To move away from sick boss

[MeridianB]

For the last 10 days, my boss has had a worsening cold and cough but insists on being in the office even though there is plenty of cover and absolutely nothing urgent/that needs her.

She worked from home 'because she was ill' one day, which I think sets a terrible example. She then took Friday off sick in bed but came back yesterday.

She has no voice, is sniffing and sneezing and the cough is now a deep, seal-like bark every 90 seconds. She does not cover her mouth when she coughs which is disgusting.

We obviously asked how she was feeling and she said 'terrible, I had no sleep because of this cough last night' and then we asked why she had come in and she replied 'there is work to do'.

I am on a much-awaited holiday next week and half-joked that I didn't want to get sick the minute I went away. She replied that 'everyone gets sick when they go on holiday' and keeps saying 'I'm not contagious - this is just a cough'.

Apart from the germs, the noise is really distracting. I'm getting comments and emails from nearby colleagues - including two pregnant ones - asking why she is here.

I have taken my laptop to work in another part of the building. There is nothing I can say as she has rebuffed any concern/hints. Her line manager and the one above that are both away.

Any advice? AIBU to worry about coughs and work elsewhere or is she a selfish twit?

If you were sick enough to need a doctors note

Since a LOT of people don't get sick pay, or are unable to have them as holidays, it's not 'enjoy your hols' it's 'how am I going to afford to pay by bills this month'.

She never actually says the words "i'm very important" but she may as well.

She gets paid sick leave. She wouldn't get sacked.

seal-like bark am I a total cow for thinking this is ?

I worked in an office where we had an office manager who was the total opposite of this. She seemed to be a bit OCD re germs / hygiene and Every time someone sneezed or coughed, even once, she wound herself up in to a tizzy, letting them know, under no uncertain terms, that they shouldn't be in the office, as they are "spreading germs", and should have called in sick.

I was a temp at the time and if I had called in sick every time I had a minor ailment I prob would have lost about 2 weeks wages a year, as I didn't get sick pay!

It does sound like your boss shouldn't be there tho OP, but as long as you've moved to another part of the office I wouldn't worry too much about catching anything. Definitely speak to her boos once their back in the office though.

Odd days here and there are generally more frowned upon than a doctors certificate for something major

She never actually says the words "i'm very important" but she may as well.

She probably is.

Some of the comments and experiences here have opened my eyes about the bigger picture of sickness.

I have only ever worked for companies (big and small) which are supportive of genuine sick leave and I've never seen anyone's job put at risk due to sick leave. But I didn't realise that this is not the norm, so am lucky.

I have had the odd colleague who has swung the lead but they have been the exception rather than the rule and usually go off sick shortly before they leave for a new job.

My current employer does not expect us to come in or to work from home if we are ill and the senior managers support this, they don't just say it.
They do get very serious about other things, such as lateness and working hard when you are supposed to be working.

Never heard of converting holiday to sick leave - it's totally wrong that anyone has to do that. And surely the loss of their holiday means they are more likely to be ill again at some point.

Working from home when you are sick is a bad example. It puts pressure on others to work when they should be in bed.

YANBU. Your boss is stupid. Its not loyal, its not clever and it is inconsiderate to everyone else.

The point about converting holiday to sick leave is that you retain the holiday days i.e. instead of using your holiday when you are sick you get the holiday days back and it is recorded as sick leave instead. Its much fairer than you losing the holiday.

It comes from a European court ruling
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18534028

ACAS explains the position here
www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=4264
"You've booked a holiday months in advance and just before you're due to travel, you fall ill. What happens to your holiday leave? When prearranged statutory holiday coincides with sick leave, employees should let their employer know as soon as reasonably practical. Employees are allowed to take their holiday at another time. If they remain sick until the end of that holiday-leave year, they can reschedule their holiday in the following year. If an employee turns holiday leave to sick leave, they should expect to receive sick pay only, because they are unfit to do the job during that period."

I am currently sat opposite a guy who is trying to cough up part off his lung. He has been doing this for the last week, having only taken one sick day despite being a lovely pale grey colour and coughing and hacking at least every 2 minutes. Oh and snorting snot down his throat. I am downing Beroca with gusto in the vain hope that I wont get it. Woke up to a blocked nose and tickly cough this morning.....

I had an awful cough in late 2011/early 2012 but I didn't have a cold with it just the cough. Just had to wait it out. I was a SAHM at the time but couldn't have taken 8 weeks off work!

I have had to convert sick leave into annual leave as I couldn't afford to be off ill and not get paid.
Lots of people have coughs that are not infectious. After I had genuine flu, I had a cough that went on for months.

This sort of behaviour really makes me angry - I had the same happen to me - I was 37 weeks pregnant and my mum had terminal cancer - I ended up getting the cough - then ripping the muscles between my ribs - also I couldn't see my mum for 3 weeks towards the end of her life in case I passed it on to her!! Coming into the office when you are sick does not make you a hero - it is incredibly selfish behaviour!

if i took 10 days off sick with a cold the GP would laugh at me when i went to get a sick line (which work would want), also depends on my sick levels it is possible that i would also breach the company sick policy and a conversation would be had with my direct manager about my sick level

so its not all about sick pay

Fizzielove - Dreadful for you. But if I didn't come into work sick, I would never be at work. For many of us with chronic illnesses being ill is very common. But we are not ill enough to get any financial state support. I have to work, but I am only well for about 3 months of the year.

It's not all about sick pay and the company being supportive of illness. I get paid sick leave. My manager encourages people to stay at home if they're obviously unwell.
However more than two instances of illness over a rolling 6 month period will instigate a stage 1 absence review. If redundancy procedures occur sick leave forms part of competency scoring.
I would have thought that these factors were not uncommon in the workplace now.

My cough wasn't contagious anyway. A lot of illnesses aren't.

everyone gets sick when they go on holiday . What on earth did she mean by that?

Thanks Chaz. I misunderstood. I thought it meant people were not allowed paid sick leave so gave up their holiday time so they could be off sick. I see what you mean now.

I didn't mean she should take 10 days off, BTW, just that it had been getting much worse for that time.

Floggin, I think she meant that if you work really hard and then suddenly stop on holiday, your immune system decides to have a time out.