lighterthief
Well-Known Member
In my experience people in stressful situations tend to take way more sick days (been there myself) - definitely sounds sensible to tackle the stress aspect first. Plus summer is on the way 
Sickness policy rant
- Thread starter cliche guevara
- Start date
With me a simple cold can become a chest infection or bronchtitis and before your know it my ex boyf is dialling 999 cos I am puking blood all over the place and the doctor is sending me off to a hill top cilinic for six weeks. Far better to let me habe a day off no?
Donna Ferentes
jubliado
Easy for me to say this, I appreciate, but when a company is planning to cut their workforce, people who work when sick (or who start putting in long hours of unpaid overtime in the hope that the company will look favourably on them) probably never change anything.
Kuso
drinking like george best, gettin less women
I might be wrong but I'm guess you've never had REAL flu and only ever bad colds?
cliche guevara
Well-Known Member
I spoke to my manager about this today. His response was pretty much; "What do you want me to do? She's got a poor track record for sickness, and we have to monitor it in some way. Even if the policy was more loose, she'd still have been told that she's had too much sickness, and still be coming in when ill to avoid further repurcussions." 
subversplat
writer of wrongs
Sounds pretty shit - I feel for your mate.
I've had 36 days off sick in my rolling year so far I wonder what the suits in HR think of me
I've had 36 days off sick in my rolling year so far I wonder what the suits in HR think of me
cliche guevara
Well-Known Member
They aren't though. They specifically state that if you're ill you shouldn't come in. Still get disciplined for it if you've been ill 'too often', though.
I'm sure they know exactly what they are doing and are just about on the right side of employment law.
lighterthief
Well-Known Member
Surely every adult has had a dose of "REAL"
flu at some point, myself included...?
Kuso
drinking like george best, gettin less women
Surely every adult has had a dose of "REAL"
I wouldn't say everyone. It was only a light hearted comment anyways, inspired by a housemate who is off work today with 'flu'
_angel_
.
They aren't though. They specifically state that if you're ill you shouldn't come in. Still get disciplined for it if you've been ill 'too often', though.
I'm sure they know exactly what they are doing and are just about on the right side of employment law.
How can being disciplined for being ill 'too often' be within employment laws??
_angel_
.
Thought most catering establishments generally frowned upon their employees pucking or coughing over the food and customers.
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
You know, I suspect that a lot of these policies which say "you are allowed X days per year being ill and that's it" would fold if actually challenged in the courts. But it doesn't take a lot to intimidate people in the first place, and the number of people willing and able to go that far even if they got disciplined or sacked for it is quite small.
_angel_
.
I worked - temped a few days somewhere absolutely dreadful (basically they didn't pay us temps) later found out that they sacked a member of staff when she went off sick with cancer.
She sued them and won (it was on the news at ten). They totally deserved suing.
cesare
shady's dreams ♥
I'm not saying it's right or anything ... but how it works is this ...
There are 6 potentially fair reasons to dismiss someone:
Conduct
Capability
Statutory restriction (e.g. a pharmacist losing their licence)
Redundancy
Retirement
Some Other Substantial Reason (SOSR) (e.g. a business restructure)
Sickness normally falls into the 'capability' reason i.e. the person is not capable of carrying out the work that the employer provides.
It's not fair to just dismiss someone without investigating it first, which includes getting a medical opinion.
Also, if someone's disabled, the employer has to make reasonable adjustments which might include shorter hours/different hours/different job/working from home sometimes etc etc etc.
There are 6 potentially fair reasons to dismiss someone:
Conduct
Capability
Statutory restriction (e.g. a pharmacist losing their licence)
Redundancy
Retirement
Some Other Substantial Reason (SOSR) (e.g. a business restructure)
Sickness normally falls into the 'capability' reason i.e. the person is not capable of carrying out the work that the employer provides.
It's not fair to just dismiss someone without investigating it first, which includes getting a medical opinion.
Also, if someone's disabled, the employer has to make reasonable adjustments which might include shorter hours/different hours/different job/working from home sometimes etc etc etc.
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