Common Questions:

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Is your employer asking for a medical report?

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• Question – Do I have to disclose medical information to my employer uk? No, you don’t.
• Question – Do I have to declare mental illness to employer uk? No, you don’t unless your impairment endangers the health and safety of others at work.
• Question – Can employers check your mental health history? No, not without your consent.

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Doctor:

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We would strongly suggest, that PRIOR to lodging your grievance letter, you discuss with your doctor how the effects of (i) work-related stress, (ii) harassment or (iii) discrimination is making you feel. Share your feelings with your doctor, and how what you are experiencing at work is impacting upon your health. Explain to your doctor that it may become necessary to exhibit your medical records to an Employment Tribunal, so it is important that what you state to your doctor is imputed onto your medical records.

In the authority of Veitch v Red Sky Group Ltd [2010] NICA 39, Jason Veitch lost his claim for disability discrimination in the Employment Tribunal due to the GP omitting to make accurate records on his medical notes. Thus, it is incumbent upon you to ensure your GP writes down what you say.

Try and see your doctor every two weeks thereafter, and up date him/her with regard to your situation, with express particular as to how it is making you feel. You should apply this practise throughout the grievance procedure, and thereafter, until such time as the grievance/appeal process has concluded.

Should you have to refer to the Employment Tribunal and make a claim, your employer will undoubtedly instruct a medical expert to *view your medical records. Should this be the case, continue to see you doctor. Don’t be afraid to big it up a bit; you need to establish that work-related stress, harassment or discrimination is having a “detrimental impact” upon your mental and physical health. Anything along the lines of not eating, sleeping, night sweats, heart palpitations, anxiety, migraines, a change in habits, avoiding people, not socialising etc, are all important, even if they may seem trivial to you.

*Under the Data Protection Act 2018, you only have to divulge the information on your medical records which is relative to that which you are claiming compensation for. Any other information on your medical records does not need to be exhibited. In our own case, we pulled our own medical records and went through them with a black marker, making copies of the copies to ensure that the print was not seen when held up to the light, or at an angle.

Sick Note:

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Any sick note your doctor provides you with, make sure you photocopy it 2x and place the copies in a folder for safe keeping. Your employer will undoubtedly say it has ‘misplaced’ one or more of your sick notes in the event you make a claim to a Tribunal. The sick notes you provide to your employer constitutes ‘medical evidence’ of your mental or physical health. Please visit our webpage on Sick Notes.

Data Protection Act 2018 / GDPR 2018:

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Your employer is legally obligated to comply with the General Data Protection Regulations 2018. This means that any fit note you provide to your employer ought to be given to the Human Resources Department, and NOT your line manager. The HR department are legally obliged to keep your fit note in an “organised filing system”. Employers must be careful not to breach the GDPR 2018 when they collect, use and store information about employees’ absences. Details of your health (either physical or mental) are categorised as ‘sensitive personal data’ under the GDPR 2018. Therefore, your line manager does not need to know what ailment you are suffering from, or the reason for your absence at work; only the fact that you will not be attending work, and for what duration. Should your employer provide your line manager with any other information than the aforementioned, it would amount to a contravention of the GDPR 2018.

In our own case, we sent our ‘fit notes’ directly to the organisations centralised Human Resources Department. In turn, the HR Deptartment sent the ‘fit note’ to the general manager where we worked, who saw fit to provide it to the line manager who had harassed us. This was a direct contravention of the Data Protection Act 1998, and also of the Human Rights Act 1998.

As a consequence of our employer’s ineptitude to observe it statutory duties under the auspices of the DPA 1998, at the time we lodged our Tribunal *claims, we contended that this “act” amounted to a “fundamental breach” of the implied term of “mutual trust and confidence” (See: Morrow v Safeway). In addition, we invoked Article 8 of the HRA 1998, and reported our employer to the Information Commissioners Office.

*Tribunals do not have jurisdiction to hear breaches of the DPA 2018. However, where an employer has divulged confidential medical information, without the employee’s permission to do so, it would almost certainly amount to a breach of the “mutual trust and confidence”.

Human Rights Act 1998:

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European law is taken into consideration in Tribunals. Therefore, any violation of your ‘right to privacy’ under Article 8 of the HRA 1998 is actionable. The right to ‘medical confidentiality’ falls under the auspices of the HRA 1998. A breach of an employee’s confidential medical information would very likely amount to a breach of Article 8 of the HRA 1998, making the employer liable to pay the claimant compensation, especially where it was injurious to the employee’s reputation. (Eg. disclosure that an employee is HIV positive).

Sam Stone and his wife Amy are employment consultants with 26 years combined experience. Over the last decade Sam and Amy have helped thousands of clients with employment disputes. Sam and Amy can assist you in obviating the common mistakes, which they often see employees make when writing a letter of grievance. You only get one chance to get your letter of grievance right, so make sure you do just that! Sam and Amy can have a telephone consultation with you or write you a custom letter of grievance if:

• You need to raise a grievance letter for bullying and harassment at work.
• You need to raise a grievance letter due to a toxic working environment.
• You need to raise a grievance letter against a coworker.
• You need a constructive unfair dismissal grievance letter.
• You are suffering from work-related stress.
• You want to know stress at work employee rights UK.
• You want to raise a grievance for work-related stress.
• You are being subjected to an unfair sickness absence procedure.
• You need to know your rights about attending sickness absence meetings.
• You want to know your employee rights occupational health report.
• You want to know what not to say to occupational health UK.
• You need to know how to write a resignation letter to your workplace.
• You have been subjected to bullying and harassment at work and want to raise a grievance at work.
• You have been subjected to unfair treatment at work and want to submit a complaint letter.
• You have been subjected to discrimination at work and want to submit a complaint letter.
• You have been put on a capability or performance improvement plan and want to know how to beat it.
• You want to know how to beat a disciplinary hearing.
• You want to know how to beat an unfair disciplinary workplace investigation.
• You are being investigated at work and want to know your employment rights UK.
• You have been suspended from work and want to know your employment rights UK.
• You need to blow the whistle to your employer UK.
• You have been put on an unfair disciplinary.
• You have been unfairly dismissed and want to know your employment rights UK.
• You are being subjected to victimisation at work UK.
• You need to appeal a grievance outcome.
• You need to appeal a disciplinary outcome.
• You need to appeal a capability outcome.
• You need to appeal a performance improvement plan outcome.
• You want to know your employee rights UK for a performance improvement plan (PIP).
• You need help with a pay related matter.
• You are being performance managed / micromanaged and need to know how to get out of it.
• You are being subjected to workplace mobbing and want to raise a grievance at work.
• You have been asked to attend a workplace investigation and want to know your employee rights UK.
• You need to know your employee rights reasonable adjustments equality act 2010.
• You need a grievance letter example template for pregnancy and maternity discrimination
• You need a letter of grievance for sexual harassment in the workplace.
• You are being subjected to discrimination because of pregnancy or maternity.
• You need help identifying reasonable adjustments for disability discrimination.

Visit our testimonials page.

Reach out to Sam & Amy at: myrightsuk@protonmail.com or call during working hours 9-5 on 07775943414.

Amy & I have created some new webpages for 2026 for you to look at:

• 20 Hot Tips on how to write a grievance letter.
• Free grievance letter example for ‘work-related stress, bullying, harassment and discrimination’.
• What not to say in a grievance meeting.
• How to win a grievance appeal.
• How to fight and beat a Performance Improvement Plan.
• Covert recordings.
• Pregnancy & Maternity Discrimination.
• Whistleblowing

Sam and Amy charge £35 for an initial telephone consultation up to one hour, and £50 an hour thereafter.

Disclaimer: The author of this web site and sub-domains accepts no liability arising from the use of, or any part of, or reliance on the information contained within this web site, and or its respective pages or downloads. The content is not intended to be legal advice, and you should not rely upon it in any respect to any specific situation you may be facing. Therefore, the content of this web site will serve as a good springboard to get professional legal advice from a solicitor