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.

[crunchymint]

But if you go over the target, they can sack you.
You have protection if you are officially off for a disability, or it is the fault of your workplace e.g. avoidable workplace injury. But the things I know that people have been told to reduce their time off sick, is live more healthily, so they don't catch flu and viruses.

[Babyroobs]

We have a system similar to this in or workplace but in reality people rarely get disciplined if they are genuine. I firmly believe that management know who the ones taking the p**s are and the others are left alone. they have been incredibly generous paying long term sick pay to people with sick relatives and following bereavement even if it has meant that they have had multiple episodes of sick time off.

[crunchymint]

Glad to hear that. When I worked in public sector people who were genuinely ill were sacked. It meant that people came in when they were clearly not well enough to be there.

[Kannet]

My last job where really relaxed about sick leave, to be fair no one really took advantage either. However there was one guy there who always bragged that he had never been off sick, he got ill all the time and came in and spread it all over the office. We where always begging him to go home when he was coughing and sneezing all over the place. He used to drive us mad.

[NewtScamandersNaughtyNiffler]

Blackteadrinker77

I can't believe that many people are off for more than 1-2 days a rolling year so this shouldn't really be a problem.

I was sick at work on Thursday and got sent home. Friday was my day off anyway but I still had v&d. Work have a very strict 48 hours after last bout policy so I had to take all weekend off too. 3 days sickness when I wasn't 'sick' for some of them. That's my entire 12 month 'allowance' gone for 1 bug.

I'm not disputing the policy and know we have it for a reason, but I wouldn't have been allowed to go back if I'd wanted to!

[Bunglecunt]

Yy I have a friend who was off for 2 days with d and v (2 separate occasions) then had an accident needing surgery and a 6 week recuperation period. A few months later she was off again following surgery for appendicitis and she was sacked. All apart from the d and v were with sick notes obviously and it was completely legal

[ElphabaTheGreen]

I work in an NHS hospital and - oh, the irony - we have a similar sickness absence policy. Every other sickness absence within a 12 month period results in escalation towards increasingly serious warnings.

I have two chronic conditions so am off at least once every couple of months, if not more. I've been to our occ health and HR, armed with letters from my consultants, who are fully on board and have adjusted my triggers. I'm now 'allowed' to be sick eight times before I get any kind of warning.

Are you able to arrange anything like this?

[expatinscotland]

YANBU, especially because most of these jobs are low-paid, zero hours gigs and if you need UC to help pay your rent, well, you have to go in. People will say it's all your fault, however, because you're a shirker and a chancer who didn't make good life choices and so deserve it. It's too bad we can't all be like the fat cats at Carillion who ripped off the taxpayers to the tune of millions but will walk away with still more.

[DeleteOrDecay]

Can't really blame you op. Sounds like your hands are tied unless you want to risk losing your job. It sucks for colleagues and clients but the buck stops at the employer and their ridiculous policy imo.

[crunchymint]

Elphaba That will only be the case because you will have been judged to meet the criteria for having a disability. So disability discrimination law comes into play.

[ArkAtEee]

@Blackteadrinker77 I am actually stonkingly healthy for someone with chronic conditions and rarely take time off, I am also usually allowed to work from home if 'mildly' ill. But I have a young child who brings bugs home all the time and when I get something it takes me longer to recover than 'normal' people, so I have a real empathy with people who don't have the flexibility I have. It's easily done if you have a job you have to physically attend every day.

[Gabilan]

But the things I know that people have been told to reduce their time off sick, is live more healthily, so they don't catch flu and viruses

Work stress will, ironically enough, contribute to sickness at work. The longest single period I have ever been off work for was certificated as "depression and work-related stress". Treating people like actual humans, instead of workshy layabouts who will take the piss at every opportunity, is a good way to reduce stress at work.

[crunchymint]

Yes agreed.

[FireCracker2]

I work in an office role, but lots of the people at my work are carers for people with dementia who cannot be relied upon to be hygienic, and there has been an outbreak of norovirus, care staff are forced to clean up vomit and diarrhoea. Residents are supposed to be confined to their rooms but this is not enforceable and they can wander round spreading their germs freely. Nearly all the care staff caught the bug and were told they CANNOT come into work for 48 hours and then penalised for it through this policy.

[ElphabaTheGreen]

The thing is, the longer you work in a care setting, the more immunity you build up to norivirus, even across settings - I had it a few times when I first started working in hospitals 14 years ago, but haven't had it for years (touch wood), despite there being outbreaks and wards closed annually in every hospital I've worked in. So, arguably, the more experienced staff shouldn't really be getting it at all. With appropriate PPE and cleaning equipment, cleaning up faeces and vomit (I doubt they're 'forced'...more a job requirement IME ) should not increase exposure massively. Followed by meticulous hand-hygiene, of course.

Norovirus outbreaks are ideal times for those staff who will take the piss (and such people do exist) because it's not just one day off, it's three or four because of the 48 hour rule. When the hardline rules on sickness were introduced in our Trust, incidents of absence reported due to norivirus among staff dropped sharply. It also cut absence rates among non-clinical staff by about two-thirds. And, no, there wasn't a subsequent upsurge in long-term absences for work stress or mental ill-health, or an increase in patients with hospital-acquired infections on the ward because of staff coming in sick when they shouldn't have been in. It really did just crack down on the piss-takers.

[5plusMeAndHim]

Go to HR and raise your concerns

who do you think will have implemented it?

[safariboot]

Employers like this come about because of employees like this: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3142476-To-call-in-sick-for-work-when-not-ill

[Stompythedinosaur]

I'm a nurse and my trust has a very similar sick policy. Yes, people are sacked despite being signed off by doctors.

I drag myself in to work unless I'm physically incapable of doing so. Very little choice really.

You could express your concerns to a union if you have one.

[crunchymint]

safari I don't agree. You can deal with the individual staff who take the piss. But if you don't pay staff for sickness, don't complain when they come in sick.

[Ratinthehat]

I kind of wish we had this where I work. There are only three off us in the office and one of them is off sick nearly every other Monday "sick". He was off 17 days sick last year and didn't even turn up on the first day back this year.

Really though that's just bad management and I have worked in jobs where you get threatened with a disaplinary for having on day off sick so i think there needs to be a happy middle ground. Most people can tell who's talking the piss. People can't help getting ill and if they have been signed off it seems really unfair.

[Notthenameiwant]

If we score over 100 on the Bradford score we get called in for a meeting. If it goes over 150 then it's a disciplinary. 200 automatic dismissal. I work in care
I'm not sure it's completely legal.

[crunchymint]

It is legal

[HelenaDove]

I smell Dispatches next undercover expose!!!

[crunchymint]

Then it will simply be an expose to those who work for very decent employers.This really is not unusual.