B757-200 CAPT FEELS THAT DISTR CAUSED BY COMPANY SICK LEAVE MONITORING WARNING RECEIVED PRIOR TO TKOF CAUSED A DISTR WHICH RESULTED IN A MISSET ALT ALERT WINDOW AND A CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH AN OPPOSITE DIRECTION ACFT.

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EVENT: I WAS GIVEN A CLB TO FL330 WHICH I READ BACK AND THE FO; WHO WAS FLYING THE AIRPLANE; ACKNOWLEDGED AS I SET FL330 INTO THE ALT WINDOW. PASSING THROUGH FL320 THE TCAS ALERTED US TO TFC. I LOOKED AT THE TCAS; SAW AN ACFT APCHING HEAD-ON AT FL330 AND SHOUTED 'LEVELOFF; LEVELOFF.' THEN I SAID GO BACK DOWN TO FL320 WHICH THE FO COMPLIED WITH IMMEDIATELY. SHORTLY AFTER; THE ATC CTLR CALLED AND SAID TO LOOK FOR TFC 12 O'CLOCK POS AHEAD X-MI AT FL330. I IMMEDIATELY ASKED THE CTLR 'WHAT ALT DID YOU GIVE US?' HE RESPONDED BY SAYING 'I GAVE YOU FL320; IF YOU ARE NOT THERE MAINTAIN FL320 IMMEDIATELY.' I REPLIED THAT WE WERE NOW LEVEL AT FL320. THE APCHING ACFT FLEW DIRECTLY OVERHEAD AT A CLOSURE RATE OF APPROX 900 KTS. WE HAD BEEN WITHIN SECONDS OF A DISASTER. THE PROB (I THINK): IN HINDSIGHT I BELIEVE THE CTLR GAVE US FL320 BUT I HEARD AND READ BACK FL330 AND THE FO ACKNOWLEDGED FL330 AND THE CTLR DID NOT CATCH MY INCORRECT READBACK. OUR FLT PLAN CRUISE ALT WAS FOR FL370. CONTRIBUTING FACTOR: 45 MINS BEFORE DEP I WAS INFORMED BY THE COMPANY THAT AFTER 28 YRS FLYING FOR THEM MY RECENT SICK TIME (I AM 2 YRS UNTIL RETIRING AT AGE 60) WAS UNDER SCRUTINY. WITH OBVIOUS POTENTIAL THREATENING DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS. THIS WAS WEIGHING HEAVILY ON MY MIND DURING CLBOUT. AND I KNOW I WAS NOT COMPLETELY ALERT TO THE SITUATION AND I COULD EASILY HAVE MISUNDERSTOOD THE CTLR. ALSO; NORMALLY IF MY MIND WAS COMPLETELY ON FLYING I WOULD HAVE BEEN WATCHING THE ACFT ON TCAS AND POSSIBLY SEEN THE POTENTIAL CONFLICT BEFORE THE TCAS ALERT AND QUESTIONED OUR ASSIGNED ALT. CAS: THE TCAS 'TFC' ALERT WAS WHAT FIRST BROUGHT THIS POTENTIAL MIDAIR TO OUR ATTN. HUMAN FACTORS: IN MY OPINION STRESS; PROBS AT HOME AND WORK; AND DISTRS ARE THE #1 REASON FOR MISSING OR MISUNDERSTANDING CTLR'S INSTRUCTIONS. IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE; THERE IS NO DOUBT IN MY MIND THE COMPANY'S SICK TIME HARASSMENT PROGRAM TARGETING OLDER CAPTS WAS THE PRIMARY CAUSE OF THIS POTENTIAL DISASTER. CORRECTIVE ACTIONS: AS MUCH AS I TRIED TO PUT OUT OF MY MIND THE MEETING JUST PRIOR TO THIS FLT I COULD NOT AND DID NOT AND IT CREATED A DISTR WITH POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC RESULTS. I KNOW IT IS IMPERATIVE TO LEAVE ALL STRESSES BEHIND AND BE FULLY INVOLVED IN EVERY ASPECT OF THE FLT.