What would happen where you work if you were "stranded" and late back from a holiday?

[LoyaltyBonus]

I probably should say this is a school, so there's no possibility of being asked to take the extra days as holiday.

The staff member's return flight was delayed by 24 hours due to bad weather. The general unrest at this has also lead to people "realising" that he was off sick for the last three days before we broke up.

I'm only involved on periphery, thankfully, I'm not the one who has to deal with it and I'm not affected by the absence, but there is outrage among his immediate colleagues and I'm curious as to how this would be dealt with in other places. Our absence policy just says approval absence due to extreme weather is at the head teacher's discretion.

Would it be reasonable for the employer to ask for proof of the outward and return flight booking, as his colleagues are suggesting?

Mistressiggi
Depending on how uncooperative they're being and how much other people are having to pick up as a result of their actions then it could be very appropriate.

I've just deleted my examples in case they're outing, but I can think of a few situations where someone's conduct would leave colleagues questioning them.

It would of course be wrong to be gossiping unprofessionally, and it's for the line manage to deal with the holiday situation, but there's enough people in this world who are all about twisting their rights whilst taking little responsibility and being unpleasant to colleagues.

Well yes all this is true Lola but we could flip that and imagine he works in some academyland hellhole where staff are viewed as uncooperative for not wanting to high-five everyone as they come in and as unhelpful for not wanting to attend eleventy thousand meetings a week. We just don't know.

I can understand the consternation, particularly given the 3 days at the start of the holiday and the delay at the end, but is this chap really unpopular or a really bad worker or doesn't pull his weight or something? Seems like a lot of people who aren't the line manager are invested in spending an awful lot of time to prove he's lying. Out of curiosity, is this time on school time or in their own time?

Nothing would happen. I might Have to take it as unpaid or annual leave.
Stuff Happens. And sometimes it happens to teachers, same as it happens to the general population...

If my DD's teacher is off sick for a week am I bright and breezy about it? Erm yes...because again, she's a human being and they sometimes get sick?

If it is Madeira, it could be true. When we were there, high winds meant the Monday or Tuesday (can't remember which) flight was cancelled and people had to stay till the Friday.
I work in a school too and think it would be perfectly reasonable to ask for a look at the original booking confirmation to confirm the story. If it is true, then I think he should be paid as it isn't his fault.

+If it is true, then I think he should be paid as it isn't his fault*

But it’s not the school’s fault either. If it’s true, he shouldn’t face disciplinary action of course, but why should he be paid? It’s the same as people who couldn’t get to work in the snow moaning about not being paid. Some people really are averse today the concept that to get paid for work, you need to turn up and do it

Mistressiggi
I see your point.
I assumed, possibly wrongly, that because this was a colleague issue rather than a leadership issue that it was unlikely to be one of those large corporate MAT types.

Possibly outing, but I once had to frantically reorganise a flight and then get an expensive taxi home, where I literally had time to take a shower and then jump into my car to get to a 3 hour meeting that I was chairing! It ended up being 18 hours total of flights, I had a 12 hour jet lag; and I managed to make it through the meeting before my boss told me to go and “work from home” in the afternoon where I promptly fell asleep on the sofa

If I genuinely couldn’t have made it back, I would have been made to take it as leave; but again in my job there is no one to cover for me - if I’m away, the work simply just doesn’t get done!

Different from teaching where people have to cover, you can’t just take a day of annual leave etc.

I do think that it’s a bit weird for everyone to work themselves up into such a frenzy, and tbh it’s the sign of poor senior leadership that a) there is a colleague that has apparently been allowed to take the piss so much he’s causing stress amongst his colleagues; and b) that this frenzy hasn’t been nipped in the bud.

If the line manager asks for proof of flights etc the rest of the staff has no right to have any access to this information. I would be furious if I had to “prove” my illness to a lynch mob of colleagues rather than it remaining a private matter between myself and my line manager.

Is this recent and was it Poland? If so then all flights were cancelled from there.

I’m not a teacher but I work with one of these. Always goes sick days before a holiday, when she’s swamped with work, always late back from trips and/or sick immediately after. I know my employer is dealing with it though.

It has a massive impact on other staff (usually me) as we have to pick up the pieces. And because she just goes sick there’s no handover notes etc...

@BackforGood OP's original question "what would happen to you" so I told her - think before you speak.

Maybe he's genuinely delayed?

There is nothing worse than shit things happening to bad people. Most people cannot bring themselves to feel any sympathy for someone they see as a piss taker (understandably) and so only allow themselves to feel contempt, convinced that person must have brought it on themselves somehow.

Work place rights - all rights - must be passionately protected at all costs. Realistically this often means someone unreasonable has to fight for them because most of us concede far too soon. Remember that the reasonable man adjusts himself to his environment but the unreasonable man expects his environment to adjust to suit him. Thus progress is often made by unreasonable people.

So, is he back yet, @LoyaltyBonus?
Anyone talking to him? Has he thanked anyone for covering for him, or did he have to clear his desk?

Sticky.

Depending on sick policy. Personally, I’d expect a return to work discussion for the 3 sick days. This would include a review to see if there were patterns of sickness. This may result in further action. You can’t reasonably accuse them of faking illness.

The flight delay is something that could potentially happen to anyone.

Moaning colleagues need to remember the same policies, laws and management discretion that apply to this person also apply to them.

It’s not for the colleagues to act as jury.

@housebuyer101 she also said it was a school, which for this thread, is specifically relevant