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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

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

285 replies

Cutecat78 · 23/02/2016 20:38

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.

OP posts:
JeanGenie23 · 23/02/2016 22:46

I think it's easy to go after OP on a thread like this because it's a touchy subject. Maybe OP is being far too judgemental, but because I have first hand experience of what she is talking about, I don't think she is.

However other posters have succinctly outlined how there are many wonderful employees who work exceptionally hard and go above and beyond.

Had my mom not had the treatment from her workplace that she did, I may be inclined to be on the "you are too judgey camp" but I'm too pissed off on my moms behalf at the moment to see it differently.

rosebiggs · 23/02/2016 22:46

Yes it's a discussion board and you are posting about 'people who have GENUINE mental health issues,' so naturally other posters may wonder how you would be able to decide who had a 'genuine' mental health difficulty.

Original poster
Cutecat78 · 23/02/2016 22:47

Good grief - people calling me judgemental - then judging my entire personality in me venting about 1 aspect of my life on a thread on an Internet forum Grin

OP posts:
Wolfiefan · 23/02/2016 22:48

You want to hang the bastard out to dry who's massively taking the piss?
Yes that sounds charming.
On behalf of people with MH issues. The stigma surrounding this and the shitty attitudes displayed above means many people try bloody hard to appear "normal". Some go into work everyday feeling like they are teetering on the brink of something awful. Some get sucked into that abyss.
It's shit.
It's not helped by judgy twats who think you are on the sick because you can't be arsed to work for a living.

JeanGenie23 · 23/02/2016 22:48

However I do think you have to be aware of saying that someone isn't ill just because they don't look it, the hidden illness' (I mean the likes of depression) are often the more dangerous ones

Sallystyle · 23/02/2016 22:55

She was encouraged to hang him out to dry when she posted that he sexually harassed her. Op never said she wanted to hang him out to dry because of sick leave Hmm

fakenamefornow · 23/02/2016 22:55

Ignore them op. We know some people take the piss. It's just the same if you say some people cheat the benefit system or some people aren't genuine asylum seekers, some posters like to read that as EVERYBODY cheats the benefit system and EVERYBODY'S asylum claim is fake and insist not a single person has ever gone off sick without being really sick, EVER.

rosebiggs · 23/02/2016 22:56

This thread is turning into a daily mail comments section.

Zariyah · 23/02/2016 22:59

It's naive to think that sick leave is not abused in some areas of work. Equally, managers need to take responsibility for the pressure they are piling on their workers, forcing hard-working people to feel they have no option but to go off sick with stress. My LA have scaled back sick leave. People still go off sick because people get ill and because the pressure of being a frontline worker in social care is hellish. So, we have people off sick who are trying to recover from stress whilst being forced to "get well quickly" to ensure they can pay their bills. In the mean time, the LA forks out mind boggling amounts for locums to cover while their employee is feeling unsupported.

If numerous people are openly boasting about abusing sick leave, then senior management need to pull their fingers out and figure out what the hell is going wrong and why they have such a dissatisfied and demotivated workforce. That said, while the odd person or two is always a twat about sick leave, I find that it's rare to have multiple people swinging the lead.

Ledkr · 23/02/2016 23:04

Dh abd I are both public sector and it's very true thst people taking the piss.
Months and months off sick with stress or bad backs.
The rest of us becoming more and more stressed from working u. Such high pressure short staffed depts.
dh has people who cannot do main duties job for medical reasons but can cycle miles and miles at weekends!
Twenty four stone person who can only do reduced hours cos of bad back!!
A person off for months and months after some family problems but who can go on the piss every weekend and be in the gym every day.
Come on! This is public money!

Libitina · 23/02/2016 23:09

Wolfiefan, no she wants to hang him out for sexually harassing her.

Original poster
Cutecat78 · 23/02/2016 23:13

We can self certify ourselves for 5 days with no doctors note.

OP posts:
Wolfiefan · 23/02/2016 23:17

And now someone is to blame for having a bad back because of their weight.
I'm out.

Dungandbother · 23/02/2016 23:17

Private here and and bog standard sick pay, 3 months I think then SSP.

No sick in my place except for cancer. Several of those. One lady is doing a gradual return and HR cashed in some insurance to pay for freelance double cover to settle her back in.

It's not a sick leave environment. Coughs and colds and back in ASAP.

I agree that when you have the generous policy in place, people are more likely to use it fully.

Reduce the policy = reduced sick pay. Public v private is irrelevant but quality of sick pay is.

DD teacher is one of these. La teaching contract over 20 years service. Always appears in Sept. Gone by half term. Back two weeks in late July. And repeat five years now.

It's damn obvious to me she can't cope probably due to mental illness. And I'm sympathetic. But where do you draw the line?
She's now let down 150 children let alone the colleagues. And has a sympathetic boss. Where's her 'game face' some of you referenced?

FirstWeTakeManhattan · 23/02/2016 23:23

It's not helped by judgy twats who think you are on the sick because you can't be arsed to work for a living

It's also not helped by people who do claim sick leave unfairly. It does happen unfortunately.

It's those people who make it much, much harder for genuine claimants to be believed.

As I said upthread, pretending it doesn't exist as an issue doesn't help anyone.

ilovesooty · 23/02/2016 23:27

If someone has been off sick on a repetitive pattern for most of the previous five years I can't think of any reason why moves haven't been made to dismiss. Extreme levels of absence such as that indicate that the employee is not capable of doing the job they're employed to do.

AlpacaLypse · 23/02/2016 23:27

I don't think OP was wise to use 'mental' in her thread title. Was always going to get the POs on her back.

But yes, she's right, they're there, playing the system for all its worth and dragging all the people who genuinely need long term leave down with them. I've come across too many friends of friends down the pub boasting about taking five months and three weeks leave for their ropey back before returning to work. Large publicly funded organisations suffer from it worst, although any organisation with a generous sick pay policy can be a victim.

Ness1234 · 23/02/2016 23:29

OP, at last some one speaking out about what goes on, you are being very brave, behaviour within local authorities is like this.

AlpacaLypse · 23/02/2016 23:31

And actually getting rid of someone for being incapable or unwilling to do the job they were hired for, once they've got through the probationary couple of years it's virtually impossible. So the useless ones get posted round and round between departments.

manicinsomniac · 23/02/2016 23:31

needmore - I don't think 2 weeks off after the death of a parent is that unreasonable is it? I have a colleague who's recently had just over that because her mother was her father's carer so they've had a hell of a time working out what to do. And several of my other colleagues have had over a week. It also depends on your way of coping. I only had 4 days when my dad died but a)every second that I was doing anything was so painful that is was better to be at work and b) I was very young so I didn't have any of the legal or practical things to sort out, my mum and aunts did it all. It's not always only your own personal grief you have to deal with is it, it's a whole host of other problems. So I think blaming someone for taking two weeks in a little unfair.

I don't know if OP is being unreasonable or not. I have huge issues personally with people being off sick. It just makes me feel twisted, panicky and resentful inside. Probably because I have a few different mental illnesses that make work really hard at times but are never quite bad enough for a day off. And sometimes I feel like I am just coping when somebody phones in sick and I have to do some of their work too and then things start sliding out of control for me. So I get even more bitter and angry. I have enven gone into the toilets and cried about other people having a day off. But I know that this is my issue to work on and not theirs. It is my problem and fortunately I have (almost always) learned not to let it show.

That level of sick leave does sound truly mental though. I had no idea anywhere was like that tbh. I can see how it could end up being abused. Though I would have thought that anyone who wasn't genuinely ill would be bored stupid and chomping at the bit to get back to work by the end of 6 months.

manicinsomniac · 23/02/2016 23:32

' wasn't doing anything' that should read

Original poster
Cutecat78 · 23/02/2016 23:32

I agree using mental wasn't wise but it's done now.

I spend a lot of my day being PC - I did not want to offend anyone.

I have suffered mental health issues in the past - addiction and depression and post natal psychosis.

OP posts:
cdtaylornats · 23/02/2016 23:33

I've only ver met one person who deserved to be long term sick, he was a butcher, with peripheral neuropathy - when he cut of the second finger top that was convincing.

MNHQ
PresidentOliviaMumsnet · 23/02/2016 23:38

@Cutecat78

I agree using mental wasn't wise but it's done now.

I spend a lot of my day being PC - I did not want to offend anyone.

I have suffered mental health issues in the past - addiction and depression and post natal psychosis.

We've amended this now - apols for the delay.
Thanks
MNHQ

Monty27 · 23/02/2016 23:40

OP you sound evil.

I've been off sick long term several times in my long service job (27 years). Sometimes I couldn't get out of bed to go and even get a sick note I was so depressed. Thankfully my employers have understood this.

I'd never wish it on anyone, but you need some training.