Sick of staff abusing the system

[Stiltonloving]

Local authority

Staff member breaching conduct policy yet HR happy to pay on full sick pay once off sick even after said staff member admitted lying about reason for off sick as they didn’t want to attend a conduct meeting.
Said staff member also needs “supporting” for mental health needs etc. And need to “tread carefully”.

Why oh why do the public sector not realise how demoralising it all is and stamps out any others being motivate to practise good behaviour. Including the wastage of millions of tax payers money on this crap.

@ThisIsNotARealAvo

This is happening more and more in teaching. Teachers who are underperforming are challenged and sometimes put on capability plan. They then go off sick and get full pay for 6 months. They then negotiate a settlement and leave, all costing the school huge amounts of money as quite often it's teachers who have been teaching for a long time and are on the top pay scales. This year we have had two people doing this, costing us approx £200k in total as we also have to pay for supply cover. This is children's money and is becoming something that's crippling school budgets. Also, some members of staff are known to be saying things like "if they make me do x (part of their job) I'll go out sick."

It's always happened on teaching, I had a colleague who had been waiting for an appointment for a medical procedure for some time, when it came through she wouldn't go because it was in the Summer holiday. After the Summer Break we heard that a colleague would be off until half term as she didn't feel she what she did was appreciated by her colleagues. I gather that the system has been tightened up somewhat, not before time!

Same in the nhs. Tends to be the lower paid staff. We were ‘allowed’ up to ( I think) 3 emergency days a year and lots just used it like an extension of annual leave. Same with sickness.

DH runs a business and is extremely generous with time off for emergencies or sickness yet it’s never abused.

I know someone who was off sick, went to Vietnam on holiday, came back to work and asked for her holidays back as it wasn't a holiday it was recuperation from sick leave! NHS!

Oh and they got their holidays back!

@stonebrambleboy

I worked in the NHS and there were two people in my department who blatantly played the system and even joked about it. One took frequent holidays abroad while on sick leave (she was off for a full year). You are right it was totally demoralising for the rest of us in the department who worked long hours and were knackered.

Yes seen this so many times in the NHS. One colleague had a disagreement with management, took a year off sick with stress, then retired !!

@MakeMineALarge1

Oh and they got their holidays back!

Yes and in NHS accrued holidays for the year off sick !!

People swinging the lead as it were makes it less likely that those with genuine mental health issues are treated seriously and get the support they should get. YANBU to be annoyed with it, OP.

[quote Stiltonloving]@stonebrambleboy really feel for you. I am going in today to cover the slack while said member of staff will be in the pub garden.

We all know as have seen WhatsApp messages but apparently management can’t use these as proof.

It’s worse as it’s conduct AND sickness they could be done for but switch between both to avoid any disciplinary action being possible [/quote]
When I worked for LA, in a Community Alarms position, they didn’t seem to be interested in penalising those clearly piss taking either.
I got a call at 9.30pm one Friday evening from a colleague who was working back shift. The person due in at 10pm for the night shift said they had tripped when leaving their house to come to work, so wouldn’t be able to come in. I was out with some friends, but nobody else could cover, so I agreed to go in. Next morning my dd told me that my “sick” colleague had been to a Concert the previous evening and had then been in a local Night Club until the early hours. Colleague didn’t realise she was my dd and had laughingly told them that she had phoned in sick, as she had been told she couldn’t get the night off!
I phoned my manager, to report as I was so pissed off, but of course she wasn’t penalised and was still paid. As said above, Management just said there was no proof, even though the colleague had been so thick skinned that they even put their night out photos on Facebook!

This is one person.

It is so rife in the public sector. One of the reasons I left. 4 in my department during my time there.

Why should I get a new job? I do it because I want to ensure public services that I am responsible for working as part of are efficient.

I feel sorry for the people affected by this person being constantly off with budget meaning they cannot replace them. All the leave gets added on to the sickness with us too.