to show up at work however ill I am?

[FireCracker2]

I work 30 hours a week in a job with vulnerable people. We all are salaried and paid sick and often do extra unpaid hours .
My company has started a new sickness monitoring procedure and disciplining people if they are off more than twice in the leave year.I was lucky as I got away with because although I had been off 12 days it was split over only 2 absences.
In future though I am going to come to work however sick I am and infect all the other staff and vulnerable clients.

Please don't do this. I am one of those vulnerable people in that I am immunosuppressed. Is there a way of challenging the new policy, through a union or employee forum?

That must be a joke? You don't really mean it? That would be awful of you to do that.

Go to HR and raise your concerns

Do your work use the Bradford index score? If so it's utterly shit and an absolute nightmare, especially for people like myself who have chronic health problems

If your employer has a policy like that, it is to stamp out sickness leave. They have factored in the fact that it will encourage ill people to turn up for work, and the potential consequences.

I would recommend turning up if you are at all able. Yes it's unfair on you, yes it's unfair on the people you might affect, but it's not worth losing your job over.

Thing is, when people are worried about being sacked for sickness absence - what else can they do? Infect vulnerable service users or end up sacked and possibly a vulnerable service user themselves / homeless.

What a great society we have created.

What do you mean by 'disciplining'? We have sick leave monitoring (if anyone bothers to do it) but no one is disciplined.

They use the Bradford Score at my work too. It's bloody awful. It takes no account of circumstances. I've got a chronic medical condition which has flared up this week. Despite being sick and in pain ive had to go to work. I can't even take strong enough painkillers because they knock me for 6. I needed a few days in bed but can't afford to for now because although I've only had a couple of absences one was a long one following hospitalisation and it's pushed my score past the allowed limit

It's not always advisable to "go to HR" by the way. I've worked in a similar-sounding environment to the OP. Not with vulnerable people, but a culture of "in at all costs". Going to HR would have been pointless, it would have flagged up that I had a problem with the company's policies and it would have been a shortcut to being fired.

Not legal, but very real, and it happened to MANY people while I was there. Lots of tribunals were held, almost all were in favour of the sacked employee, but I couldn't afford to take the risk of not being able to pay my rent while the case was processed.

we don't get paid for the first two sick days, therefore everyone comes in ill or you lose £££

redglitter I was subject to attendance management at work last year, it ended up just being a chat with my line manager to see if there was anything they could offer. Bradford score was sky high but I couldn't give a shit!

I have two absences just his week alone after making myself fit for work after the flue then waking up the next day with a chest infection, I'm still not worried though.

Do they treat you differently when it comes to the system?

We had Bradford score until recently. People started forcing themselves to work (and we all already work way over our hours). People started to get long term illnesses from neglecting little ones. They ended begging us to take leave if ill.

Nick I'm just on a stage one just now but if I'm off before mid Feb it would go to a stage 2 which means no absence for a year. I've been told HR may make an exception because of my medical condition but no guarantee. My consultant has already warned me there's a good possibility I'll end up in hospital this year (tho hopefully just for 24/48 hours not a fortnight like last time) My score will drop to 70 in May so I can relax after that but until then I daren't stay off

reglitter nightmare! Mine was 600 odd last year lol. I was off three times, two very short absences then off when my mum died.

I'll see your 600 and raise you to 760 😂

Which one of us can get to 4 figures lol?!!

Plexie - 4 occasions of sick in a rolling 12 months (occasions so could be just 4 individual days) = 12 months monitoring. You must have no sickness in that monitoring or you go to stage 2. And so on. At stage 4 you get sacked

😂😂😂

Where I work if you have 3 or more occasions in 12 rolling months you get informal counselling but it also depends on the reasons for being off. All done on a case by case basis.

Bradford index? Everywhere I've worked in last decade has used that and I really don't see why it's such a big deal (usually used in places that pay sick leave in fairness).

I got to stage 2 and stayed there for ages when I was going through some gynae issues that required a wait for surgery. It's was fine, just needed to provide evidence and reassure my employers that I was genuine, working towards minimising my illnesses impact and that there was going to be an outcome at some point.

It's not impossible to manage someone out of their role at stage 4 (seen it happen) but usually the individual is genuinely too ill for employment or a complete skivver. If you are neither don't worry about it.

It isn't Bradford score , it is purely number of absences.After 3 absences within 12 months, you are at stage1 and then if you are absent even once within the next 6 months you are on a final warning and you have to have no more sickness within a year.

Interesting l have had lots of occasions of being off when DC are sick (about 5 one day absences - I have 5 DC) but they don't seem to count?

Well they won't count as you aren't off sick for that.

That sounds a bit like the BA sickness policy......

Are people genuinely off work this much though?

I'm 40 and on the first sick leave of my life.