bank that I have not been able to pay off the Loan through lack of work, plus my credit cards of appx £12,000 which I have not used since 2019. I used to have two jobs when I was in my 30s but had to pay back a lot of tax to the Taxman. My income ever since was just not enough to cover all my outgoing bills, when you take into consideration Bills etc. I live by myself.
Unfortunately, I have no idea how I am going to pay off the Mortgage, because it all has to be paid off by 1st January 2023, otherwise I will most probably be homeless (foreclosure). The Bank has asked me to contact them on 31st December 2022 to let them know if I can pay off the mortgage. I would be extremely grateful if someone, anyone can help me keep a roof over my head. I have no family here that is able to help. My eldest sister lives in the States, she turned 75 on Christmas Eve. I will be 65 years old in January 2023. I have no relatives that have that sort of money to help me out. I know Time is of the essence now.
It would be interesting to know if other people have been sacked because they caught Covid-19.
It’s wrong to treat an employee like this and I think these firms should pay for the hardship and mental problems they have caused to innocent individuals who came down with the virus through no fault of their own.
I occasionally go to the Food Bank for help. I’m very grateful for the help/support they can provide, not just for myself but for others who are suffering too. I didn’t mind spending Christmas on my own, because trawling through the internet for jobs is like a full-time chore. The Jobcentre wants me to spend 35 hours per week looking for jobs. I will do that. If I don’t, they will sanction me. I’m not a lazy person, I have always worked since I left school in 1974. Only recently technology keeps changing and one must try and keep up.
Thank you in advance for any donation you can provide to help this old lady keep a roof over her head in this cold season.
Thank you again you Lovely and kind people.
ML
https://paypal.me/Nfwycf274?country.x=GB&locale.x=en_GB