Going On Holiday When Signed Off Sick

Haven’t been off work for nearly 7 years

Are you in the uk? There are legal requirements for minimum amounts of annual leave.

People may think it is odd, because if you are very stressed/overworked due to not being off in 7 years, and a holiday will help.... it begs the question why you didn't use your annual leave to go on holiday

That is a dreadful policy.What isf it is the behaviour of the manager that has contributed to the person's mental health difficulties. A policy that is only going to make someone feel worse.and take longer to recover

There are plenty of bone idle employees who don't want to step up to the plate when a bit of extra effort is required. No one is "forced" to go off sick because they have to work a bit harder.

Inevitably when they go off sick with "stress" they add to the workload of their more conscientious colleagues who keep working and take annual leave when they need a break.

Anyone can get stressed and need a break sometimes. That is what annual leave is for.

I'm disappointed at the number of people on here encouraging the OP to deceive her employer and colleagues.

That is gross misconduct if in so doing she is in breach of her employer's sickness absence policy. She certainly would be if she was employed by the large public sector organisation I work for. If she is found out she could be sacked and rightly so.

By all means OP should take a holiday if she thinks it will improve her wellbeing, but she should do it honestly. She obviously knows it's wrong to go without consulting her manager or HR, otherwise she would not have come on here seeking validation for her decision.

The knowledge that she might face disciplinary action and dismissal on her return will surely affect her enjoyment and any benefits she might get from the holiday.

Do the right thing OP. Book annual leave so you can enjoy your holiday fully.

I write HR policies for a massive public sector organisation. I promise you what you are saying isn’t right.

if you are unavailable as per the terms of the sick pay policy, you can be required to take that time off as annual leave.

Personally I wouldn't but it appears that you're well within your rights to go on holiday OP so that's the answer.

Well, again, whose fault is that? Certainly not the fault of a staff member forced to go off sick.
We should all be willing to blame the system, rather than taking out frustrations on colleagues.

In the NHS we really don’t have extra people hanging around to cover clinics at the drop of a hat. The idea is laughable.

Well who else's 'fault' is it if there's not enough staff/contingency to cover illness and emergencies?

Yes, on MM it's always the managers' fault.

I think the problem is that there are lots of people feeling stressed and anxious who choose to carry on at work. It’s pretty easy to get a few weeks signed off due to MH issues but they feel they should work. A holiday would also do them a ‘world of good’ but they carry on at work. Hence there can be irritation with others going on hols when off sick.

If you are allowed to, go but as others have said do try and keep it quiet. People will have some negative thoughts, but won’t be mean enough to vocalise them I hope.

I didn't say that. I said people should take up the overwork caused by poor management with their managers.

I would be wary of posting photos, status on sm, if you have friends on there and they are colleagues. As could get another colleague overhearing this and report you to management. There’s always a snitch.

About 12 years ago I had surgery and required to have 8 weeks off work. Had a few days booked away about 250 miles from home towards the 8 weeks, which was booked months before the time and before I had any symptoms. Last sick note expired 3 or 4 days into my annual leave. So had those 3-4 days put back into the kitty to book off again.

I was going to say this.

The company I worked for allowed staff to go on holiday while on sick leave as long as it wasn't likely to further damage health. However, we were expected to take annual leave for the period we were away.

Yes that’s right, if they have requested to take annual leave instead of sick leave. You can’t force them to do so. I don’t doubt some employers use this to their advantage, maybe not telling employees that their booked holidays can be cancelled while they are signed off sick. I work in the public sector and we try to look after our colleagues in my organisation. It is a loophole but also necessary. For example we might have a member of staff who is expected to be absent long term, for cancer treatment for example. It means that if an employee chooses to do so, once their contractual sick pay is about to drop to zero pay they can take annual leave to top up their salary. It can be of benefit.

Waterskiing holiday with "Broken Leg", yes, that would be wrong
Holiday to unwind because of stress, yes, go for it!

That's what I'd always been led to believe too.

I'm not quite sure why but I couldn't go on holiday whilst off sick. I understand that it would probably be therapeutic for you but personally I couldn't do it.

FFS.

if someone tries to ring her and gets a “this phone is not in the UK” ringtone the game is up and she’s fired for dishonesty.

<slow clap>

So you can’t demand that the employee takes annual leave, but if they go on holiday you can stop their sick pay and pay annual leave instead. Perfectly legal.

Always best to be honest about it.

Go on holiday but don't tell anybody at work. Don't post holiday pictures online. Once you are back from your holiday you ought to look for another job.

My manager is all about supporting any activity that makes people feel better if they’re off with stress - relaxing days out, visits to spas, meals out etc. anything that is helping to reduce and/or manage stress.

But I’m aware not all employers are like this!

After my daughter was born I had 3 months off sick, one month fully off and then 2 months doing a phased return. I had a week off during the phased return and this came out of my annual leave.

It might be worth a conversation with your HR department

I went recently for a mental health break when I was signed off sick.
I don't have anyone from work on my social media and my profiles are 100% private. I barely posted anything anyway but if I did have colleagues or my profile was more public I'd tread carefully.

This is screenshot from the ACAS page

These threads always bring out the work martyrs and the 'oh but your poor colleagues' batshittery.
Yeah, how dare the poor colleagues admit they're affected. They just need to pick up the slack and be happy their colleague's on holiday.