Brutal Honesty

The staff union president and also my supposedly personal mentor, sat down in my office “I am going to be brutally honest with you”, “Some of your colleagues will now be refusing to work with you”. I assume this was allowed, on grounds really of “he smokes too much”?

Hospital Admissions

I was treated in a private psychiatric hospital, the admissions were over the Christmas holidays and even though the university was closed during both years I applied for sick leave.

The hospitalisations then were right at the start of the year, in a private hospital the patients don't stay long usually two weeks or so that is also normally all that medical aid covers. It is very expensive. It did not affect my work.

My medication had to be sorted out that was the main thing they really helped me there I was fatigued, I think I had been working too hard, but mainly the problem was anxiety. there were other more personal problems as well.

In the five years there I had not been other leave on medical grounds.

Illegal “dismissal”

The Head of School officially decided and on his own that I was not eligible for sick leave and also from now all of it had to be taken as unpaid leave. The fact is I attended to all duties throughout sick or not. Then in effect I had to “catch up” which meant thousands of exam scripts additional to all
normal duties. 

Subsequently my salary and all benefits including medical aid were completely “suspended” also and even before the actual “disciplinaries”. I had been on permanent staff there for a total of five years but even now I have not been officially informed of my dismissal just on my bank balance, and this all happened fifteen years ago.

Essentially I was thus dismissed even with no prior warnings. None at all.

Disability pension

I told my mentor “I am protected by the constitution”. He agreed and then said there is another way, disability pension is about 70% of your salary, whether it increases with inflation I guess it does not and the monthly amount stays the same in effect diminishing your income with time.

I said I would rather find other employment, but  it was explained that apparently you have to see a doctor then on a regular basis to see if you are ready to work. How's that? Great. I consulted with lawyers but that didn't help much either.

In my experience “brutal honesty” is more brutal than what is is honest.

Other employment?

Well the thing is, if you are medically certified as disabled it means you are unfit for work, always and everywhere. Personally I haven’t heard of anyone working again it is very convenient this whole business. In anyway my own doctors felt I was capable of (suitable) work.

My efforts to find work were sabotaged believe it or not, I was deliberately actively almost openly prevented from obtaining suitable employment, such as giving me 300 scripts as very urgent on the day of my work interview which then had to be postponed, but then the same,  preventing me to be at the postponed interview as well.

My chances here were very good these people have known me for very long.

Then of course it is very easy simply to be given a bad name never mind references. I don’t know perhaps the university was afraid I might make a success of it and be an embarrassment, of course
“all for his own good”.

By the way the Head gave me his marking. I did his marking. Fact.

Unpaid holiday leave

I had enjoyed a long seaside holiday on my own, then discovered in effect it was unpaid holiday leave, again over Christmas. My “leave” had been claimed for the previous unpaid sick leave it seems that these people are allowed all kinds of liberties.

Arriving back for duties and very unexpectedly so, there immediately followed “disciplinaries” I no longer attended campus and had no contact with any staff members or anyone there even up until now, nor have I had any news.

 ~
All this is true verbatim.
~ ~ ~