Sick leave for elective surgery.Work in a school.

[PrincessHoneysuckle]

I get paid sick pay but this wouldn't be an illness so I'm not sure where I stand with this.
I'm booked to have elective surgery mid January
,i couldnt get a date in school holidays as my surgeon is on annual leave as has children.Should I just be honest with work or fake an illness? They seem pretty reasonable but we are obviously not allowed holiday days term time so would have to be off sick.Does anyone know the best way to approach this?

For the person saying don't call the secretary...
It could be this conversation "hi, I've got an appointment for surgery with Miss X on this date but I work term time. Is it possible to get it done on such-and-such a week".

The answer would be either "no, sorry she only works term time", "yes I'll book you in", or "I don't know, I'll ask".

I don't agree with the idea that you shouldn't waste the secretary's time by asking them a perfectly reasonable question that it is their job to answer.

We would only be entitled to unpaid leave for this. You need to bite the bullet and discuss with your line manager.

As someone in school I can't help but feel that it's a bit much for people with 13 weeks holiday to have cosmetic surgery in term time. It feels a bit of a piss take to me. Put it this way, in other lines of work you'd be expected to take unpaid leave often for a boob job, not sick leave.

As with other posters, if it's a case of a medical issue requiring surgery within a set time frame in order to prevent adverse effects then that's quite different to "I had implants and they need replacing because implants don't last forever". Not saying makes me suspect the latter.

I work in a school. You can’t timetable operations on the NHS. We may get 13 weeks holiday a year, but the nhs fit you in when they can, although you can state a preference. So it’s not a piss take, it’s actually down to when they fit you in

But OP isn't having an NHS op.

It's not an NHS operation, otherwise nobody would have an issue.

It's private cosmetic surgery so yes it is a piss take (and I work in a school so would find it ridiculous that colleagues could have to have bereavement leave around funerals unpaid but cosmetic surgery is paid).

Speak to your union first. Region, not branch.

Don’t lie. Ask for unpaid leave and apologise for the inconvenience which you have tried your best to avoid. It will not go down well if you lie then return to work with a beautiful pair of boobs on display! Like the children who are ‘off sick’ and come back to school with a fabulous tan and a stick of rock for the teacher! 😉

I took a weeks annual leave for mine and stupidly didn’t realise I would still be quite ill after only a week.

I got a fit note for a further week which said “post operative recovery”.

I didn’t tell work the reason why. I was signed off by a GP so really didn’t feel it was any of their business.

It didn’t cause me any problems at work. I was in a similar situation to you - my chest wasnt going any bigger so it wasn’t obvious at all.

I’m a bit shocked people think it matters exactly what op is having done.
You have surgery and get a post operative sick note from your surgeon. I’m sure he will just write surgical recovery or similar.
Why should your medical history be up for scrutiny by all and sundry?

A colleague had a similar op. Our policy was very clear that this isn't sick leave

I am genuinely very surprised at the number of posters who feel that cosmetic surgery with no medical necessity warrants paid sick leave.

I work in a school and it’s a piss take to take time off for cosmetic surgery IMO. You have WEEKS off during holidays to get this done. You chose to have implants, do the right thing by your colleagues and schedule the surgery in holiday time.

Ok Anna
I decide I want my boobs doing. I get 13 weeks holiday year but I'll expect my school to pay me to have a boob job, after all it doesn't matter what I want done surgery wise.

Would you be happy for your own child's GCSEs to be interrupted because their teacher decided their cosmetic surgery couldn't possibly fall in the 13 weeks holiday? I know the OP isn't a teacher, but if your argument is that it doesn't matter then you shouldn't object if a teacher did the same thing.

Recovery is 1-2 weeks. I had 1 week off.