To think she’s faking?

[Appleofmypie]

One of my team at work is 14 weeks pregnant. She’s been off sick for 5 weeks with severe hyperemesis and still has a week left on her sick note (she’s being signed off for 2 weeks at a time)

By complete coincidence she is Facebook friends with a friend of mine.

My friend has put some pictures on Facebook this morning of her Greek holiday she’s still on, and my work colleague is in most of them - sunbathing, eating, swimming in the sea, playing volleyball. She has obviously blocked me as she is tagged in the pictures but her name is unclickable.

I’m gonna sound like a complete cow but I think she’s faking her sickness.
She’s on full pay from work and we’re having to pay an agency temp to cover her work too. It’s a small company that is struggling and I doubt we’re going to make any profit this month due to this.

My questions are:

Should I tell/show our boss?
What evidence of hyperemesis does a GP need to see to sign you off or Could it just be on her say so?
Is she actually doing anything illegal?
I know that pregnancy sickness is covered separately to normal in terms of disciplinary but if it’s proven she’s faking could it still be gross misconduct?

Thanks

She is so faking it. Pregnancy of course gives you certain protections at work but it doesn't mean you can commit gross misconduct without consequence. She's effectively stealing from the company if she gets sick pay or from the government if she's on SSP. Either way it's dishonest.

I hope she is met with the appropriate consequence on her return to work. It's people like her that make it difficult for genuinely sick people, pregnant or not.

@inwaiting holiday whilst on sick leave is very case dependent - My GP and the company's own Occupational Health doctor actually told me to go on holiday whilst off sick once with a physical problem. Certain recommendations were made, such as I had to do nothing to prepare the holiday, DH had to do everything and I just concentrate on getting through the journey, and then basically lie around resting at the other end. Was in mainland Europe and we were staying with family who did everything, so not a typical holiday.

In cases of mental health illness then holiday during sickness is fairly commonly recommended.

Good for you OP

Social media is catching so many people out.

Something similar happened to me once - a co-worker was a sexual harasser, but ended up stealing from the company so got fired for that instead (was so much faster and easier to prove!)

Wow what a horrible position to be in :(

Wonder what happens on Monday. I don't think she'll be in and be signed off again..

Shamelessly place marking...getting popcorn...

I am really hoping that, if her certificate runs out today, that her DH turns up at your office today with a new one rather than her come back to work on Monday.....

Shameless placemark. Need to know what happens

Drat. I haven't the time to scroll through 21 pages. Bookmarking. I remember having hyperemesis, crawled everywhere for 2 months and ate only crackers.

Place marking too!

These threads get full up with place marking messages. If you can't use the marking option and can't remember where you were then go somewhere else.

GladAllOver

Mmkay.

I had hg. It hit the first day we were abroad for a 3 day trip. I spent the whole three days lying on the bathroom floor as it was cold, I couldn't move and was near the toilet. I only went out for Dh's 30th meal. I thought I would die on the journey home. I spent most of my pregnancies on a bathroom floor as I had lost so much energy I couldn't move. If we went for a coffee or to the shops then I had sick bags. I had it easy compared to most and stayed at home but I think it is only because I sucked ice the whole time to numb my mouth. You could not have paid me enough money to go on holiday. It lasted until my babies were born. Hg doesn't disappear at 13 weeks sadly.

I’ve only scanned through the thread so may have missed this but,,,,,,had she booked annual leave previously for her holiday and had this been agreed by your boss?

Nanasueathome you have most definitely missed quite a bit!

Please correct me if I am wrong but I’m a little confused on this aspect:

Your boss is happy for this thread to stay on MN which is a forum therefore a form of social media but apparently it is a breach of contract to discuss any aspect of the company on social media.

It can’t be one rule for one and another for other employees?

Ah.
I ve just read and seen she has not used any annual leave yet as she is saving it to use before she goes on maternity leave

There’s a big difference between a post on Facebook where everyone knows who you are and who you’re criticising and an anonymous post here where no doubt certain details have been changed and nobody knows who you’re talking about or the company name.

No inconsistency at all

^^ I didn’t think of that.

I wonder if it could cause issues if the person the OP is talking about found out about this post though and the OP has said the boss is happy for the thread to stay on MN? Especially seeing as it has been picked up on news stations.

The OP isn't discussing the company though.
Shame it's been raining so much, it doesn't help explain the tan
The only question I have is WHY go on holiday in half term? The cost is so much more,.

tink
My guess it would be the difference between a teacher posting on here on the Staffroom board seeking advice on a school related issue where everyone is anonymous, no school is named etc and teacher ranting on facebook about the same issue where people will know where they work and people involved.

The former is fairly common (especially when people need advice prior to getting unions on board), the latter would be being called in for a meeting with the head.

Placemarking!

"Shame it's been raining so much"

Just for a change, in t'norf we seem to have had much better weather than the south of England. Bank holiday weekend was wall to wall sunshine, we had rain on Wednesday, but the rest of the week was fairly decent.

This makes me really angry. I was all set to defend this woman having had this debilitating sickness in my own pregnancies. With one I was signed off for 4 weeks, I felt awful and guilty for leaving people in the lurch. I was also disbelieved by some people (luckily not my boss) which is really hard when you are very conscientious and spending most of your waking hours being sick. Her behaviour has let all real sufferers down because everytime someone ‘fakes’ something like this it puts doubts in people’s minds about women who are really suffering and desperately wish they could have a normal pregnancy and do their job.

Shameful.