To ask what an acceptable level of sickness absence is?

[PoesyCherish]

My sickness record is through the roof due to my disability and work refusing to put in reasonable adjustments. I'm in the process of applying for jobs but worried I won't get anywhere because of my sickness absence. It's got me thinking though, what is an acceptable level of sickness absence over 2 years? And would this acceptable level be increased for a disabled person?

Depends on the nature of the job, e.g. whether remote working is an option. I would be is someone took 3 or 4 weeks off for a surgery, I think the expectation is that they take two-three days off and then work from home.

I would say 10-15 days in 2 yrs would be OK. More than 30 would be a worry.

Depends on the nature of the job, e.g. whether remote working is an option. I would be hmm is someone took 3 or 4 weeks off for a surgery, I think the expectation is that they take two-three days off and then work from home.

Surely that depends what the surgery is?

I was signed off for 6 weeks following shoulder surgery, and for the first 3 could hardly move one arm. I was on such strong painkillers that I slept most of the time, and it's bloody hard to see what useful work I could do one-handed and with an addled brain.

Although the sickness procedure starts at 10 days/3 absences, my sick leave was disregarded because it was planned and related to a long term condition.

I ended up going back a week early, because I was bored though.

I would be hmm is someone took 3 or 4 weeks off for a surgery, I think the expectation is that they take two-three days off and then work from home.

Presumably you’ve never had surgery then? The least amount of time I’ve been in hospital for surgery is a week...and after discharge I was still on strong painkillers and had I been working would have been off 4-6 weeks at least.

Depends on the nature of the job, e.g. whether remote working is an option

Well in theory working from home is possible but considering I don't have an ergonomic setup at home either nor do I even have a docking station for my laptop, I'd probably be in an even worse position if I tried working from home long term.

If you have a genuinely recognised disability (not suggesting your problems aren't genuine just people can use the term differently) then you should be protected by the Disability Discrimination Act. You usually have to declare a disability at application stage and in my organisation we have to interview any candidates with disabilities that meet the essential criteria. I recently employed someone with a disability and on receiving the references found out they had a lot of time off. We still employed them following HR advice around disability discrimination and she is a very good worker for what its worth. We still follow HR processes for any sickness absences, but its in a supportive way.

Is your sickness lots of odd days here and there or long bouts off?

Presumably you’ve never had surgery then?
I agree it depends what the nature of the surgery is. I was back working remotely around 48 hours after an open abdominal surgery. Also on painkillers and a bit foggy, so just wrote some documentation / manuals for my previous work - actually, it was quite a productive time.

In our workplace, it's 8 days and/or 4 periods of absence during any six month period. However, that just triggers a meeting - your absence would have to continue at an unacceptable level for quite a while before you actually got fired!

Hi there OP. Are you in the UK ?
If so we have something called the Equality act. It's full of a shit load of really important laws that forbid the kind of behaviour where your disability related sick-leave may not be used against you. This combined with a refusal to implement a reasonable adjustment (as long as it really is reasonable and not just something on the employees wish list) appear to be smacking of straight forward disability discrimination.

Two really useful facts.

Lawyers are more than happy to take on no win no fee in disability discrimination cases . As usually so open and closed.
One of the few times you don't need to resign first or be employed for two years.

Sue their arses. (Or at least get some legal advice about doing so) have a look on Home/contents/Loan/ Car insurance policies. These often also carry personal legal cover that will cover this.

CrabbyPatty

DDA was superseded in 2010 by the equalities act.

Also on painkillers and a bit foggy

Most employers would prefer you take the time to get better and not “foggy” rather than you rush back 48 hours after surgery.

It’s irrelevant to the post anyway

I would be hmm is someone took 3 or 4 weeks off for a surgery, I think the expectation is that they take two-three days off and then work from home.

It was six weeks until I had the pin out of my foot after my last surgery. Work wouldn't have me back until I'd been signed off by the surgeon after that and then by the occupational health doctor. Insurance issues, I believe.

Apologies. Happy to stand corrected :) I should know that!

In my line of work average is 2.4 days a year apparently. I have had three or four in the last five years.

I remember one colleague who had a Caesarean section in the morning and was back at work by mid morning. Some workplaces have different cultures around illness. If I was off unwell for more than a few days I would expect great difficultly getting another contract in the same area.

I had 30 days full paid sick leave last year (spread over 3/4 months) - signed off with MH problems. Once you've been in my job over 2 years we can get 30days per year full pay & 30 more half pay before going to statutory. My husband's employer (big corporate) have an even more generous policy & he had to take 30 days this year owing to an unpleasant and acute (thankfully not life threatening) physical illness. I feel we are both fortunate to have 'good' employers who pay above the minimum & are largely supportive.

@CrabbyPatty sorry, I seem to be on DDA watch 😂

I am an employment lawyer. I am. It aware of employers asking candidates for their sickness history in recruitment but they may ask if you have a disability after being selected. The issue may be when a reference is requested. Some reference requests ask for that information. Most employers refuse to give anything but a factual reference. You may want to put in a written grievance about the failure to make reasonable adjustments that way if they give information that affects your ability to get another job, you can claim vicimisation.

If your workplace are not making reasonable adjustments and you leave, I think you could sue for constructive dismissal.

I remember one colleague who had a Caesarean section in the morning and was back at work by mid morning

Silly girl probably blew her career prospects taking those 3 hours off. It would be better if she had worked from home-birth.

Surely it would be discrimination not constructive dismissal?

I remember one colleague who had a Caesarean section in the morning and was back at work by mid morning 😂😂😂

Pah, surely she could have been taking some calls or doing some light admin during the c-section, so she didn’t have to take any time off???

She had proverbial balls of steel, nobody ever doubted that for a moment.

Last time I looked at my company's statistics, the average employee has 7 point something days off a year. Last year I had about 12 weeks off after breaking a couple of bones, but that was the first time I've had off sick for about 15 years