Contracting with mental illness

[northernladuk]

My wife sleeps through alarms on a regular basis.

So I wake her up.

She does? I didn't notice.

[Old Greg]

She should keep schtum. 'Her bosses' as you refer to them are not her bosses. They do not care about her. There is no HR department.
They don't need to be dealing with her anxiety/pregnancy/liver failure/broken leg or any other ailment. They do not care and should not care. She is just the same as the plumber you call from the yellow pages to fix a leaking tap. And if that plumber couldn't turn up on time, you'd soon get another one.
Don't be misled by her contracting to a government department either. Civil servants rarely get sacked so there are plenty of them just itching to pull the trigger on someone they can get rid of - the contractor.

A concrete example - I was contracting at a government department a few years ago when I got a call that a family member was seriously ill in hospital. I left immediately and as I was driving back I got a call from the department head asking not about the welfare of my family member, but whether I'd be in the next day or whether they needed to get someone else!

Also - and in the nicest possible way - your girlfriend chose to be a contractor. She does owe it to her clients to fulfil her obligations.

Dilbert Comic Strip on 1993-09-06 | Dilbert by Scott Adams

If the contract is inside IR35, then the contract is to deliver the work personally. So the Equality Act may apply and a reasonable adjustment could be legally required. Not saying it would be easy as a contractor in reality.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/wo...ation-at-work/

[Jog On]

She should go perm - can't expect any leeway as a contractor.

[Old Greg]

She should go perm - can't expect any leeway as a contractor.

Unless the client has deemed the contract inside IR35. May as well get some benefit out of it.

[Old Greg]

Some of this discussion suggests a bias against mental illness as a 'real' disability. I would expect a client to make a reasonable adjustment for a contractor who uses a wheelchair.

[greenlake]

she occasionally sleeps through alarms and misses morning meetings.

[northernladuk]

Some of this discussion suggests a bias against mental illness as a 'real' disability. I would expect a client to make a reasonable adjustment for a contractor who uses a wheelchair.

It's more difficult to prove and the OP doesn't help the case.

She suffers from anxiety and occasional depression and has to take anti-dep meds daily.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/la...iscrimination/

•mental health conditions - for example, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorders, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder
•impairments due to injury to the body or brain.

If you want to claim you've experienced discrimination because of one of these conditions, you will have to prove the condition has a long-term and substantial effect on your daily life.

I'm sure occasional depression doesn't meet this criteria.

[Old Greg]

It's more difficult to prove and the OP doesn't help the case.


https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/la...iscrimination/



I'm sure occasional depression doesn't meet this criteria.

The depression is occasional but if the medication is permanent, and the medication is having a long term and substantial effect, then there is a disability.

[Zigenare]

Some of this discussion suggests a bias against mental illness as a 'real' disability. I would expect a client to make a reasonable adjustment for a contractor who uses a wheelchair.

FFS!

[Old Greg]

FFS!

I know this is General, but there is an interesting discussion to be had. If HMRC want to force public sector contractors into IR35, then this is an area where some employment rights can be gained from clients. The fact that this is about mental illness shouldn't cloud the issue.