Hi all,

I am recovering from a burnout, I am working 4 days a week for 6 hours each day. This is signed off by the company doctor.

But since I saw my doctor, I have been feeling worse the last two weeks. I have a general tension headache and feel overall some of the symptoms I had during my burnout return.

I mentioned that I may need to reduce one of these work days because of the symptoms I have had lately.

My HR responded that because my report indicates only of increasing my hours by 4 hours every week from 4 days a week upwards, and not that I can go back and reduce a day or so, I am legally obligated to work this as a minimum. Any days I reduce have to come from personal time off.

While I would love to get better asap, I do see some symptoms coming back and it sounds like in the short run I have to take personal time off or unpaid days off if I don’t work the minimum hours until I see a company doctor (they did say they will try to schedule an earlier meeting if needed).

For now, I said to HR I will monitor and if it so happens that I should break, I need to pull back, then I will do so.

Is it really the case that I can’t reduce my hours during a reintegration? I am recovering from an illness and want to prevent a relapse. How is this any different from me having a fever? Have any of you been in a situation to to this and can share you did?