AIBU to think employers need to accept that people get ill sometimes

[BigPinkBall]

I’ve had D&V since Thursday and if I follow the NHS advice (which I will) not to go into work until 48 hours have passed from the last incident then the earliest I could go to work would be Tuesday meaning as I’ve already had 4 days off with a chest infection in this year, that I’ll end up having to have a meeting with my manager about my absence and be told not to be ill again for the next 12 months (as if I have any say over it) or I’ll be on a PIP.

Surely policies like this just encourage people to go to work when they’re contagious?

I thought the advice was 24 hours. 48 hours for most schools / nursery because germs spread between kids easier?
If you have stopped being ill then you should be fine by Monday?

Bit obviously I agree that you can't help being ill!

It's 48 hours where I work from your last episode of D or V. I agree with you OP - it's very harsh. People get ill, it happens. It doesn't mean that you're a slacker or a weakling

I’m still ill now and there’s someone in my office who’s immunocompromosed so I wouldn’t like to risk it.

I'm self employed so the rules go out the window. Hope you are better soon

To clarify : I meant I have to work even if feel rough although I can answer calls and emails at home. I didn't mean employment law for others at my office!

I completely agree. I've called in sick twice in 18 months (one day for a cold and two days for flu) but we now have an interview if you've been off sick and I know if you have four instances in a year you face disciplinary. And we don't get paid for being off sick! I'm feeling a bit ropey now and I can't help worrying! On the other hand DP works for a good company who understand.

Its awful how people are treated at work. As if you choose to be ill! What about chronic flare ups of conditions too? No wonder people get burn out and other run down sickness.

Well yes they do get ill, but 7 days off work within the first 5 months of the year is quite a lot really.

It's tricky because if you're genuinely just unlucky then it's quite harsh, but businesses have policies like this to discourage people from taking time off sick unless it's really needed because some people do take the piss.

'And we don't get paid for being off sick!:

I really that's appalling. People shouldn't have to worry about paying the bills if they getting ill, as EVERYONE does from time to time

Yes I lost around £140 that month for two days! And that month we were worked into the ground doing overtime. At least I still got paid for that. And everyone in the office got either flu or a cold and had to take time off. Some only took a day therefore passing it round.

Agreed. I don’t get paid sick. A child came into my class with raging tonsillitis. I got tonsillitis. When I told my employer, they said oh you might be contagious but hey at least you can work from home! My face was a picture. I couldn’t even lift my head off the pillow because my head, ears and throat hurt that much. They are ridiculous.

All businesses should factor in the availability of staff, i.e. non productive time due to leave, training and illness. There will be a threshold above which an employee would become less productive than a business may allow though. At my place a special review is triggered if someone has had a total of more than 8 days (i think) or 3 instances in a ruling 12mth period. In my experience this is a tool to manage those that swing the lead. But also to support staff that need it. As a manager I've been on both sides of it, suffering from a chronic illness but also having supported team members through various maladies. I thought a pip was always related to performance in the workplace, and shouldn't be tied to health. Do you have a union you can talk to?
I think you are correct to feel hard done by by your employer and their policy certainly seems to encourage an early return, which is short sighted if it leads to others getting infected.

One person in my office took the piss taking days off here and there so I understand that but I literally couldn't get out of bed never mind drive to work! I wouldn't have trusted myself! Someone in my office has been off sick all week with tonsillitis and was worried they wouldn't be allowed to take it out of their holidays. A few years ago I got multiple sinus infections and had to keep taking time off. I got paid at that company but I still had to explain to the boss.

Of course people can’t help being ill, but absence is a huge problem for a lot of businesses.

Hope you feel better soon x

It’s 48 hours. Any healthcare staff can confirm that. Employers do need to realise that people get ill. I hate the bitching about it because it encourages people to go to work/school while still contagious. That puts people like my child at huge risk. I’m dreading her starting school because of issues like this. If you are sick, you stay home. If your child is sick, you keep them home. I swear people are stupid and don’t seem to realise that everyone will stay sick for a lot longer if no one takes the time to stay off and get better. I get ill quite often, I had to risk being away from my child in hospital while ill for a total of five days, I wasn’t near her at such a high risk time, Me risking being away was much better than her or any other child getting ill when in such critical conditions. And maybe not critical for most people but no one should get ill because someone else was selfish enough to attend work. How does it work with employers if you get ill when they warn you not to? I don’t work so don’t know.

This kind of stuff always reminds me of when you’re kids and one is naughty and the whole class gets kept in.

Instead of focusing their efforts on the people that take the piss they implement blanket rules that mean genuine people suffer.

Employers, get a grip!

Slightly different but I work for the NHS and on i had an op in the same hospital where I work, that my manager was well aware of. The guidance I received in writing (And passed onto my manager) stated I would need at least 3 days to recover from the general anaesthetic alone, but my manager was informed my husband would phone after my op to let her know roughly how long I may need off. Yet she still rang my mobile that day while I was still in recovery to find out if I was going to be in for my night shift that night

Bambamber That’s crazy. How could someone who works for the NHS ask or even think something so stupid?

quack I don't think people are stupid, I think people need to feed their families and can't afford time off when they are sick because of crap sickness policies and such like. In an ideal world, i'd like to stay home when I'm unwell too. I'm unwell and feel lousy. But if i don't go to work, my kids don't get fed and my mortgage doesn't get paid.

TheOriginalEmu Employers are clearly stupid though. To not understand that if people don’t stay off to recover then more people will be sicker for longer, is in my opinion stupid. I’m not saying that people who have no choice are stupid just that it is overall. I’m not going to hate someone for having to go to work if it means forgoing food that week, but I’d much prefer if people stayed off if they can. A lot of people still go in when they can afford to take the time to recover. Common colds I understand people can’t always take off but bugs etc should never be taken into a work environment. You don’t know who lives in people’s homes that could be killed by that bug.

I remember having my ex manager being really nasty and threaten me with a written warning because I had had 6 days of sickness in four months. 2 lots of three days. The first I had an acute kidney infection and was in hospital, luckily after the first three days off I actually went into a weeks annual leave (which I could have asked for back and didn’t)
The second was a misscarrage in which I had to have a D&C
She didn’t take into account the reasons I was off and refused to accept the last lot of absence was pregnancy related and so could not be counted.
The last straw was the fact that I met and exceeded all my targets dispute being off and yet my useless colleague who managed to get in every day yet did the bare minimum and even failed some of his targets got a £500 bonus for not having any sickness in a year.
My sickness was in the last four months of the financial year and up to then I had not had any absence since starting two years earlier.
I left

I understand that policy’s need to be in place because some people take the piss but common sense should come into play and staff treated like human beings instead of machines. unfortunately a lot of places use absence policies such as the Bradford Factor as a one size fits all and that is not how it is meant to be used. When a trigger is reached you should then treat each case individually and offer support but in a lot of places you are just slapped with a warning

It annoys me. If you’re ill you should be at home, away from spreading it around... but of course it’s inconvenient for the companies at times, and bad companies don’t really care. It’s not right

I was recently off with a sickness bug. My work was really pissed off about it. Had I of been off work for another day then I wouldn’t have been able to self certify (and would need a drs note). Do people really expect you to see drs about illnesses such as sickness?