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?

I don't get paid if I'm off sick but this is not a problem as I rarely seem to get ill. Not sure if that's a mind over matter thing or just a robust immune system. Either way I do not mind people coming into work with colds as I don't catch them. And I would rather they were there than at home

I live in Germany
Probation period is 6 months only.

EMail notification is the norm for all the employers I know

My employer, at least, works on a basis of trust & common sense, not Bradford - managers are supposed to know their employees well enough for this and to handle separately the occasional person regularly pulling sickies
No bullying, just good wishes for your return
A large firm (1000s of employees)
Generous Flexitime and parental leave

Funny, we have reasonably low levels of sickness
High productivity

Maybe because we are treated fairly, with respect, so we respond likewise

Manager sounds like a twunt.

I used to use the Bradford score and hated it with a passion. People get sick. Employers have to accept that. I’ve been lucky to have a pretty good immune system and before children I had never taken time off sick (I still haven’t but have needed time for them). My husband catches everything going through and does get sick. I don’t want people who have had vomiting and dihorhea next to me in the office. Workplaces with punitive approaches to sickness just lay the price when everyone gets sick. I’d rather someone took a day and rested than come in and do a crap job because they’re feeling rubbish.

He was off one day last month but hasn't had time off before that for about three months.

so that's 3 times he been off in the last 4ish months? How many times / days has he been off in the last year? 3 months between sick days is not a significant achievement unless he has underlying health issues which he really should then share with his employer.

His boss sounds under pressure, pissed off at being let down again and pissed off your dh wont even do him the courtesy of a quick call. Has your dh phoned in himself yet?

YANBU it doesn't look good.

I get migraines. My HR person says that this is a protected disability, but I'm not so sure!

I drag myself in most days though, to work on what I can. I have three workplace adjustments - lighting, working from home if necessary, and sickness reporting (since a lie in is the best way to heal, I notify my manager the evening before if I go home feeling bad, so I don't have to interrupt my rest in the morning to report). I thank fuck I work for a company that values the intelligence and output of someone over their petty attendance record.

Where's the OP, has she gone down with it as well? Is her DH Governor of the Bank of England or something? Why can't he be ill? Ideally he'd ring himself, but today he didn't. His employer sounds like a twat but he might just have been having a bad day and forgot that he is an adult (maybe interest rates are just about to go up or something).

OP let us know if your DH rallied sufficiently to call in himself, there are people here with pitchforks and and spades who want him hung drawn and quartered, let alone fired.

I so know the dragging myself in with a migraine!

My old manager used to take one look at my face and say "right, I'm not asking you any complicated questions today!" and I soon learnt to do simple stuff like meetings minutes rather than complicated excels, when i'd just had to recheck and re-do the formulas the next day...

My old manager used to take one look at my face and say "right, I'm not asking you any complicated questions today!" - oh that sounds like my sort of manager!

Communicating with the workplace isn't something you should delegate to a partner unless you are really incapable - and falling asleep an hour before the work day doesn't qualify, in my book at least. The benefit of having a partner at home should be that the partner wakes them up to make the call, then they can go back to sleep. Unless the person has special needs or learning difficulties they really should be able to handle their own business as an adult.

I work behind the counter in a pharmacy, my workplace is full of sick people ALL the time, every day.

We have no "sickness policy" - other than if you have a stomach bug don't come in - but somehow we don't get sick. It is not inevitable that illnesses get passed on.

I still can't believe you called in sick for him!

UserV, we had a Master's student's mother email us regarding her daughter's Uni courses If you're old enough to do a MA, you're old enough to find out about YOUR courses on YOUR own.

'The Bradford Factor or Bradford Formula is used in human resource management as a means of measuring worker absenteeism. The theory is that short, frequent, and unplanned absences are more disruptive than longer absences. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development the term was first coined due to its supposed connection with research undertaken by the Bradford University School of Management in the 1980s. It was developed as a way of highlighting the disproportionate level of disruption of an organisation's performance that can be caused by short-term absences compared to single instances of prolonged absence.

It was originally designed for use as part of the overall investigation and management of absenteeism. In contrast, if used as part of a very limited approach to address absence or by setting unrealistically low trigger scores it was considered short-sighted, unlikely to be successful and could lead to staff disaffection and grievances. The use of the Bradford Factor often provokes heated debate'

^

From wiki, sorry.

The pair of you don't seem to think his sickness record is bad when in reality it would be enough for most employers to dismiss

Laughable! I work in HR. I'd never work anywhere with such a strict policy, it just means people come in when they are too poorly to & infect everyone else.

Here we have a 20 day in a rolling year trigger, it's very rare for anyone to hit that and it's the same policy as my previous 2 companies. I can't imagine the paperwork if we had to discipline anyone that hit less than 10 in a year

I was calling to let you know X won't be able to come in this morning. He's been up all night being....sick and is now in a coma/hospital/dead

Person op called wouldn't know if op's oh was able or not to phone in themselves they didn't want to hear.

Do you really think an average of 10 sick days per year is standard RedPony?

One day per month, allowing for holidays... No way.

When I've been too ill to make a phonecall (and not just asleep) I've dictated an email for DP to send for me from my account.

If you're well enough to dictate an email to be sent, you're well enough to call in. Texts and emails are seen as a cop-out which is why companies insist on you calling in yourself as it makes it less easy to pull a sickie.

Someone else phoning in on behalf of an employee would result in instant dismissal at the office I manage.

Oh hello, CalF123.

Ha I live in Australia. Apparently the average number of sick days for an Australian is 8-9. For British people it is 2... If people are leaving their job and they have lots of sick time saved up they see it as entirely reasonable to take it during their notice! Interesting work ethic... On the other hand it does mean that if people need a day off (we do a very stressful job) it is acceptable to take a day off just to keep you from having a complete meltdown which I quite like

Some of these company policies are shocking. When I had my last miscarriage, I was in hospital - my DH emailed (from his account) my work to explain that I wouldn't be coming in. Then I self-cert'ed a week off work. Any employer with a rule about dismissal if someone else notified them is not an employer I would work for. Hire the right people, trust and respect your employees, and they'll work harder.

Do you really think an average of 10 sick days per year is standard RedPony

That wasn't what her message said. She said that the paperwork would be massive if they were disciplining people who were sick for up to 10 days a year.

Unless at death's door your DH should have phoned in.
Regarding 'acceptable' sick leave or not I know someone who worked for the MOM and they were 'allowed' 3 weeks/year, so of course everyone carefully took 21days 'to use it up', on top of A/L!
Unbelievable but true

*MOD not MOM