Am I being disregarded?

[seany25]

Hi guys,

I have been employed with my company for nearly 5 years. We are a large organisation.

At our staff Christmas party a month ago, there was a dance-floor incident which resulted in me suffering a dislocated elbow. There was no foul play as far as I'm aware, it was simply that I was so drunk I fell over, after a female colleague asked me to pick her up, or something to that effect.

Now, I don't actually recall what happened. I had been drinking heavily, and after I drank a full bottle of wine straight from the bottle, that's where my memory switches off. I do have visions of me being first up on the dance-floor loving life, but between that and me being in hospital in extreme pain, I remember very little.

Coincidentally, there is a hospital next door to the venue where our party was being held. When I approached my friend outside, after staff of the venue, apparently, asked me to leave for being too drunk, he said I needed to go to hospital as my arm was hanging off from the elbow. My friend took me to the hospital.

The situation is that I'm currently off on fully paid sick leave, having gotten a months sick line from my GP, taking me up to mid-January. It looks like I will be needing another month at least, because my scan appointment on the 8th of January has been put back to the 12th of February, and I'll possibly require more time off if it turns out that I require surgery. My arm is currently in a flexible brace that is helping avoid the possibility of it becoming dislocated again, whilst allowing some movement. It will not straighten all the way, which is really worrying me. However, I did some research and it seems this injury can take a long time to fully heal, so perhaps I may not need surgery, just lots of physio and rehab.

I know Christmas is a busy period and all that, but I have been feeling a little disrespected by my company in some regards. There hasn't been much acknowledgement of what happened to me. Obviously I had a few phone calls with my TL in the week following the incident, updating them as to what was happening medically, but other than that, I feel somewhat ignored. My friends tell me there wasn't even an email sent out to all staff highlighting and/or acknowledging that a staff member had suffered a serious injury at the Christmas party. To me that doesn't seem right at all, like it has been brushed it under the carpet.

When I say I feel ignored, I have given my TL permission to call me weekly if they wish, to update them on my situation, but what I mean is, given the severity of my injury, and the fact that it happened at a work function, I feel like perhaps the company should be doing more for me. Am I right or wrong to expect so? Are there entitlements that I'm being neglected of?

For instance, I accept that in effect I probably wasn't drinking responsibly, and that's on me. However, the drink was supplied by the company, at a function arranged by them. We are all "representing" the company at work functions, so doesn't that go both ways? I mean shouldn't they be taking it upon themselves to offer to assist and/or aid me in my recovery, given that this happened on their time? What would happen if I had sustained this injury in the office?

I'm not for a second trying to milk what I can out of it or anything like that, but someone did suggest to me the other day that the reason for their lack of acknowledgement and/or offer of support may be that, because it was a works do, that from a legal perspective they could potentially be held accountable for what happened to me. This obviously got me thinking, and it would make sense as to why I feel like it's being overlooked.

Can anyone who knows more about this kind of thing provide me with some advice or insight as to where I stand please?

[Mr. Lucky]

6 hours ago, seany25 said:

For instance, I accept that in effect I probably wasn't drinking responsibly, and that's on me. However, the drink was supplied by the company, at a function arranged by them. We are all "representing" the company at work functions, so doesn't that go both ways? I mean shouldn't they be taking it upon themselves to offer to assist and/or aid me in my recovery, given that this happened on their time? What would happen if I had sustained this injury in the office?

seany25, were I running the company, you'd be gone as soon as I could build the necessary file on you. 

I'm US based and the UK certainly has it's own laws and regulations, so I don't have any insight into your legal situation.  But so drunk you caused yourself a significant injury and missed extended periods?  You wouldn't be part of our future plans.

Does alcohol and abuse of same play this big of a role in other parts of your life?

Mr. Lucky

[clia]

You can't be serious.  You got completely sh**faced, blacked out, and seriously injured yourself at your company Christmas party.  Are you embarrassed?  You should be thrilled that they didn't send out an email to everyone highlighting what a fool you made of yourself that night.  

No, it isn't the company's fault that you didn't act like a responsible adult.  Providing alcohol at a party doesn't give you free rein to guzzle an entire bottle of wine and forego any responsibility for your own actions.  Rest assured that your coworkers are talking about you -- and not in a good way.  Have you even apologized to anyone for your actions that night?  Honestly, if you come out of this keeping your job, you should thank your lucky stars.  

That said, it's not really clear to me what you are expecting them to do.  Other than giving you fully paid sick leave (which they've done), what exactly are you expecting them to do for you?  What kind of "support" do you want?