To be angry that husband has been called back to work

[Vitotitto]

Yesterday my DH felt unwell. He told that to his team leader. Today he had the fever and messaged him (team leader) that he decided to stay home.

At 5 pm DH received a call. Team leader asked to come to work as he is calling sick too often (to manage's point of view).

He had 3 days of absence in September 2017 (with enterovirus coxsackie, even visited his doctor that time) and 2 days in December 2017 (kind of cold).

He got today's virus last week from another guy who came ill (very obviously).

Team leader told him today that one of the bosses said that "diarrhoea is not enough to miss work". Err... Excuse me?

What to do? Visit HR?

That's not normal, isn't it?

It would trigger an absence review at my work, but being "summoned" back to work like that is unlikely to be in line with any company's absence policy.

6 days in six months is nothing if you get the flu, which will be more. Or if you get pneumonia, which will be more. And both are quite prevalent at the moment.

It depends on individual policies, but you trigger in my workplace if to you have either 3 individual occasions off sick (short term absence) or 10 days in one absence (long term absence).

I work in OH, and to be honest if a referral came in from a manager with these details the assumption would be he is taking the piss. Especially taking time of with a sort-of cold (not saying that he actually is).

In this scenario there would be a meeting with HR to discuss next steps. Either HR & manager would issue warning, let him off this one due to exceptional circumstances (unlikely in this case) or refer for our opinion.

If he is on a warning, it will be for a set amount of time (6 months or a year) a if no further absences then no action and warning expires. If further absence, then second notification of concern.

That sickness level would trigger an attendance meeting.
It involves a supervisor or manager and someone from HR. You can take someone in with you e.g. a union rep.
It is not something necessarily to be feared. They will look at the sickness, see if it is work related and is there anything they can do to help. They may offer use of the wellbeing service, offer reduced hours for a limited period etc
If it is just a run of bad luck health wise that will be recorded and monitored for set amount of time to see if there is a reoccurrence or pattern ( e.g. Goes off every Friday or Monday, goes off sick in the school holidays and so on)

He's used up his quota of goodwill, by taking a couple of days off for a cold. If he'd have soldiered on then, his manager would be more sympathetic now he has something that he really can't be in the workplace with (although I'm not sure if he has 'the fever' or diarrhoea).

I suspect the summoning was the boss saying if you come in now you'll avoid the first stage of the disciplinary

Having frequent short absences will trigger an investigatiin on a lit of those "HRbot" databases.

Dipitydoda

Not a week, most people have legitimate reason for a week off. The most common one was new starts being off every other Sunday. When you only have 8 staff in a beauty store, most of which are young girls, it's like pissing in the wind when one phones in sick. Ultimately I had to tell head office whenever I felt someone needed disciplined or sacked. So you would have to take it up with the company if you disagree, it's something they still do as DH still works there and one girl just got fired for calling in "sick" for five days and never appearing with a doctors note

3 occasions in 6 months is a lot what is the rest of the year like?

Your husband caught the virus off someone who dragged themself to work ill. And now your husband is going to pass it on to someone else.

People shouldn't be hero's when it can impact on others.

@jaseyraex you don't need a Doctors note for 5 days sickness.

Op I don't think he should be told to get back to work but 3 instances of sickness in 6 months is a lot.

I always thought that the rules were that if you call in sick you can't be disciplined or approached until your return to work unless that absence is more than the 7 day self certification, only then can you be contacted and asked to provided a fit note.

They can discipline you on your return back to work but they can't threaten you while your off or demand you return or else. I'm sure there's a rule against this for mental health purposes etc

Maybe it's a warning of sorts.... better come in or it's going to be an issue if it's another sickness

kaytee87

Apologies, that was meant to say 8. Although on probationary period anything goes against as a reason to sack someone.

Most employers much prefer you to go in and will send you home if you're that unwell.

Which is stupid, poor management, and increases problems for the employer as it ensures germs are spread around the team.

How long has he worked there for?

JassyRadlett

I agree but that's how it is in retail. At least all the big companies I've worked for have been like that. Your head could be hanging off and they'd still expect you to come in so they can judge if you're fit enough.

That would trigger a meeting with HR in my old company if he was ill that often in such a short space of time.

A "sort of cold" doesn't cut it these days. Employers expect you to take Immodium and Lemsip and work through.

Does he have a problem with his immune system?

That's how it works in retail? Even around food in a supermarket?

Yuck.

Google the Bradford Factor, based on this calculation formal action is a consideration for you DH.

Don't dispute sick leave for diarrhoea but two days for a kind of cold is pretty lame.

The other thing is unless there is a underlying medical condition (you've not mentioned one) then we'd be having a serious talk about hygiene because that's a lot of viruses/colds for an otherwise healthy adult.

It might sounds patronising, but a lot of viruses could be avoided with effective hand washing - I'd especially expect a person to be careful if they know a colleague was sick (I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to risk catching anything - and coincidentally despite seeing ill people every day I've not caught anything).

Doesn’t matter how many days he’s had off, it’s how many times. I had a HR meeting and one of my absences was half a day off.

3 times in 5 months is a lot.

I surprised the manager requested he go back to work though. Mine wouldn’t do that, I would be expected to have a sick note if over 5 days and probably have a meeting with manager and potentially HR after that.

Of course it can Trigger a sickness review or some other form of management intervention.

That intervention should never ever involve phoning the employee and telling them to come in though how unprofessional and unsophisticated. HR all the way

How long has your husband worked for this company? Six days over three periods in six months is a lot if he has been there for a year, nothing at all if he has been there for five years without being ill previously.

Perhaps it's just the way you phrased your post but saying that your DH told his team leader that he "decided" to stay home makes it sound as if he could have gone to work but just didn't want to push through. Also, what kind of virus does your husband have - you mentioned a fever at the beginning but then diarrhoea? And yes, I'm afraid that I agree with people who say that being absent with a "kind of cold" won't have gone down well unless you are paraphrasing and your DH actually gave a clearer explanation of his illness at work.

I've been a people manager for 15 years and. 3 times in 6 months is a lot. In my organisation it would trigger a short term absence review on the 3rd period of absence
His manager may have tried to get him to come in so that an absence review meeting could be avoided. I've done that before.
He could end up with an absence warning... so it may be easier for him to drag his ass in for the sake of that