To think it's pure selfish to come into work full of cold barking every 2 minutes

[lilly423]

AIBU to think if your full of cold and coughing non-stop then you absolutely shouldn’t come in to work and infect everyone else? It’s pure selfishness. Colleague sits on desk attached to mine so very close to me and we share a phone. She gets paid to be off so I’m really pissed off if I’m being honest that she’s come in coughing and spluttering germs all round. I’ve got plans for over the Christmas and if I catch this because of her selfishness then it will ruin it for me. I told her she shouldn’t he here today and she just says she’s not as bad as she has been … certainly doesn’t sound that way and I’m saying it for the benefit of other staff.

The thing of is, most of us have a couple of colds a year. On average they take about 14 days to clear. We can't take that kind of time out of work for colds when there are potentially other illnesses we will need to fend off as well as dealing with children and their illnesses. I am a single parent, if I don't struggle in, I risk losing my job. The ramifications of that are enormous.

YANBU this happened to me last week, I moved and sat at another desk, I just said I didn’t want to catch anything. Can you sit elsewhere?

YABU, some people don't get to stay off work with a cold.
Workplaces would be empty during the winter if they did.
Use a mask if it's that bad, I know I would.

Well, I’ve had a cold and a barking cough for the last five weeks. If I’d taken the whole period off sick then I’d be on a formal warning by now. Sometimes it is just one of those things that comes with working in an office.

Exactly this. I'm somewhere in the menopausal phase and my immune system appears to have been affected. It means that I tend to pick everything up BUT that I don't get so ill that I need to be off work.

Last week I had a cold (plenty of people across the organisation had it too) which resulted in laryngitis (not especially contagious). I was well enough to walk the 35 minutes to work, so I was well enough to work (even though I was communicating via post-it note). My sick record would be unacceptable if I took time off with every minor ailment

If she could work from home, then yes, she should have stayed there.

If she has to be in the office, no, she can't take a sickie for a cold! I am sure she would love to, all of us would. But seriously, a cold is not a valid reason to stay home.

She has bills to pay and a job to keep, you have "plans" around Christmas (as I am sure she has). Who is selfish here?

Build your own immune system, you WILL be in contact with germs. It sucks but that's life.

As a midwife in the NHS you have to go in still even with heavy colds. Obviously you don't actually cough over the babies but I've certainly gone to work when I've had to run away from the bedside to have a coughing fit. Absence policy is strict and everyone in fear of 3 periods of sickness in 12 months. So you save it for vomiting episodes and even then I've known staff come to work when they have diarohhea.

But wipe the phone down with sanitiser wipes before using it.

Unfortunately if I don't work, the work doesn't get done. I have my own office though

We get paid for sickness. However we would be on a sickness review for more then three periods of sickness a year. When they do redundancy reviews one of the criteria they look at is sickness.

For a cold I would go into work.

I'm on my 5th week of a horrid cough. Fortunately I work from home now but every employer I've had before wouldn't allow me time off for any bug or virus short of my death bed. I worked in the food industry. If I'd taken two days off for any ailment around Christmas I'd have been fired and replaced. It's absolutely disgusting really.

I was only allowed time off twice, a half day for a hospital trip for a suspected fracture in my shoulder which left me unable to lift my good arm without passing out, and a half day to pick up antibiotics for a bad chest infection. I was a waitress who did meal prep in a cafe, I also worked in a sweet shop and a fish and chip shop. Only one of my employers cared enough to send me home.

Disinfect everything and keep your distance as best you can.

imagine if your GP, dentist, garage, hairdresser even, cleaner, kids teachers, postman, delivery man...
if they all stayed home every time they had a cold. You would be the first to complain!

Pfefferkuchen, GP and dentist surgeries often have a large staff. I never see the same GP twice. For all I know there could be one or other of them constantly off with a cold.

My cleaner has been off ill a few times. I don't complain. It's life.

Yes, it can be annoying when you run the risk of catching a cold.

But my last employer (public sector) dismissed people for having 'bad' sickness records, including a woman with cancer who took 'too much' time off while having chemo.

I think if you can stay at home you should. My boss comes in ill all the time. He does it because he likes the chat in the office (he's admitted this). He could easily work from home, he's fully set up to do so. On the other hand, the admin staff can't be off for a cold. They don't get paid! I'd never take time off for a cold because I cannot afford to lose a days pay. Sorry!

IME most workplaces will only pay so many days sickness (and then it's SSP), will use the Bradford factor to work it how meant days off are too many, or have a set rule on no more than 3 absences in a 12 month period. Because of this most people would be mad to use up their sick days on a cold. It's annoying, but there's not really a lot else they can do

Colds have an incubation period of 48-72 hours, therefore you have probably already caught her cold last week but are not displaying it yet, plus also what another poster said - it would look dodgy if someone took the 23rd December off, like it looks dodgy when you take a Friday or Monday off as people think you just want a long weekend.

I personally get about four or five colds a year, sometimes I take a day off sometimes I don't but I don't get paid if I do as I'm a temp so I tend to go in regardless. My medication can actually cause me to be more open to viral infections so its a nightmare. I have a cold just starting now, I know I have caught it from a person at the stables. Its just bad luck.

She's maybe not infectious anymore? I've had a cough since October, it's driving me up the bloody wall, but it's an immune system thign, I expect by now, not an actual shedding virus.

On the whole, though, I'd agree with you.

I have a disgusting cold, which is typical because I am on holiday. I soldiered on until the end of term, using the nasal spray and taking vitamins, with students ill all over the place.

Being off sick in my work causes chaos in terms of class cover/losing time with students. There are strict absence management policies, although we do get paid if we are off. People feel scared to be off sick!

I hope you don’t get it, OP. We are supposed to be hosting Christmas but right now that seems impossible!

I agree that if you’re sick, stay home.

However, I work for the NHS and the sickness/absence policy is difficult. I’ve been lettered about an HR meeting due to sickness when actually I’ve been following policy. (X2 episodes of vomiting and diarrhoea meaning I needed 48 clear hours before returning to duty, a chest infection with a 2 week sick line as I had multiple meds to take, and a horrendous cold which I came back too early from that developed into laryngitis meaning I resumed to annual leave with no voice, just to reduce to my sicktime )

Anymore sickness in a rolling year and I’ll be put onto a capability plan so people in my work, me included, do go to work full of cold. Should we be there? Absolutely not, but being off isn’t always an option.

YANBU. This drives me mad as well.

Admittedly employers are often to blame with their ridiculous sick leave policies.

I agree to a point.

I sit near someone who always comes to work with a cold. She never covers her mouth when she coughs. Nobody is happy about this. One year she came in very ill with flu and gave it to me. I ended up very sick and in hospital and had to take a long time off work.

On the flip side, we don't get sick pay. Are people supposed to just not pay their bills when they get sick? I can understand why lots of people go into work even when they feel terrible.

I lost my job thanks to sickness, I was hounded and harrassed by HR for 2 years even though I had a chronic health condition that I needed several operations for and I had almost constant kidney infections. I couldn't win, if I called in sick I got reported to HR and if I dragged myself in despite being sick my manager would take one look at me and send me home! If I'm lucky enough to find another job in the future I wont be calling in sick unless my head is hanging off.

If the boss comes in with a cold; the employee is usually expected to.

Admittedly employers are often to blame with their ridiculous sick leave policies.

they wouldn't need such strict policies if people thought they could take sickies because they have a cold, or eczema (true story!) or feel a bit "fragile" or overwhelmed with the world

Wipe everything down with an antibacterial wipe. Wash your hands. Use hand sanitiser. Then go and make her a warm drink — she must be feeling rotten and it’s Christmas, season of goodwill and all that.