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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be livid DH has to work with D & V?

59 replies

ASecretLemonadeDrinker · 12/11/2010 08:58

We all have it, ds school has it and dh started throwing up last night . Dh isn't allowed any more days off after taking some when I was ill, but he text boss saying the above i.e its v contagious but he's going to work and he replied "ok". There is about 50 odd staff and his co worker has JUST had a heart attack.

OP posts:
VinegarTits · 12/11/2010 10:42

why did he take sick days when you were ill? surely he should have taken holidays for that as it wasnt him who was ill?

so maybe the company are pissed off about that and have given him a warning?

ccpccp · 12/11/2010 10:48

Sounds like hes used all his 'sick days' and now genuinely needs a couple.

Hes perhaps annoyed some people in the way hes taken days off before, for them to be so draconian about it now.

He should go in, and if others get ill then they get ill. If hes as bad as you say his boss may end up sending him home again anyway.

memoo · 12/11/2010 10:51

How on earth do you work when you have D&V anyway? When I've had it I can't leave the bathroom never mind get to work.

Original poster
ASecretLemonadeDrinker · 12/11/2010 10:54

He doesn't get sick leave, he took unpaid. He's on way home now . He took the last of his holiday for paternity leave.

OP posts:
DandyLioness · 12/11/2010 10:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

memoo · 12/11/2010 10:58

Sorry but I still think your DH should have just told them he wasn't coming in. He is now on his way home? so they are still a staff member down but he has been to work to pass the bug about first.

DandyLioness · 12/11/2010 10:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

VinegarTits · 12/11/2010 10:59

paternity leave is seperate from holidays, so unless has taken all of his holidays as well as paternity leave before he took extra days due to your illness, he should have really taken those as holidays, sounds like they are a bit pissed off at the time he has had off

Original poster
ASecretLemonadeDrinker · 12/11/2010 11:00

NNo idea, they just don't get paid for sick days

OP posts:
memoo · 12/11/2010 11:00

Anyone is legally entitled to sick leave.

musicposy · 12/11/2010 11:00

I think they can sack you for being ill. DH's (also very big) company sacked one of his colleagues for being off 3 separate times in a year - she was put on a warning after the second time. DH had one episode of illness and when he caught an awful cold he went in because he'd have been put on a warning otherwise.

Policy gone mad - he works with the general public so goodness knows how many people he passed that on to.

Original poster
ASecretLemonadeDrinker · 12/11/2010 11:03

PHHe took 10 days holidays instead ofo pat leave as pat leave was only stat. At 124 a week or something

OP posts:
flowerybeanbag · 12/11/2010 13:03

Perfectly legal for an employer not to offer paid sick leave (other than statutory sick pay). There's no 'entitlement' to sick leave, the legal restrictions are about how the employer is allowed to respond to someone not turning up for work because of illness. Not paying them is fine, disciplinary action is fine - many employers have systems that 'trigger' disciplinary hearings for x amount of time off sick. Dismissal is a bit more complicated and unlikely to be fine for a day or two D&V.

On the other hand an employer has a duty of care to its staff and knowingly allowing someone into work who has D&V goes against that really, as well as probably invalidating their insurance.

HecateQueenOfWitches · 12/11/2010 13:25

They can't not pay you for sick days. There is ssp after the waiting days. They HAVE to give you that.

DandyLioness · 12/11/2010 13:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

zipzap · 12/11/2010 14:42

might be worth him finding out from HR what the policy is when people have d&v - lots of schools (and hospitals?) people are not allowed back for 48hrs after last episode due to risk of passing bug on.

And it might be specifically worth him getting policy for what he should do when he is ordered in to work if he is ill and has to sit next to his colleague who has just had heart attack, given that these sort of bugs as others have said can be fatal to him - does he call him up and get him not to go in or does he (HA man) get to work elsewhere... and get it in writing that the company will take responsibility if the HA man gets seriously ill (or worse) if your dh is forced to go in despite having d&v... might focus their minds if they have to sign something that says they are willing to take the risk and responsibility of killing somebody or making them seriously ill!

might also be worth HA man getting clarification of what he should do in these circumstances!

hairytriangle · 12/11/2010 14:46

Di you mean he doesn't get PAID sick leave? If an employee has a suck note it is illegal for the employer to insist on them working.

grapesandmoregrapes · 12/11/2010 15:05

You cannot be sacked for being off sick!! as long as you provide a sick note from gp, you can take as many days as you need.

Your employer does not have to pay any kind of sick pay, SSP can be claimed from the jobcentre, again with a sick note.

Your DH CANNOT be fired for being off sick, stop worrying that he can!

flowerybeanbag · 12/11/2010 15:29

"You cannot be sacked for being off sick!! as long as you provide a sick note from gp, you can take as many days as you need."

That's just not true I'm afraid. It wouldn't be fair to dismiss someone for having a couple of days off with D&V but on the other hand it's just not true to say someone can take as much sick leave as they need without risking their job as long as they have a doctor's note.

grapesandmoregrapes · 12/11/2010 20:06

flowerybeanbag - are you suggeseting that someone with cancer who needs up to a year to recover should be sacked?!

Starbuck999 · 12/11/2010 20:11

The company I work for is really hot on sickness. We are allowed 3 periods of sickness (even if they are only one day each) in any 12 month period. Then we get a warning which sets you up on an action plan. If you then have more than one period (again, even 1 day) in the next 4 months you get a final warning.

Last night at work there were a guy and a girl both who had the V from the D&V, they were both in and out of the loos being sick all night but neither could go home for being on this last warning.

YANBU -the boss won't be so smug if half his workforce come down with it!

Starbuck999 · 12/11/2010 20:13

grapesandmoregrapes, where did flowerybeanbag say that? Of course they "shouldn't be sacked" but an employer can;t continuously pay sick leave to someone who is, in fact, too sick to do the job that they are employed for...

grapesandmoregrapes · 12/11/2010 20:16

starbuck - as my post says, an employer doesn't have to pay ANY sick pay, SSP is paid by the government.

I didnt say that an employee can be paid to be off sick for as long as they want, I said they can't be fired for being off sick, totally different.

flowerybeanbag · 12/11/2010 21:19

"flowerybeanbag - are you suggeseting that someone with cancer who needs up to a year to recover should be sacked?!"

What are you on about?

HecateQueenOfWitches · 12/11/2010 21:35

Flowery isn't talking about her opinion on whether something should or shouldn't be.

She's talking about employment law.

Something she knows a lot about!