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Original poster

To think she’s faking?

670 replies

Appleofmypie · 27/05/2018 14:34

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

OP posts:
IrmaFayLear · 04/06/2018 17:38

Who are these GPs who dole out sick notes? Surely there should be statistics on who/where are the most lax.

Of course if someone is really ill then they shouldn't have to jump through hoops to prove it, but at the moment it does seem as if it is rather too easy to be signed off.

I posted earlier that when I was pg with ds, I had a (serious) problem, but the GP didn't check that I was still laid low before signing sick notes. Dh just collected them from the doctor's reception.

Bil had the most preposterous "condition" that I can't even mention (but it would make any self-respecting Daily Mail reader froth at the mouth it was so completely absurd) and dh and I just couldn't believe that he managed to get himself two years off work (before being handsomely paid off...).

Pinkyponkcustard · 04/06/2018 17:40

Ooh what does today’s fb post say op?

GladAllOver · 04/06/2018 17:41

That been said this thread is extremely identifiable and it wouldn’t take a genuis to know it was about her it maybe she goes to tribunal and cites yourself for trouble causing if you have any sense you would get this thread deleted.
Absolute rubbish. The OP has done nothing that could be used against her in any way.

Carycach100 · 04/06/2018 17:52

Really? You think an employer would chance discipline a PG woman for being off sick with a sick note from her GP?? It would be an absolutely ridiculous thing to do!

GetInMyNelly · 04/06/2018 17:58

@loobylou10

People like this are why many companies don’t offer sickness benefits. Makes me sick.

Sadly you won't get company sick pay for that! Wink

TittyGolightly · 04/06/2018 18:07

Really? You think an employer would chance discipline a PG woman for being off sick with a sick note from her GP?? It would be an absolutely ridiculous thing to do!

From an employment law perspective, in this case it really wouldn’t.

BluebellsareBlue · 04/06/2018 18:16

I hope your boss replied “oh good, that saves me sacking you when you get back. Now where is the benefit fraud number...”

IndieRar · 04/06/2018 18:32

A friend of mine had unpaid sick leave when she was pregnant as had taken four weeks full pay and that was all she was permitted per year. So she had to have two weeks unpaid as was in no fit state to work from 30 weeks. If CF is on statutory sick pay, then it sounds like she's already had what she's entitled to from the business point of view and subsequent payments should be done through her national insurance. Ask your boss to speak to payroll about entitlement and sick pay.

Also, regarding the roadworks affecting the business, you should be able to claim back loss of earnings from the council (you can here in my part of UK) or log it and use it to claim off the insurance if you can show the like for like comparison with previous years. It happened to our local pub with roadworks and they claimed from their business insurance.

Glad you/the company had the right outcome in the end. But I'd definitely look into where you stand regarding paying her salary after so long off sick. I don't think she's actually entitled to it but depends what contract says.

Pollaidh · 04/06/2018 18:32

Hosted a BBQ. Dear God, she's not even trying to fake HG.

I had HG and couldn't cope with the smell, sight or even sound (some words actually triggered vomiting the second time round). DH who normally smell lovely smelt foul to me, everyone had to eat cold food as the smell of cooking food made me vomit (even more). Couldn't watch food on TV, or watch any TV when it was at its worst.

loobylou10 · 04/06/2018 19:38

@getinmynelly

Lol 😂😂

Cornishclio · 04/06/2018 20:00

Who are these GPs who dole out sick notes just like that. Surely there must be some way of proving HG? Everyone here has said it is extremely incapacitating so obviously she does not have it.

weasledee · 04/06/2018 20:55

To be fair I had HG and I only had to phone for a repeat sicknote after I had been diagnosed, got one every 2 weeks. But I guess if you're faking you have to be prepared for them to ask you to come in and be seen by a doctor......

FizzyGreenWater · 04/06/2018 21:02

Oh God Pollaidh I just read your post and had a sudden wave of it, it took me right back.

I remember DH cooked something one evening, I was flat out two floors up. Can't remember what it was - totally innocuous, it would have been something stewy! - but the smell got right up and I actually crawled out of bed and out of the house and laid on the lawn crying while it dissipated Blush

I felt entirely out of control, it was the worst time of my life.

pinkpepperrose · 04/06/2018 21:34

I'd tell your boss to keep solid records of everything, it wouldn't surprise me if she tried to be even more of a CF and go down the line of constructive dismissal

SalemBlackCat · 05/06/2018 09:56

I was thinking if you know the name of the doctor and where they are, send them a link to this thread/or print out and send them. The doctor might want to know. ;)

TheMonkeyMummy · 05/06/2018 12:33

Glad she is out of your hair now!

LilacIris · 05/06/2018 20:55

I wouldn’t accept the resignation and would call her in for a disciplinary meeting. I’d also send her to the company’s Occ Health, assuming you have one.

crispysausagerolls · 05/06/2018 21:31

Nooooo I find this so unsatisfying! She didn’t get called out on her CF bullshit and clearly orchestrated this entire thing to align with her resignation and get a paid fucking month off so it’s even more CFery than initially thought. What a bitch.

Undercoverbanana · 06/06/2018 07:06

I’m just going to go out on a limb here and get a battering.

She has resigned for lying about her condition. As far as we know (unless I missed it) she is a pregnant woman with no job.

I realise that she has done a bad thing and also offended many people who have suffered with the condition she claimed to have, but I feel a bit sorry for her.

She has no income and a baby on the way. That must be a terrible stress and I can’t help feeling for her.

What the hell would I do? What the hell would you do?

TittyGolightly · 06/06/2018 07:19

She has no income and a baby on the way. That must be a terrible stress and I can’t help feeling for her.

I believe it’s called reaping what you sow.

She’ll get maternity allowance and child benefit, and possibly tax credits too. Babies don’t have to be expensive.

What the hell would I do? What the hell would you do?

I wouldn’t have done it in the first place. But I hope she learns her lesson. She didn’t give a shit about anyone else. I’m not sure she’s deserving of much sympathy, to be honest.

SoupDragon · 06/06/2018 07:20

What the hell would I do? What the hell would you do?

Not screwed over a small business in the first place?

FrancisCrawford · 06/06/2018 07:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GladAllOver · 06/06/2018 10:16

If the CF is following this thread (which is very likely after all the publicity), I'd just like to give her a little wave and say Hello!

ilovesooty · 06/06/2018 10:20

I don't feel any sympathy for her. She's already fraudulently claimed a whole load of money she isn't entitled to. I hope her employer refuses a reference as well

Original poster
Appleofmypie · 06/06/2018 10:35

Ok, boss has just told me that after I emailed the pictures over, she created a Facebook account and had a look for herself. Saw everything.

She then emailed colleague and asked if she was well enough to come in for a sickness review meeting the day after bank holiday.

Colleague replied and said she had just been released from hospital and was on complete bed rest, and looked like she would be there for weeks.

Boss then sent her a Facebook friend request.

So colleague must have known she was caught out lying. Must have panicked and resigned as she knew she would get into trouble.

Boss has everything documented/printed out/ready to send to HR if needed.

Colleague has put nothing on Facebook since.

Sorry if I come across as smug but the fact that there’s a better chance of me keeping my job/company not closing (boss is in touch with council re compensation for roadworks which she wouldn’t have done if wasn’t for this thread) by all of this happening is a good thing, no?

I fee no sympathy for colleague, it’s a mess of her own doing.

OP posts:
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