to think I should be able to have a day or two off sick in peace without fear of recriminations?

[DiarrhoeaDeirdre]

OK I may not be being very rational here. I have been really ill since the weekend with a gastric flu type thing. This is the first days I've had off in about 10 years. It's bad enough I can't rest and recuperate without feeling guilty about my work going to pot knowing no-one will cover in my absence, but also knowing I will have to have some patronising return to work interview when I get back. Have been reading the absence policy (between trips to the loo) and it's clear from the tone that the assumption is we're all lying shirkers. It must encourage people to return to work before they're ready. I realise of course that sickness costs the economy ££££.

I was late to work once, the whole time I worked for a company, because someone has been shot and they'd blocked an area of the town off. I got asked how I was going to stop it happening again and I told my manager how inappropriate I thought the question was. I was less than 15 minutes late because someone was dead, in the grand scheme of things being a little late, and I made my time up, was hardly a calamity.

Yanbu I'm at real risk of losing my job due to having 2 periods of sickness this year

I have a chronic long term disability covered under the DDA and am being made to feel like I'm a shirker

You work for the NHS don't you?

Brace yourself for being told about the impact your sickness has had on your colleagues.

Yanbu. I was treated appallingly by my work when I was in a serious car accident. They took half my wages off me and were completely wrong to do so. Was asked several times if I was enjoying my 'holiday' by my boss and made to fill in 3 "back to work" forms despite only physically returning to work first.

I quit a month later.

Sickness policies seem to have become very strict lately.

I have discussed this with a colleague who has, uncharacteristically, had 3 separate absences in a year.

All 3 were signed off - norovirus, pneumonia and a chest infection.

He has quite clearly not been sprucing - with antibiotics on his desk, weight loss etc - yet he has had an interview with HR and a warning and if he is off again within the next few months, he could well lose his job.

YANBU sickness is not at all tolerated in this country.

Company policy was your attendance got flagged if you had 3 episodes of sickness in 18 months.

All that achieved was people taking longer off. Staff thought why should I struggle to come back to work when I'm still sick. You risk getting I'll again through being run down.
Better to say off until you were 100% fit than risk getting run down.

Nobody covers for me if I am away which is why I drag myself in as one or two bits of work done is one or two less things to worry about. I had two weeks off sick last year and although they were good about it the work I came back to was horrendous. Only ever book a week's holiday at a time because of it.

I am terrified of losing my job every time I or my son gets ill. I never take time off and have worked whilst ill many times. I hate it and it is a massive massive source of stress for me. You are not alone :(

YANBU. We seem to have lost our humanity about sickness in this country. It is now seen as a completely avoidable moral failing of laziness. Given your excellent attendance record, though, OP, I don't think they will be able to touch you. You might have to grit your teeth through the ridiculous return to work 'interview' though.

I yearn for the days when it was enough that somebody was suffering illness, rather than have to worry about this when they should be allowing their body to heal.

Yanbu. I remember a friend being off work really ill with d & v bug. Her manager called her at home to check she was actaully at home and not gallivanting out on the town. Unbelievable!

NHS worker here - not grumbling really because I do get full sick pay, I know I'm lucky and I understand why they're strict because too many staff take the piss but....

I had two abdominal ops last year, all planned and cover organised in advance (non clinical staff).
I desperately needed the surgery because I was in pain and vomiting a lot, although I never took a day off because of it.

Then my sibling tried to commit suicide and has been left disabled and I became his carer. I only took a couple of days off when it first happened. As you can imagine I was in bits.

I had my first sickness warning when I got back.

That's 14 years of service for you.

I think part of the reason with small companies becoming less sympathetic to illness is the fact that you can no longer claim back any SPP payments which in a small firm can be very difficult to budget for.