Work and their phoning in sick policy

[QuestionableMouse]

Work have decided that if we're off sick, we have to phone in and let them know even on days when we don't have a shift.

I'm finding it a bit excessive and think if we don't have a shift, then we shouldn't have to ring in.

For example - at the moment I only work Fri/Sat/Sun so if I rang in sick on those days, I'd also have to ring in the rest of the week unless I had a sick note.

Aibu to think this is a daft policy? The last thing I want to do when I'm ill is worry about getting in touch with work unless I'm actually meant to be in!

If someone told me today they'd be off sick on next weeks night shift I'd best start looking for someone else now.

Unless already long term sick, if someone was predicting illness a week in advance I'd be querying what was wrong with them.

This is the protocol where I work too. They record the period of absence and also which working days are missed so the whole period thurs-mon for instance would be recorded but only two working days because I don’t work Fridays.

We also have to personally phone in, don’t get me started on how you’re supposed to do that when you’re in hospital or actually physically can’t make a sound, as happened to me once.

Because if you've a rota to cover you need to find someone to cover. If someone told me today they'd be off sick on next weeks night shift I'd best start looking for someone else now

That makes no sense, OP is not being asked if she thinks she’ll be ill for her next shift, she’s beung asked to call in sick when she’s potentially not due in for four days.

Unless OP knows why she is sick and is able to accurately predict when she might recover why should work be asking her to engage with them on her day off.

@Toddlerteaplease

We already have a policy of agreeing the next contact when someone is off. And look at when they are next working etc. This is really not needed. *@QuestionableMouse* I don't suppose you work in a large trust in a city in the East Midlands?

I do not. I work for a fast food chain in County Durham.

It’s so they can reckon your sickness score accurately (you might say fairly).

an example:
If you should be working Monday and Tuesday, off Wednesday and Thursday, then working Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but are actually off sick for those 7 days, there are two possible patterns to record:

1 period of sickness covering 7 days
2 periods of sickness, the first covering 2 days and the second three days.

These compute differently in Bradford or similar systems. The first would be 1x7 = 7 and the second would be 2x5 = 10, so it benefits you to phone in as it keeps your scores lower.

Is it to assess how many incidences of sickness. Eg if you worked Monday and Sunday and were off on the Monday, not working all week then called in sick the Sunday and Monday they need to know if it’s one 8 day period of illness (needing a fit note) or two separate incidents, which would indicate a different pattern.

Frankly if u are well enough to wake up early every morning and faff about with phone calls other than ones to the drs u are probably well enough to work. There is a world of difference between getting it together enough to make a phone call and managing an entire day of concentration sandwiched between two commutes.

I went into work once when ill because I was deputising for a senior manager. I could barely keep my eyes open during the meeting, made one fatuous comment, and generally showed up my department in a bad light. I could, however, have managed several short phone calls, and probably a walk round the park (given that I had already managed to walk to the station, taken an hour long train ride followed by 15 mins tube and another walk)

Depends on the work doesn't it?

One simple phone call maybe. Of you have to organise your own cover including covering any gaps you cant get cover for because no one agreed to or even answered the phone it can be more stress and make u feel worse that way.

I once had to go in in the grips of a bad stomach bug. My boss made me walk.all the way into town ro cover lunch breaks and then I.had to walk all the way home again.

Luckily that boss left

Considering I would have to be awake to call in by 3am if I was to do this on my days off, they can fuck off.

They won’t know. I’m not supposed to be working that day, so it won’t matter if I’m i’ll

We have to do this where I work too. Even on my days off I have to ring in and tell them if I’m still ill. It’s so they know how to cover the shifts. It’s a pain in the backside though. If we don’t ring in we get an arsey email about the sickness policy.

@FayeFayeFayeFayeFaye

We have to do this where I work too. Even on my days off I have to ring in and tell them if I’m still ill. It’s so they know how to cover the shifts. It’s a pain in the backside though. If we don’t ring in we get an arsey email about the sickness policy.

But how would they know you’re ill?

It's probably to do with statutory sick pay as the qualifying time to this includes days off IIRC.

SSP is based on a 7 day week. So as far as they are concerned you are paid 3/7ths of your pay every day. You would be entitled to SSP on your non-working days so if you don’t tell them if you are still unwell or not you could be overpaid.

Eg work Fri, Sat, Sun.

Call in sick on those days. SSP has 3 waiting days before being payable, so come Monday if they haven’t heard otherwise you will start receiving SSP. If you aren’t sick that should not be the case.

I can understand if it's something like Covid or an illness where you can reasonably expect to be off for the next few days, but not if it's just feeling a bit under the weather that one day when you aren't even working. Surely it should be enough to ask employees to tell them at the earliest opportunity if they expect to not be able to work their next shift, rather than waiting until the day?

But how would they know you’re ill?

What do you mean? If we’re ill we have to ring and tell them. Then we have to ring everyday until we’re not ill anymore. To let them know when we’re coming back.

This is probably so they can count each day as a sick day when calculating your Bradford factor. I wouldn’t do it, tbh.