This is the story of a partner at Price Waterhouse Cooper. He was on
sick leave for depression then they fired him. They offered a depressed
person the opportunity to move from their home and support network in
Ireland to a full time job in London however he refused, for what I
consider obvious reasons.
There's an interesting snip about PWC's discrimination policies. They're
better than the HR policies at some charities.
"
Mr Stilitz said the guidelines advised that the company treat an
employee suffering from a disability more favourably than others.
"
The partners at PWC clearly need some mental health awareness training
urgently.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article7118716.ece
"
While Mr Tenner was on sick leave in January 2007, his managing partner,
Hugh Crossey, e-mailed a third partner to say that he had heard that Mr
Tenner was ill again and that the firm needed to point out that "real
partners simply do not get sick", it was alleged.
Mr Tenner's lawyer, Daniel Stilitz, QC, told the tribunal that the
e-mail was one of several examples of PwC's "startling lack of
sensitivity and understanding" towards his client, who had been with the
firm for 23 years.
This included a conversation in which Mr Crossey is alleged to have told
Mr Tenner that work must come first and that his "personal feelings did
not matter".
The tribunal heard that a member of PwC's partner affairs team wrote to
the firm's chief medical officer saying that there was a "very strongly
held view that [Mr Tenner] was not as unwell" as he claimed.
Mr Stilitz said that the e-mail was part of a wider "whispering
campaign" against Mr Tenner by colleagues and partners in the Northern
Ireland office who believed he was "malingering".
PwC's reaction to Mr Tenner's condition was based on "outdated and
stereotypical assumptions about mental illness" and he would have been
treated with more sympathy if he had suffered from a physical illness,
Mr Stilitz said.
In evidence, Mr Tenner said his condition had led him to "actively
research ways of committing suicide" although he made no attempts take
his own life.
"
It's frightening to think the mentality in the senior echelons of top
companies is partners /don't get sick/. Yet it is common in many
organisations. It's quite frightening to think but these roles are very
demanding. That would be what they'd reply. The thing it's just poor
organisational practice. If an organisation understands that people do
get sick - it happens to everyone and being a partner doesn't mean you
don't get sick - then they can plan their organisational structure to
have the spare capacity to counteract the problems of work load and
deadlines when people are ill.
The case is ongoing but I hope they get fucked.
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