Call in sick if can’t get time off?

[OctoberRainStorm]

we have arranged a week long cottage holiday to celebrate DM’s big birthday. It’ll be me and my family, and my sister and her family plus DM and DF. We are all very excited. It’s in April.

DN is 19 and has a minimum wage job in a chain pub. She asked for the time off and they said no as other people already off the same time. DN explained about family trip and they wouldn’t budge. It’s not a great work place. The people who are off work different jobs to my DN. And there’s a high rate of calling-in-sick so staffing is never as they planned.

the cottage is too far to pop back for her shifts. DN says she’ll call in sick. I don’t feel bad for her employers as they aren’t good to her. They make her stay late unpaid. They make her attend staff meetings unpaid on days off. They change shifts last minute. But my question would be, could she get into trouble for this as they know she wanted those days off? Would they have to prove she wasn’t ill?

she can’t just quit really as there aren’t a lot of jobs where she lives. Though if she got fired she’d be alright. But we don’t want her to have that happen really.

She should resign and look for a better employer.

If course it will look suspicious if she happens to be sick the week she requested time off for...Plus they might check her and her family social media and see some pictures of the holiday.

It should be easy to find another retail/hospitality job with experience and a reference.

Yes, agree. Thoth in this case she could not have checked first and booked accordingly as it was booked by family a s it’s for a birthday so the family weren’t going to move it if she couldn’t make it.

It’s utterly ridiculous that a chain pub employer can’t arrange cover with several months’ notice. She needs to take this as the push she needs to get a new job.

Calling in sick when they know about the holiday already will 100% get her fired. She needs to walk away now with her head held high.

I don't agree with fake sick claims, think time to look for a new job and hand in notice once you have one.

As for the chain pub and unpaid work, once your DN leaves, suggest the local licensing authority is told, and be reported for in practice paying less than the minimum wage.

Or just name who the chain is.

The DD wasn’t the one who booked it. Family decided date, she had no choice.

Honestly, I'd advise her to look for another job.

That's a good point about dobbing them in for non-adherence to NMW laws. She can use that threat to extract a suitable reference for them if they decide to boot her out for going on the holiday.

She will get in trouble, not might.

they will know she had requested the annual leave, and probably demand evidence of ill. Depending on how long she has worked there they might just fire her.

I wouldn't. Even if the company is horrible it's down to morals. Instead she needs to look for another job. She has plenty of time between now and then.

Call their bluff and threaten to hand her notice in if she can’t have the time off, she’ll find something else and if she can’t then it’s time to move.

She will get sacked! Can she swap shifts with someone else or go for part of the tine and travel back? Or she finds another job in the meantime.

Calling in sick when you have been denied annual leave would be viewed very negatively at my workplace. It is specifically mentioned at a trigger point in our attendance policy

Yep, if pub , and junior level job she could walk into another one really

so, if she can, wait then hand in ahead of notice period right at time of trip. Having got new work place to go to when she gets back.

its April, assume she’s got time to do this.

wouldn’t start on the fake sick leave, can land her in problems.

if they’re so short staffed, they might even take her back on 🤣🤣🤣

Yeah, they don't actually sound like they have anything like enough staff. It's evidently a chaotic workplace and an unattractive job. The fact that there isn't much in the local area and yet they're still unable to reliably staff the place says a lot. I wouldn't assume they'd be in a position to give her the boot, as some posters have. Hard to say.

Can she not just be upfront with them: say she's going on the holiday and if that means they feel they have to sack her then so be it.

At the end of the day she's an adult and no one can tell her what to do. We all get to do what we want - even if there are then consequences.

Tell DC to look for another job. When she takes other job just let them know she's away in April. Hand in notice to this job. I'm pretty sure what they are doing in terms of not paying etc is not above board.

This will be unpopular on middle-management MN but I'd call in sick and if she's worried about getting sacked (unlikely anyone cares enough), if anyone in the family gets a positive covid test between now and then I'd keep it as evidence to say that she has covid. They've brought it on themselves by not having a fair leave policy.

Look it's a shit minimum wage job and she's a teenager. People are disengaged and not turning up for shifts etc because that's what people do when they're treated like shit. Presumably if she does get caught and needs another job, she can just use whatever references (school etc) she used to get this job to get the next one and keep this one off her CV.

There's no "permanent record" of jobs. No one will know.

Yep. It is actually open to a teenager just to say they haven't got a reference from a previous employer because they've not worked before.

Welcome to the world of work. Sometimes you have to be there when you would rather be somewhere else.

I'm no goody two shoes (I'd happily screw over a shitty employer) but seems like a poor example to set for someone so young.

I'd encourage her to find another job. It promotes problem solving, resilience and not accepting a poor working environment.

Depend on if she values the job enough versus holiday

My work is like this. Large tourist attraction so we get lots of sick especially at xmas and summer as can't get time off.

I try really hard to not go sick but I do have one in my back pocket for emergencies like your daughters.

Big Companies need to be better as allowing time off when they know demand will be higher.

However a small pub is a bit different as it's likely to be remembered. Can she get half the time off and join oyu for half a week?

Yes she can get in trouble and if her manager is not stupid they will remember she asked for the time off. If the job is rubbish she would be better handing in her notice. Unfortunately holidays over key times are desirable and you need to get requests in early so you don’t miss out. Not her managers fault she didn’t get the request in before her colleagues, they’re entitled to the time off too. Sorry. Encouraging your daughter to call in sick isn’t helping her understand adult responsibility

@orangegato

i need a remote/WFH job.

Do you have any suggestions for good site to find them. I'm having no luck finding fully remote. They say fully remote but when I read the actual advert, they're fully remote, except for the 2 days PE you need to go into the office 🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️

@OctoberRainStorm she just needs to find a new job, then hand in her notice, tell new employers she has this holiday booked already.

sounds like she's in hospitality, there are plenty of jobs available. I doubt it's any different where she is.

Have a great holiday!!

Sorry, you said minimum wage in a small pub.

need more coffee!!

This is to cover long term sick and pre arranged holiday, or significant illnesses that can be proven to be helped by a holiday.

So if you were signed off for 6 weeks because you broke your arm, and during that period you had booked annual leave, you could still go on the holiday.

Its not to cover people phoning in sick so that they can go on holiday instead of taking annual leave.

Calling in sick when you are not sick is dishonest and is not behaviour you should be encouraging in your daughter. If the holiday is really so important, she should resign and get another job.