Sick leave in the public sector? (title amended by MNHQ)

[Cutecat78]

Not really an AIBU but wonder what happens in other workplaces as I feel like I'm in the twilight zone.

I work for the LA. Loads of redundancies and loads of people going on "long term sick".

Call me cynical but the people who do this (there are two repeat offenders - oh and our manager who was moved to our team and didn't want to be then went on 6 months sick leave on full pay) do not seem stressed they just go off with it or a bad back when they don't like their job (they couldn't possibly leave and work somewhere else as then they might miss out on redundancy in the next wave of cuts - which have been every year for the last 5/6).

Offender one has been suspended for 4 months on a disciplinary - but is now "on long term sick leave" as his GP doesn't seem impartial to handing him out sick notes like smarties. Last year he had 3 months off with a bad back and the year before had about 4 months off with said back but has also had time off being suspended too - he's utterly incompetent and anywhere other than the LA he would have been sacked years ago.

Offender 2 has been off for 7/8 months (1st 6 months full pay, next 6 1/2 pay). Also utterly incompetent (moans constantly about being over worked whilst swanning out of office for 2 hour nail appt etc).

She had been told to come back or she will be dismissed. Although when we questioned where she was our manager informed us "well she has so much leave to take".

Our LA's are going bankrupt yet this is allowed to carry on because of some overly PC policies on acid.

It's so frustrating.

I work in the private sector whet staff get 45 days paid sick leave. Someone came into the office last week and asked how many sick days they had left, like it was additional holiday entitlement...,

I guess maybe it depends what the "culture" is in your dept/LA maybe?

Team Managers are regularly off on long term sick and it's generally accepted that it happens a lot - so they are not exactly leading by example...

Perhaps the LA I worked for was more on the ball than some. Or perhaps it was the department I worked for .HR were good and very supportive
I do remember a union rep saying to a staff member (worsening disability) during a managing absence interview' For God's sake B .Do you want to be a cripple?.Take the money (early retirement on grounds of-genuine- disability )-and run 'I'd have been sacked if I'd said the same. She went.See her occasionally and she is grateful to me(this is about 18 years ago)

Post ironically, I think it's easier to persuade or force people to go when they're seriously unwell, and particularly when their illness is a physical one.

The question of whether it's reasonable to expect someone to be able to return to post is a lot harder to answer when they're taking the piss.

Yes you could be righthandsome
The few lead slingers I encountered were faced with discipilnary proceedings .Which seemed to work

I've worked in the public and private sector and I've never seen anything like the piss taking that goes on in the public sector wrt sick pay.

Six months on full pay in places where I've worked = loads of staff off for 5.9 months and then 'well' again. It's outrageous. And it's funded by tax payers money.

I work in the charity sector and have a chronic disability. I have had to use annual leave to cover illness. I suspect I will be sacked for the amount of sick leave I have had. I can't get retirement on grounds of ill health as my consultant said he can not say that I will never be able to work again.

I have worked for three LA and in each one we had a meeting (on an annual basis) about the staff sickness rate and the need to reduce it. I would agree it's endemic.

People are always off with D&V but it's spread out so not like it's a virus doing the rounds. I've had a dodgy tummy from time to time but it's always been down to food or drink. Despite most of us never getting the virus certain colleagues have it every few months. Noticeable in the ones that don't have children at home either.

I also think management are part of the problem - never having enough cover or plans in place. What happens where I work is someone random in the organisastion gets put into cover for a bit.. When the sick one comes back both theirs and the other persons original role are behind. So both roles are a right mess and both people complain about stress. And so on.

I quite often get stomach upsets. I don't get colds but to get a lot of stomach viruses.

People sometimes lie about what their illness is. They may be ill and not well enough to work, but they do not want to tell their manager why.