To think I will be dismissed for sickness record?

[nojob]

I started a new job last October with 3 month probation. I was told in January that my probation was to be extended for 2 months 'due to absence' as I'm not fully trained up yet and haven't been able to demonstrate I can meet the required standard. They said they are confident that I should meet the required standard by the end of February.

I have been off sick for 10 days in total (2 days in November, 2 days in December, 1 day in January all due to very bad periods and 5 days last week due to a heavy cold.). Can they decide not to pass my probation even if my performance is ok? They haven't said anything yet but I get the vibe that they are not very supportive of sickness. I missed some important training when I was off last week. Should I be worried?

I would not want to be your boss. You are proving to be unreliable OP. Your sick record as a probationer is completely unacceptable IMO.

@zorroinlondon

Do you have any idea how expensive it is to employ people?

Agree with @Kirkman

The casual attitude to taking the equivalent of another holiday entitlement, and then to cap it all another 5 days for a cold, All within a probationary period. And is now shocked that her employer might have a problem with this.

This thread has nothing whatsoever to do with workers or women's rights. The OP is a plain old pisstaker.

@vhs95

Always ask your manager if they want you to come in with a head cold or not then at least it's not your decision

You do realise you can be sacked for absence regardless of what games you've played?

If you called me and asked I'd tell you it's your decision not mine and to just tell me whether you're coming in or not. I cannot imagine anyone doing any different.

It's amazing the number of people on here who seem to think that they're entitled to take whatever sick leave they see fit without repercussions.

I dismissed someone who was off with a broken leg after a car accident. It couldn't have been more genuine - one of our other staff was a retained firefighter and was part of the team who cut her out of the car.

I can’t imagine any manager telling you whether you should come in or not, tbh. The only discussion I’ve ever had of that nature was whether I could work from home or not - for instance, when I’d injured my ankle quite badly and needed to keep it elevated (not possible in the office environment) but was quite capable of sitting on my sofa with my laptop and my foot up on a stack of pillows.

That’s a more civilised conversation and proper dialogue.
All I said to OP was if they hadn’t stipulated in her contract or in their policy anything about an extension to probation periods she could talk to them about. I didn’t tell her sue them.
As for her attitude towards work I honestly can’t judge her on a post and she may not have told us everything. I would rather she kept the job than not and yes she needs to be upfront with the employer and not skip work for no reason because it isn’t fair on others and the employer unless she’s really, really sick or in real pain. If she can control it with paracetamol great but if she can’t what’s the point of telling her put up with the pain or just because it works for some to assume it can work for her? What happens next is between her and the employer but if you are being fair and accommodating to the employer by making up for your absence and provided the employer can be flexible about it I don’t see how that is any of our business? Some people have had a hard life climbing up the ladder and therefore think everyone should as well. Well some people are luckier and get up there faster and without so much struggle and so long as they aren’t hurting anyone while they are climbing I say good luck to them!

With regards to her period pains I don’t know enough to make judgement
Taking time off because of a cold during a probation period.... I’ve always been in my best behaviour during my probation period including when I had a stomach upset and pain on my first day at work I still went to work but it was bearable!

I'm shocked that a manager would sack someone because they broke their leg. That's absolutely awful.

All I said to OP was if they hadn’t stipulated in her contract or in their policy anything about an extension to probation periods she could talk to them about. I didn’t tell her sue them.*

I’m sorry, but that’s bad advice. Regardless of whether or not OP’s contract states the provision of a notice period extension, as she is under two years, she can be dismissed very easily with little explanation. If an employee who had triggered concern about absenteeism at such an early stage, then started questioning her probation contract, any manager would see red flags and get rid.

Do you feel duly told off by the work addicts OP ?

All you dragging yourselves in .

In my company … blah blah .

Work addicts 😂😂😂

That amount of leave in four months is ridiculous. I would expect a proper illness for that!

When you're in your probation period you know you don't yet have a contract. You know not to take the mick with leave.

It's not a matter of being a work addict. It's common sense.

@Rosebel I’m sure they weren’t sacked ‘because’ of the broken leg, but rather the broken leg didn’t offer them protection from the natural consequences of not following the other rules! :)

I dismissed someone who was off with a broken leg after a car accident.

You fired someone for breaking their leg?

That's harsh. Is there a back story to that? Are they a driver for you and had crashed due to incompetence or something that resulted in a ban or points?

@sudokuqueen

She was on a final written warning for absence. No further disciplinary stages before dismissal.

It was her 2nd final warning too, as the previous one required her to have no more instances of absence within 6 months. She managed 7 months before taking another sick day so that went straight to another final warning.

About 6 weeks after that she had the accident.

@DowntownAbby
Ah right that makes more sense then.

Blimey, that does seem harsh. If she’d gone off sick for a cold or something trivial during that period that’s one thing, but firing someone after they’ve been cut out of a car.... wow.

Exactly @Emmelina

If you're going to have a poor attendance record - playing the game so that you're constantly just staying on the edge of what you can get away with - you have to accept yourself that you might fall off the cliff at some point, even through no fault of your own.

@Spudlet but where do you draw the line?

The rules and disciplinary procedures are known to everyone - their handbook is very clear.

If you make exceptions for someone on the grounds that 'this time it's genuine' it gets ridiculous.

We had a separate, very generous policy for people with long term illnesses and those having treatment (for cancer, for example) which essentially took them completely out of the disciplinary process.

If you're someone who regularly took Mondays off after a heavy weekend or, as in this woman's case, Fridays when you're going away for the weekend (she stupidly used to broadcast the fact she had a weekend away booked before going off 'sick') then no sympathy.

Yeah I guess. She does sound like a pisstaker, very much so. I can quite see why you’d be glad to see the back of her. But on the other hand, you can’t get much more genuine than being cut out of a car...!

I’m getting a splintery bum from sitting on the fence here, happily I won’t be taking time off sick with it (not least of all because I get no sick time...)

I agree SpoonBender! Thank you to all those people who never take sick leave and shoulder on through colds and flu etc. I just love it when my husband or I catch it from you and pass it to our kids.

If you are sick Stay Home, you are not indispensable.

*With regards to the period issues, why do we minimise or disregard the issues which can affect many women in this area? It can be a serious and extremely painful problem with additional complications such as endometriosis, pcos, cysts etc. Why should women who struggle with (non normal) issues not be entitled to the same concern a other illnesses? I'm sure by working age they would have consulted medical help and be doing what they can to treat cause/symptoms. To belittle someone for taking leave for 'period pain' (obviously not if its not serious and manageable with period pain meds) is uneducated and mean.+

Actually, I agree with a lot of this

We are already penalised in the workplace for bearing children. And now you want period pain days to further set us back??

And incidentally, framing this particular OP as a women's rights issue is disingenuous - the OP is just your average pisstaker.

It’s such an old fashioned attitude that work from home staff aren’t actually working

Except it’s so annoying when sick people, or people with sick children and no back up care, take the piss and avoid taking sick or annual leave by ‘working from home’ when they are doing sweet fa