Your rights: Managers obliged to help

Q. I had to take sick leave from work for a week, on medical advice, for stress. On my return, my team leader took me aside and said she believed that my stress was caused because I couldn't handle having her as a team leader because she is a woman (I am a man) and because she is an Indian.

She also told me I had misrepresented myself at my interview for the position and said that if I couldn't handle the stress I knew what I could do. I brought these issues up with management, who were quite shocked. They moved me to another team within the same office.

Then I was given a letter saying that if I took any more unplanned time off I would be put through the warning process. I have had medical certificates for most of my absences from work.

I like my job but am in a most uncomfortable position and am forced to seek new employment. Do I have grounds for a personal grievance?

A. Stress has been identified as a type of harm under the Health and Safety in Employment Amendment Act 2002. Causes of stress (stressors) in the workplace are therefore hazards or potential hazards and must be managed.

You have brought to your manager's attention the fact that stress is an issue for you at work.

Your managers are now under an obligation to help you in identifying potential stressors in the workplace and making efforts to eliminate, isolate or minimise them (in that order of preference).

It is not clear whether your managers transferred you to another team in an attempt to reduce your stress levels.

They should have clarified with you their reasons for taking such action. If you are still suffering from stress you need to raise this with your managers again so that they can help you to manage it.

If you did not agree to your transfer to another team, and the transfer has had the effect of disadvantaging you at work, you may have grounds for a personal grievance based on unjustified disadvantage.

You will need to be prepared to support this claim with evidence that your work has been affected to your disadvantage.

Your managers have expressed an intention to follow a warning process with you for any future absences from work.

Employers can, and commonly do, follow a disciplinary procedure with employees who take excessive or unexplained absences from work.

Whether your managers can follow such a process will depend on what your employment agreement and policies contain in relation to taking sick leave and absences from work.

Your managers must also follow a fair procedure if they choose to follow a warning process with you and should be satisfied that you have no reasonable explanations for your absences.

I recommend that you seek the advice of an employment lawyer. Your first step would generally be to express your concerns about your treatment to management in writing. If your managers fail to take your concerns seriously, you may choose to resign and take a personal grievance based on constructive dismissal.

There is a high threshold to meet in establishing such a claim and you should seriously consider whether it is better to focus your energies on searching for another job instead of taking a personal grievance, which may cause you additional stress.