to think 3 sick days a year before disciplinary isn't good? how many sick days are you allowed? do you generally take?

[sarahighseas]

Hi, this is about my employer who only pays 3 sick days a year and more that this and they reserve the right to have a disciplinary.

Does anyone else get this? How many sick days are yo allowed? He many do you take on average?

Thanks

I get six months at full and six at half pay, then nothing after that for each absence. We are allowed three absences before a meeting is held. A fourth absence will mean a disciplinary

No limit to sick leave (on full pay) in terms of length or episodes. I've used it rarely (probably less than a fortnight in total over the last 5 years).

Absences that last longer than three months can trigger an HR / occ health review to determine the cause, likely return time and consider whether stated return is better for the employee / organisation.

I have known people require a year of sick leave, on full pay.

Staged return. Not stated!

Private sector, same employer for 10 years. No paid sick leave which applies to everyone no matter the length of service or position. Back to work interview every time whether an absence of one day or five.

We don't really have an absence problem.

My friend has epilepsy which was discussed openly at interview and was disciplined over absences by more than one employer...even when she was sent home by management following fits at work.

I had to leave a job I loved due to chronic illness. It wasn't my disability or condition that forced me to give up, but the fact that my weakened immune system couldn't cope with everyone else infecting me. I needed 3 lots of antibiotics to clear my last infection due to another employee coughing all over me and it took several months to fully recover.

I have worked from home during the past 4 years and have needed no sick days at all as there is nobody around to infect me most of the time. My family are all trained to sneeze and cough into tissues and wash their hands regularly!

Some of the sick leave policies on this thread are quite shocking

Doesn't apply at the moment, but previously...

First week of any instance, full pay, self-certify. From the second week you need a sick note.

Beyond four weeks in total in any rolling year, 75% of full pay. A woman who had cancer was on 75% for several years until she was well enough to come back.

It's industry standard, I think. The employers are insured so it's actually the insurer paying the sick pay.

I can't believe the stories here. I've been so sheltered from it!

No idea as I'm never sick so have never needed to know but I think it is 1 week self certified then up to 6mths full pay on doctor's note.

Previous employer was 4 occasions in rolling 12 mth period.

I've had one day off sick in last 7 years. I wasn't actually sick. I'd ballsed up my leave calculations and felt really naughty.

No paid sick days. Not sure when you would get in trouble, no one is off a lot in our office so it never comes up. I am very rarely off sick, generally just work through it so I get paid!

Actually I did get paid sick when I started, I have MS and was off six weeks with a relapse and they said they would not pay me sick pay anymore. Now everyone's contracts say just ssp anyway.

I think it helps in offices where there's the option to work from home, as it means you can be productive from home with less risk of infecting everyone else, and you can also work from home if your children are sick, rather than sharing round the germs when they've been up all night with D&V.

Obviously that's not an option for all types of job, and I think also, sometimes, you just need to accept you're not well enough to think clearly, and not try to work from home either.

6 months full pay (work in a school).

I'm obviously around young kids all the time so do tend to pick stuff up. I probably have a a sickness bug once or twice a year, with maybe 3 days off each time? (Depending on if its over a weekend etc).

I had a bad chest infection last winter and had a week off, but its rare for me to be off that long.

I forget how generous our policy is, and have been shocked at friends struggling into work when they should blatantly be home in bed. Nobody takes the piss with out policy and surely its better to have 2 days at home and recover than drag yourself in and be ill for ages!

I used to work somewhere where it was 3 sick absences in total before you got formally disciplined (no matter how long you'd been there). Until you were pregnant, then the manager made a point of telling you you were 'allowed' to be off sick now . Needless to say, I don't work there anymore!!

My employers pay what is needed.
Consequently no one takes the piss and there are really good attendance rates.
In the last 12 months I've not taken any sick leave.

Return to work interview after any episode of sickness. 4 days in one episode or 2 episodes in 3 months put you on monitoring by your line manager. Any further episodes during you monitoring or in the 3 months (or may be 6, can't remember) after escalate it to monitoring with regular meetings with HR for 3+ months. Triggering within the 12 months after the end of monitoring puts you straight back into monitoring with HR, skipping all the previous phases with final warning or capability procedures

What this means is that everybody is either being monitored by HR or is in a rolling period trying not to re-trigger, usually unsuccessfully.

I don't know what my organisation pays, as I'm never off sick.

However, if any of my team are off, I do a return to work interview each time to ask how they are, do they need any support and update them on anything they have missed.

We use the Bradford factor and I have on,y had one instance where I had to start someone on an improvement plan. They had 6 days off in 6 months, for stuff like tummy bug, period pains, sore toe etc - all separate days. She was given a target to meet under the improvement plan and we talked about her not being capable of fulfilling her contract if she wasn't at work. Surprisingly enough, after I made it official - no more ad-hoc sick days.

I used to work for a Council and people seriously took the p&@s with sick leave because you got paid full pay for 6 months and then half pay for 6 months. Short term/AD-hoc absence was ridiculous. I implemented a new policy, which meant return to work interviews and official discussions after 3 instances. Reduced short term absences by 76% in 6 months. Just goes to show that some people can take the p£&s.

However on the plus-side of that, one of my team has recently been on holiday and her husband was seriously ill and was rushed to hospital. I gave her 2 weeks paid compassionate leave (I'm not totally heartless lol).

Nothing except SSP. So I have to be almost dying before I don't go into work. It definitely affects the decision making process about whether I'm really not fit to go into work.

Any absence is met with a "return to work" meeting with line management, and various HR forms. So 1 day off would trigger it.

god, if anyone subjected me to a return to work interview after one sick day I would think they were patronising in the extreme. Again, in 20+ years of working, this has never happened.

Has the OP come back? I'd like to know if this thread is to gain support for her campaign to allow all women extra sick days for periods.

We don't get a return-to-work interview as such, but we do usually get a chat which is along the lines of, "Are you sure you're okay now? Don't forget to fill in the sick form." And sometimes there might be a summary of a meeting or something else which I missed and need to know.

I think I would find it odd to come back after sick leave, even if only a day, and there not to be any acknowledgement of it at all.

I work for the NHS which has very generous sickness policy ,6 months fully paid and then 6 months half pay. I feel it does encourage some people to take the p**s, although I think management are now wising up to it as they have brought in a new policy of referring to Occupational Helath after 3 episodes in 6 months. I do understand that work can be more stressful than some other occupations but the amount of sick time taken is unbelievable and some people do it because they know they can get away with it.

I am a private sector small employer I used to pay full pay for sickness until 18 months ago I had a member staff off sick for 6 months the effect on a tiny company was devastating. I went through the extensive process to enable to change of T&Cs I now pay first 3 days full pay and after that SSP. I genuinely can not afford to do any different.

oh sure, it would be acknowledged but in a very informal way. Personally, I think a day's rest is probably more beneficial than soldiering on when you're feeling below par and probably doing substandard work for a few days. False economy, if you like.

God, our company is generous. Officially we get an interview with HR after 8 days sick or 4 separate days of sickness in a rolling 12 months. But as far as I know, they never ever do anything! I've definitely had more sick days than that, and never had a word spoken about it.

That should read, 4 separate occasions of sickness.