I work for a large telecom company and have been in several roles with the organisation for over 12 years. Recently I had an interchange in a role with higher responsibilities and salary for 7 months and had to come back in my home role as the person who I was replacing came back from his leave.
Upon return my Head of who is my direct manager and his manager who is a General Manager have been literally harassing me every single day which has caused me a lot stress anxiety to the extent that it is now affecting my personal life and mental health. I had been in the role for 4 years prior to going on interchange so I understand the roles, responsibilities and what is expected out of the role.
We catch up every week now to see what changes I need to make in my day-to-day performance to meet their expectations (Note I have been in the role 4 years and have never had any negative feedback or any issues). I am looking to make a complaint against both of them though the union and take sick leave at least for a couple of weeks. I am also looking for roles both internally and externally but haven't had much luck yet but there is lot of traction.
Does anyone know how long I can get paid sick leave? I have over 9 months worth of sick leave - I called HR and they informed me that I can take a maximum of 12 days in a calendar year - Are there any exceptions through the Fair Work Commission if someone is stressed and affecting their mental capacity to perform the role?
Has anyone been through similar situation and have gone through union and were they helpful ? If you have been through a similar situation would be great to know who assisted you and how were you able to come out of it. I don't really trust the internal HR process as I am aware that there were several complaints against the General Manager in the past and no action was taken against him.
Update: Thank you to everyone who have supported and shared your personal scenarios /additional information. Thanks you to all the others too who jumped to conclusions. I have realised that this is one of those situations in life that you would only understand if you have been through it and I genuinely hope no one goes through it.
Things just got worse over last few weeks and have pulled the pin and I am on sick leave. Doctor has been very supportive and to my surprise he conveyed that this is quite common in the corporate world and he sees at least one patient a week . I am on sick leave now and have raised a compliant with HR so fingers crossed !
If you can get 9 months worth of medical certificates you can get 9 months of paid sick leave. Your employer is not entitled to ask what your illness is.
Start with your GP. In my experience they are generally sympathetic to these kinds of situations, but if not shop around until you find one who is.
The 12 day thing is an organizational policy and presumably only relates to leave without a certificate, since you say you have 9 months saved up. There would be no point accumulating it if there was a limit.