Can work force me to take unpaid leave?
I had a meeting with my manager, the HR representative and OH&S representative for my branch at work and they indicated that they may request for me to take an extended period of unpaid leave (I have used all my sick leave and annual leave). I have several chronic illnesses and after my most recent diagnosis and talking to my GP and psychologist, I determined that I was unable to continue to work full time.
I spoke to my manager, the head of my department and HR to request a reduction to 3 days per week. This was then approved and I have been working part-time now for just over a month. In this time I have had to take a few more days off and due to not having sick leave have taken a day of sick leave without pay (mostly with a medical certificate, but there have been a few days where I haven't been able to get one). These days of sick leave without pay/leave without pay have all been approved by my manager and the head of the department.
During my initial meeting with HR they brought up that they would like to send my Doctor and the specialist who diagnosed my most recent chronic illness, some questions to answer about my fitness for work (they sent the questions to me first and I approved and gave my consent). I spoke with my specialist a couple of weeks ago as she had received this email and wanted to speak to me about it, during our discussion she indicated that she was happy to send a summary of my condition, but didn't feel comfortable with answering the detailed questions they were asking as she is not my primary care doctor and doesn't have a full understanding of my medical history. I sent the short letter with the summary to my manager and the HR representative and explained the above and gave them the details for my GP again as I hadn't heard from them that they had received a request for this information.
After my meeting today it seems that they have only sent this to my specialist and not my GP so once again I gave them information to contact my GP. It was during this meeting that they (the HR representative and the OH&S representative) suggested that if I was found to not be fit for work (although they didn't give a definition of 'fit for work') that they would ask me to take an extended period of leave (which would be unpaid as I have no leave left to take this year) which could be as long as a few months.
Can I be forced to take this leave?
I don't know if I would be eligible for any disability payments from Centrelink for this time as I know when I enquired last (pending my diagnosis) that I wouldn't have qualified, but it may be different if it's been established that I'm not fit to work. I haven't been able to find any information on the Centrelink website as it just goes through how to apply and the different payments and concessions available. Even if I am eligible it could take up to 12 weeks to make a decision and get a payment.
I have a bit of a cushion in terms of an emergency fund but definitely not for an extended period of no income.