To think your work should leave you alone when you're ill?

3 times in one year is frequent! I've only been off 3 times in the last decade. (Obviously different if you have an underlying condition or serious illness)

3 times off within a year would trigger a phase1 absence in my place of work.

we are expected to phone in sick day 1 day4 and day 7 after that we need a sickline from doctor and should phone in once a month to “check in”.

our workplace should not phone us as that could be seen as harassment.

You should be in regular contact with your line manager. Does your work not have an absence policy? For long-term sick, at my work, weekly contact is required.

That is a lot of time off. I've been ill once in 4 years. And I took that one day off reluctantly.

Ill enough to be off work? That's quite a lot. I think I was last off work ,ill, in 2017. Proper, can't get out of bed, can't even read a book flu. Definitely not in this place and I've been here 7 years. Couple of funerals.

This. I maybe get 3 colds a year but no way would anything be bad enough to be off sick more than once every 3 yrs or so. I think my last sick day was after 1st Covid jab in 2021.

I'm intrigued to know how much time off sick your colleagues have if being off sick 3 times in less than a year is considered good. You'd have the worst sickness record of anyone in our office!

I'll echo others, 3 times in any rolling 12 month period triggers a meeting in my workplace.
For reference, the last time I was off sick I had hyperemesis and was signed off for months.
I have been back at work for 2 years post maternity leave and am yet to take a sick day for myself, although I have taken leave last minute a couple of times due to my children being ill. Prior to that it was probably a year prior that I was ill.
I have had colds in that time, but not enough to warrant a day off.
The majority of people in my work would have one instance of sickness a year so regardless of whether your absences were justified, I don't think it's 'normal' to be off that often.
It sounds like your manager was just following policy to check in, a common practice and nothing to get worked up about.

You rang in sick with D&V and your manager rang you back at lunchtime to discuss your absence? Wow.

I agree they should leave you alone when you are sick. If they need to discuss attendance, that is done when you are back to work.

I don’t think being off three times in a year is ‘rare’. Where I work, managers have the right to ring up and check in with you, and to find out when you think you will be back. Saying you’ll be off for a few days sounds like you don’t even want to try and return to work - normally a person would check in every day. You might be sick but you are still being paid by the company so you still owe them communication.

That's a lot of sickness

Tbh, I've never worked anywhere where you couldn't self certify for the first 7 days (ie for five working days) - I think this is standard?

It would be a terrible waste of GP's time to expect them to certify absences that aren't even a week old.

It’s not about the 3 days, it sounds like OP didn’t follow sickness and absence policy from the post they have put on.

and it’s definitely not nice being harassed when sick by work

A single polite voicemail (that it seems like OP might never have even returned in 3 days) is not harrassment.

You can self-certify for 7 days and then you need a fit note from your GP.

This isn't normal. Most companies only allow 3 days self-certification.

Sorry you had to do that You shouldnt have had to

Chemo can cause horrible side effects like diarrheoa

Your works terrible policies are not something to be bragged about. You should have had chemo off.

in regards to the OP. I only check in at the end of self cert and then every sickline and I text first and arrange a time. So I do think your work is being unreasonable.

However I also agree 3 times a year is not rare but depends on your job. Office worker who can WFH it’s a high absence but a manual/hospitality etc worker who needs to be there in person I would say that’s about average.

It's called duty of care.
Imagine someone rings in with cold/flu but its really MH issues for example, or someone lives alone and is really ill. Your manager expected you in work that day so does have to chase up to see how you are and make sure you're supported.
Your absence also isn't rare so maybe they're worried there's a pattern.
Everyone wants to jump down managers throats all the time when someone is off but the duty of care and attendance protocol has to be followed. I once had a person awol and being worried, I went to their home. They had a massive seizure and were very unwell and if that's me being a big jobsworth I don't care because he got the medical attention he maybe wouldn't have received otherwise

Oh and I should just say that I worked through chemo because I only get 6 weeks sick pay before ssp kicks in and I needed to save that for when I had my breast removed!

It would also trigger it in my work
place. 3 occasions in 12 months triggers it for me

At my work (charity) we don’t get paid for the first 3 days of sickness to stop people taking the piss. It’s amazing that most people can drag themselves out of bed when they’re not getting paid!

No wonder people go into work sick............which they then also get moaned at for

I’m baffled that you think 3 times in 10 months is rare OP.. my husband rarely has time off sick meaning 1 day in 3 years, I’m rarely off sick meaning no days since 2019ish. 3 times in 10 months is a LOT, it’s certainly not what I would describe as rare. That would trigger most sickness absences.

Gosh it’s hardly a bad record these things happen

and it’s definitely not nice being harassed when sick by work

3 episodes in 12 months would trigger an informal sickness process where I am (NHS), unless there was a chronic relapsing condition on the record that could be discounted. It's a lot - I haven't had a sick day for over 8 years.