To think coming to work sick is selfish

[Leopardprintchicken]

I'm sure this thread has been done to death at some point but I'm so annoyed right now.

Colleague came to a meeting on their day off (it was not compulsory they came but they had a vested interest in the meeting outcome) and were clearly ill, complaining of cold sweats and horrendous sore throat and cold. Of course both me and another colleague at the meeting caught it (symptoms appeared the same day so not a coincidence) and now I'm spending the weekend feeling dreadful.

I'm a SP and have to fit in all of my chores/life admin stuff on my days off and barely got any sleep last night. I'm barely coping with work/home life anyway and this has pushed me over the edge.

I know people get sick but AIBU to think if you can avoid coming into work when you are contagious you should just stay at home?

Unfortunately being covered by the disability/equality laws doesn’t relate to sick leave.

I have 2 disabilities. Neither of them are considered when l’m absent with them. The Bradford scale still applies😡

Surely most people continue to work when they have a cold.

It’s not just about pay but sickness records, work ethic etc.

You can catch a cold from anywhere not just work.

I know a few people who can only call in sick with a doctors note. They can’t call a doctor for an appointment and have to message via an app in the hope a gp sees it and responds. 99.9% of the time it’s just not worth the hassle/impossible to do

I think it depends on your work environment and colleagues and whether you take the piss or not.
If you're genuinely sick you shouldn't come to work. I'm the type of person that soldiers on though and have only ever taken 3 days off sick in 10 years. The last time i went into work i was sent home. No way would I go in on a non working day!

100% agree. Work in a close knit team. And we've all agreed that don't come in if you have a bad cold etc.
However my manager doesn't do this and comes in snivelling laying it on with a trowel. Like he wants sympathy and acknowledgement of his matyr. Is next to useless as because he's at work in body you assume in mind as well. but nope so you end up doing his job for him even though he was well enough to be there. And because he was there you'd assume he was well enough to function. We have a fairly active job so unless you're fit it's a no fun. He's always Ill just before Christmas or you go on leave so this means he's always passes his lurgy on just as you go on a holiday.

YANBU. But the militantly ‘well’ will be along soon to tell you YABU

Yes this exactly. I think all workplaces should have a fair.sick policy and that's a major problem which is shortsighted in my opinion. I work in a place where we are paid for sick leave yet still there are colleagues forcing themselves in because there was something so important they couldn't miss. It's selfish and people like to think they are being so unselfish by forcing themselves in and being martyrs No we don't want your virus. We would much rather take on an extra task or two to cover than catch a sickness bug and then pass it on to all our family (Common cold aside obviously as it's not sustainable for us all to take time off for a sniffle)

I do sympathise when workplaces don't have proper sick pay though.

Presenteeism actually costs everyone more in the long run

Well then don't blame the person and call them selfish. Blame the company culture/management.

I get paid sick leave, but have just trundled into work with a vile cold all weekend because if i’d Rung in sick this time, the episode of food poisoning i’d had in August (actually only rung in sick for a 4 hour shift) and the the debilitating menstrual migraine which I had to ring in for in July would see me getting a verbal warning for sickness. I was physically capable of working the past two days, and actually felt rather fortunate that the worst two days of the cold had landed on my days off before the busy weekend shifts. I asked to be in charge of the department instead of seeing patients so that I didn’t have to have any patient contact and risk passing it onto them.

Work place policies are most likely to blame for this presenteeism when sick, nobody truly wants to be at work when they’re even a bit under the weather.