To think DH might get fired?!

[ohgodwhatcanido]

NC for this.

Essentially DH fell asleep ah hour ago after being violently ill all night and morning; I've been sick as well so I think it's a bug. He was off one day last month but hasn't had time off before that for about three months. He asked if I'd call in for him so I did and the conversation went like this:

Him: 'Good morning X speaking how can I help?'
Me: 'Hi there, I'm calling to let you know that X'
Him: 'Sorry, who?'
Me:' Sorry, my line isn't too clear, I was calling to let you know X won't be able to come in this morning. He's been up all night being-'
Him: 'I don't want to hear it thanks, bye'

And then hung up. He didn't even let me explain why and sounded really mad. DH just had his days off for the week so I'm worried they'll think he's playing at it. Am I over thinking it or does this not look good?

Our policy is that the person has to call themselves - there are instances (hospitalised) when obviously NOK calls for them. If this happens to me, I'd be polite and accept the call from the spouse and then text/email the employee and remind them of policy and ask them to call me ASAP - no one needs to be rude to spouse.

Sounds like a strange conversation altogether, though.

I'd get your DH to call in ASAP

When you are ill you don’t want to remember things like boundaries. You don’t care about anything but sleep.

So let’s suppose the policy says the employee should call in every day. The manager speaks to the employee on the first day and agrees they don’t need to call in for 4 days. That’s helpful, surely? That can’t be agreed if not discussed.

He should have called in himself. Set an alarm to wake himself up and do it. Asking you to wasn't ok. I'm surprised he doesn't know that as a grown up. Did he know that and just couldn't face it?

When he gets up he needs to call his manager and explain.

It sounds like they are struggling. It could have been your call was one of many that morning or it could be the manager has had enough of your husband for whatever reason. The manager should have been polite though to you. Either way the manager is pissed off. So yes, there could be further consequences. As said, the least your husband could have done was call in himself.

OP knows he's been sick but it's the Friday of a bank holiday weekend - probably one of the most common days for sickies all year, I would imagine.

He needs to be an adult and ring in himself, speak to his manager and follow the policy that will be in his contract.

He has had a lot of time off but sometimes these things just come in waves unfortunately. If all the reasons are genuine and he's otherwise a good worker it shouldn't be a problem but he's not helping himself by getting his wife to ring in sick for him!

I think it sounds like the manager didn't want to hear what DH had been doing all night when he was up (which is TMI).

I don't see that OP ringing in is a particular deal, but I think she could have made a more professional job of the phone call, explaining that she was X's wife, that he was unable to come to the phone as had been awake all night and that he had a D&V bug. Her phone call sounds very casual.

A lot of jobs you will need to talk to you about who is covering your work or arrange to email work over, cancel appointments etc etc ...and I'm sure employers also do like you to ring it is a lot easier to text or get someone else to ring in I HATE having to make that call but I've also not had a day off ill in over 4 years - I have had to take occasional carers days which are another awkward issue

@FASH84 your mum is a hero

Don't be daft enough to start talking about grievances - you may have meant well by calling in but your DH needs to ring in himself, explain to his manager that you don't know their policies and thought you were being helpful and apologise for not calling himself. Three instances of sick leave in 12 months would be enough to trigger a review in most organisations but it's just that, a review not a disciplinary. They should be checking up on staff if there's a pattern of sickness leave forming.

Eh? 3 days in, what, 4 months?

It won't be seen like that though. It'll be seen as three instances of sickness in four months. One period of four days is looked on a lot more favourably than several short bursts. I'm not saying that's right, but in reality that's the way it goes.

Yes, he should definitely call in himself. Looks a bit pathetic if he can't manage a phone call (unless as PPs have said he is physically incapable).

And no, he shouldn't go in to work.

Any chance the boss thought it was a PPI call or similar if the line was bad??? Maybe that's why he hung up.

@adaline I get that it's worse than 3 days in a row, but I was responding to a poster who said most employers would see 3 days in a few months as a dismissible offence. It's worthy of a chat with the manager, but not sacking (unless there are other issues going on)!

It would be in some workplaces, especially if the employee was notoriously unreliable or in probation.

OP still hasn’t said how long he’s worked there. If it’s only 6 months and he’s already had 3 instances of sickness it’s much more likely that his employment will be terminated than if he’s been there 6 years!

Where my daughter works the staff have to FaceTime the boss to report sickness!

FFS. Your poor H. I am unimpressed by employers who think that staff should come in and spread germs round the workplace - 3 days sickness in 4 months is perfectly normal and reasonable.
A company that treats staff like skivers probably has a lot of skivers probably because the management despise the staff and the job's a crock of shit.

DH called in for me once, when I lost my voice so badly that I wouldn't have been able to make myself heard at all over the phone. I've also emailed my manager to say I wouldn't be in when my mum had a stroke, because I knew I wouldn't be able to speak without sobbing. Both times were fine, because my employers were compassionate humans.

I hope your husband feels better soon OP. He should call as soon as he's able and find out what's going on. There might be another reason for his boss having been so abrupt with you.

It's 3 periods of absence..... in 4 months

I'd be looking to manage him out if it was my workplace I'm afraid. That's really not acceptable
It's not normal and not reasonable

I think most people in agreement he should of phoned in however the manager should not of spoke like that. As a pp said people can have a bad run with illness. Sometimes you can't win as its frowned apon to go to work sick but you can't take time off sick crazy!!!

Am I the only one who thinks the managercdounds totally unprofessional. Maybe it’s not their system to have someone else call in. But cutting OP off and implying she’s being dishonest isn’t a reasonable response.

Both times my partner has been off he has tried to make me phone in, I told him not a chance, he is am adult and unless his vocal cords at a missing or he is unconscious he can do it himself. ( that was only 2 days off sick over a nearly 7 year period though). Your partner seems to have had quite a few days off in a short space of time thpugh so maybe you should prepare for the worst.

Sorry if this has already been asked, but has your DH's sick leave coincidentally (or otherwise) fallen on bank holidays before? You say he had a day off a month ago, so around the May Day bank holiday? And time off 3 months ago, which is around the Easter Bank Holidays?

Sounds like the manager fully expected to get a phone call this morning, which was why he was so fed up?

Serious question - how do people with recurring problems manage?

I have migraines. Frequent migraines. I try to struggle in, but sometimes I can't and email in sick. To be fair, in this country you have to have a doctors note for each day of absence so maybe that is why I've not been in trouble?

For example, I was off 2 times in November, 2 times in December (once a migraine and once a very long sickness bug), once in January, once in March...

I've never heard anything about it from my manager or HR. I also don't need covering - I do project work and run my own stream so anything I don't do on the day I'm ill, I catch up with later.

Snow - I have an incurable condition which means I'm immunosuppressed. My last job refused to alter the triggers despite being advised to and I basically spent years there bouncing between different sickness stages including going to a final sickness hearing when I had been off for... emergency spinal surgery

I've worked at some pretty poor places in terms of employee rights, but never heard of 3 days off in 4 months being a sackable offence.
Especially if prior record is fine.

Ollivander that sounds so shit!

I actually went to my HR once to ask at what point I might trigger some official enquiry and she just looked at me blankly.

I have no idea how I'd cope in the UK. It's awful.

OP, he won't get fired for that, but if company policy is that the employee should call in (as most are) then he should call him himself and asap.

The Bradford Factor is calculated on absences over the last 12 month period and is as follows:

Number of instances x number of instances x total number of days

So if he has been off 3 times in the last three months for a total of, say, 4 days, his Bradford Factor would be 3 x 3 x 4 = 36, which isn't particularly high. BF is just a guideline companies use and their policy on absence could be based on higher or lower scores.