Law and mental health

Hende12 · ‎14-11-2018

I wonder if anyone has/had this problem: I work in public service, when I was sick a conversation with a boss on the phone made me upset I sent extremely rude emails to that boss with copies to other bosses and to the media bad mouthing the company. I am already away from work due to mental health. Will I get fired or sued?

Peppermintbach · ‎15-11-2018

Hi Hende,

I hope that I can offer you a warm and caring welcome to the forums...

It sounds like you have been struggling a lot. I understand that you’re worried about what will happen now after sending those emails and contacting the media...that must be playing on your mind a lot. I would think it must be stressful for you...

I’m sorry, I haven’t really been in a similar situation. But I can think of some websites that you might find helpful in terms of clarifying your legal rights in a work situation (or it might be easier to use the contact no. on those websites to give them a direct call):

- JobAccess (created by the government to help people with disabilities, which includes mental health issues, in the workplace).

- Australian Human Rights Commission (established by the legislative branch, i.e. parliament, of the government).

- Heads Up (contains various m mental health resources, and is supported by a range of organisations like BeyondBlue, black Dog Institute, etc).

I hope this helps a little.

Kind and caring thoughts,

Pepper

Guest_946 · ‎15-11-2018

Hi Hende,

If what was said was offensive to you, inappropriate, against the public service code of conduct, or anything else that they should not have said, then it may be that it is your boss who has done the wrong thing. You could call HR to see if this is the case or if you have a peer support officer perhaps.

If this isn’t the case then you could call HR for advice. It’s possible there can be disciplinary action however I would think that would normally be in extreme cases and what that may be can vary significantly.

If you have an intranet site for employees of the relevant state or federal government department you work for you might be able to search for ‘disciplinary action’ or ‘code of conduct’ and see what you can find.

In relation to bad mouthing the company publicly that may be a different matter. Again I would suggest speaking to HR.

Hope this helps