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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to go to work sick

44 replies

mommy2ash · 19/10/2015 20:04

I have a feeling this might divide opinions as I can both sides of it myself.

Today I was the topic of discussion in work as I currently have pretty bad cough and head cold.

I have doses myself up as best I can, cough into tissue paper, keep to myself and have used hand sanitiser every two minutes.

My cough is worsened by the air con and high level of perfume and hair spray other colleagues apply as well as cigarette smoke.

I work in an office non customer facing doing an admin job. My colleagues felt it was selfish of me to come to work.

I honestly do feel bad and don't want to annoy anyone but I have been sick for over a week now. I have paid 60 euro to visit the doctor who said it is viral and he can't prescribe anything. My employer doesn't offer any sick pay and you can't use a days holiday or make the time up. So any sick day you take is unpaid. I can't afford to miss up to a weeks pay before I am better.

Am I being really unfair to my colleagues? How sick are you before you decide you are too sick to work?

OP posts:

uglyswan · 19/10/2015 21:25

That's not great either, MrPorky. Just for context: where I am, your employer has to pay your wages in full from day 1 up to six weeks, after which you are entitled to sick pay (70% of your gross wage), which is paid for by your insurance company. This is largely the achievement of the the metal industry workers' union, who went on strike for over 100 days in the 1950s. Bet that was inconvenient .

OP, YANBU, but your employers definitely are!

MotherOfFlagons · 19/10/2015 21:34

The temptation is for people to dismiss colds as being 'just a bit sniffly' but it kind of depends on the person. My colds have always been awful - aching limbs, feverish, head feeling like it's full of cotton wool, thumping headaches, coughing uncontrollably till I nearly vomit and constant streaming eyes and nose. I've tried every cold remedy there is and nothing helps. I'm not productive at work, I'm spreading germs, annoying everyone and frankly, I feel terrible. Going on the tube exacerbates it and so does the air con at work.

I accept though that I'm lucky to be able to take a couple of days off or work from home till the worst has passed.

ladyrosy · 19/10/2015 21:36

It's not selfish to go into work and earn a paycheck for your family

Senpai, it is selfish when you make colleagues ill and deny them the opportunity to earn paychecks for their families.

The definition of selfish is "lacking consideration for other people". There are more people in this world than your children.

Oysterbabe · 19/10/2015 21:39

I haven't taken a sick day in about 10 years.
I'm lucky enough that I haven't had anything worse than a cold in that time but I work in a company where you are very much punished for being ill. Three instances of sickness in a rolling year and you have a meeting with HR. Another one and you're on a disciplinary. Another and you have to see a company appointed doctor and are put on a performance management plan.
They basically make your work life hell until you give up and leave.

HunterHearstHelmsley · 19/10/2015 21:46

Not at all unreasonable. If you have to go to work then you have to go to work.

I couldn't afford to take a day off unpaid. If someone was unhappy with that I'd expect them to take the unpaid leave if I'd made the decision to work.

Fairenuff · 19/10/2015 21:49

and have used hand sanitiser every two minutes

Really?

I mean, really?

You used hand sanister every two minutes over several hours? Now I find that very hard to believe.

Rainbunny · 19/10/2015 21:52

Well since your company doesn't have sick pay I think you're being as reasonable as you can be, your colleagues are essentially annoyed that you won't sacrifice unpaid sick days off! I'd be tempted to suggest that they are all welcome to chip in and pay for me to stay at home! This is exactly why smart companies have sick pay, a loss of productivity is the result when they don't.

I used to work with a germaphobe who would get really annoyed if anyone came in sick with anything, including a poor colleague who'd caught conjunctivitis from her child. Another colleague came in with shingles (no longer infectious) and the germaphobe barricaded herself in her office for nearly a week.

Jesus Oysterbabe! What kind of place do you work? I once worked a company that gave an extra bonus to employees who didn't use any sick days, which I thought sent the wrong message but your place sounds brutal!

Original poster

mommy2ash · 19/10/2015 21:53

I feel absolutely miserable but I'm a high performer at my job and have continued as normal while sick. If it was something like a vomiting bug I would stay home. I have no time frame for when this hacking cough will get better so it isn't as easy to take time off for that.

I'm also not the only person in the office who is sick but seem to be the only getting criticised for it. Last week we did a collection and made up a little hamper with chocolates flowers and face masks that sort of thing and a get well soon card for one of the girls who was feeling unwell. Maybe they are fed up with the general sickness in the office at the minute and are directing it towards me

OP posts:

Original poster

mommy2ash · 19/10/2015 21:55

Fairenuff it's a figure of speech I used a lot of hand sanitiser. Not everything is literal

OP posts:

itsmeohlord · 19/10/2015 21:59

Gosh, I am lucky then - I would get paid full pay for the first four days of being ill and then would go onto SSP. We are lucky in the UK. I have however been lucky enough to have only been off for three days in 18 years.

velocitykate · 19/10/2015 22:35

I think people are too precious about colds - the cold virus is everywhere and your colleagues will get it sooner or later, or do they ban their children from the house when they have a cold? No, thought not.

If you've had a cold for a week, you are unlikely to still be infectious and as it is common for a cough to go on for up to six weeks after a cold, do they really expect you to stay off that long?

I get sick pay, but I only don't go to work if I have diarrhoea and vomiting or if I'm too ill to safely drive myself in. Otherwise I go to work

IonaNE · 19/10/2015 22:46

YANBU. I also went in to work with a cough/sore throat/runny nose thing that I had for 6 weeks. The company's sick policy is such that only dropping dead on the office floor would be more beneficial than taking a sick day. Also I work in an open plan, the windows don't open, so the aircon is on all day. Amongst this number of people there are always 5-6 who are coughing, sneezing, blowing their nose - and the aircon makes sure everything is circulated. No point of going off sick, you just battle through it.

WhereYouLeftIt · 19/10/2015 23:38

It's a cold. They ABU. If these sensitive little snowflakes are so bothered by your coughing, maybe they could lay off the "high level of perfume and hair spray other colleagues apply as well as cigarette smoke" that makes your cough worse?

TelephoneIgnoringMachine · 19/10/2015 23:53

Oysterbabe - maybe we both work for the same employer. Bradford Factor?

Having said that, my employer recently changed tack - we're now allowed 7 (I think) days sick per year, pro rata. So I get approximately 4 days. So this week I went in, despite having HFMV. I feel fine, it's just a few blisters on my hands & feet. Hand sanitiser every 30 minutes, don't touch anything that isn't mine, antibac wipes over my desk. DH is a full time student & we have a child in nursery. If I don't get paid (which I wouldn't for this as I've used 3.5 of my 4 days this rolling year), we don't eat, the rent & bills bounce, & we can't afford my medicine.

It's not presenteeism, it's necessity.

IsItMeOr · 20/10/2015 00:06

When DS had Hand Foot and Mouth while at nursery, I asked the GP whether I should keep him off nursery. GP said, it's just a virus, you wouldn't keep him at home with a cold, would you?

So I think you are not being unreasonable, so long as you aren't too sick to work at your usual pace. But with that sickness policy, really what does you employer expect?

Plomino · 20/10/2015 14:11

We're not allowed any days sick at all . If you get more than 3 instances , or 10 days over the rolling year, then you get put on informal management action, regardless of what the illness is . I have known of colleagues with cancer being pressurized over their expected returning date , whilst still undergoing chemo. If you have a 4th instance , they look at putting you on unsatisfactory performance 1 . One more and they start to look at sacking you. Apparently its called attendance management . So you end up with a scenario where everyone comes into work no matter how ill they are , and in some centres , bugs spread like wildfire . One place I know of had over thirty people sick in one day due to a rapidly spreading sickness bug . And it continued for at least a week . But they wont accept that their policy is a direct cause of the problem.

CrohnicallyAspie · 20/10/2015 17:36

If you are in the UK, cancer is officially designated a disability under the equalities act- this means that they cannot (lawfully) discriminate against you because of it.

PacificMouse · 20/10/2015 17:50

A cough like this an last for weeks, sometimes months
Are they expecting you to stay at home all that time?

Also seen that you are not in the UK, what is the general Attitude re illness there?
Because I have to say, arriving in the UK, it's the first time Ive ever heard you shouldn't go to work with a cold so that you don't give it to your colleagues.

Perfectlypurple · 20/10/2015 17:59

My doctor told me that people moaning they have caught a cold off someone is bollocks. The viruses are in the air all the time, sometimes you are more susceptible to it sometimes you aren't. If it was that easy to catch things then doctors would be sick all the time.

My dh had a really bad cold last week. I have been in the house with him, sharing a bed with him and have not caught it. Chances are I will get a cold at some point when I am feeling tired and run down.

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