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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Having to ring absence line by 8am

219 replies

ProbablyLate · 07/10/2021 07:35

DH and I are both teachers and have this policy and I wonder if it's the same in other jobs.

If I need a day off for illness I have to ring school between 7:30 and 8am. I appreciate that schools need to know as early as possible if staff aren't going to be in, and this works fine in the situation that you wake up ill in the morning. DH came home ill yesterday and last night let his head of department know he wouldn't be in today and cobbled together some cover work but he still has to be up to ring the absence line.

AIBU to think that if its obvious the previous day that you're going to be off ill the next day there should be another way of letting them know as often having a good sleep can make you feel much better?

OP posts:
Xenia · 07/10/2021 11:00

This is not just about arranging cover. it is because sadly vast numbers of people pretend they are sick particularly if they will still get full pay (which I believe teachers but not most other workers do get). HR also require the contracts sometimes to say the individual must ring not their husband as that also then helps catch out those who are lying and want to get their other half to do the fobbing off.

8dpwoah · 07/10/2021 11:00

Although I will couch that having read the last post by saying for most I've known the absence line is an answerphone system so you can do it whenever you decide you're not going to get in, having to try to get through to speak to a specific person is pretty inefficient so I'd agree with you there!

ilovesooty · 07/10/2021 11:04

Also you could not be granted any time off for medical appointments without speaking to the headteacher and talking about what was wrong with you to get his personal permission to be absent. Speaking with any other senior member of staff was unacceptable. It had to be him.

PjsOn · 07/10/2021 11:12

I don't think it's odd, my husband is a teacher they have to email the head and the person who heads up the cover supervisors as early as possible on the day so they can organise the cover. If you rang the night before how do you know you aren't going to be in, you might be ok by morning (unless it's a sickness bug (have to stay off 48 hours after throwing up) or something serious). Seems more sensible everyone contacts them by a specified time on the day of.

LH1987 · 07/10/2021 11:15

Getting a cover supervisor or sub teacher in takes time. When I managed cover at a school the policy was by 7.30am. Cover has to travel etc and what do you do with the kids while you wait for cover to arrive. I don’t think it’s a big ask.

FuckingFlumps · 07/10/2021 11:19

@LH1987

Getting a cover supervisor or sub teacher in takes time. When I managed cover at a school the policy was by 7.30am. Cover has to travel etc and what do you do with the kids while you wait for cover to arrive. I don’t think it’s a big ask.
In this instance given he actually threw up at work and they sent him home if they tehn waited until this morning to organise cover I wouldn't be impressed.

In many situations this policy is obvious helpful in allowing cover to be arranged however it would be that they are being so prescriptive in their application of the policy that would frustrate me.

lockdownmadnessdotcom · 07/10/2021 11:42

@Dojacatpaws

How did he know he would still be ill the next day
Oh for goodness sake. In most cases things don't just disappear overnight.

I agree you should be able to tell the school the day before (isn't it better so they have more time to find cover) .

I also wonder why some employers bother recruiting anyone as they clearly have no little trust in their staff. If my DH was ill I absolutely would call for him if I thought he should sleep and if his employer said no he has to call I'd say I was in a better position to make that decision than they were as I was with him in person.

Cookiecrisps · 07/10/2021 13:19

@Xenia

This is not just about arranging cover. it is because sadly vast numbers of people pretend they are sick particularly if they will still get full pay (which I believe teachers but not most other workers do get). HR also require the contracts sometimes to say the individual must ring not their husband as that also then helps catch out those who are lying and want to get their other half to do the fobbing off.
I can only speak from my experience but I’ve been in primary schools for 15 years and because of the need for teachers to set cover work when off ill in the places I have worked, the teachers tend to force themselves in come what may and often had to be sent home by SLT as they were not fit to teach. My husband works in a different industry who pay the government basic sick pay and they have had a lot of people there caught faking illness (proven through their posts of days out on Facebook) so it doesn’t always follow that full sick pay means staff will abuse it. I think because of the level of responsibility, difficulty in leaving cover lessons and commitment towards the children, teachers often drag themselves in rather than go off sick. Can’t comment on long term sick though as haven’t seen that in my workplace yet.
Dojacatpaws · 07/10/2021 13:22

Lockdownmadness, they do for me, in most cases a good nights sleep cures all, but then I am rarely ill, and have barely taken a day off work in my life

Orangecrisp · 07/10/2021 13:28

It’s the same where I work in a large organisation although if you’re obviously going to be off for a while it changes. I line manage people and ensue they stick to this by ringing daily before 8.30am. Sadly the reason is that there are plenty of employees who would happily take a few days off if it was made easy for them. Takes more guts and consideration to call every day. It’s also useful to update your manager on when you might be back so that they can plan.

Yerroblemom1923 · 07/10/2021 13:42

It's to rule out skivers/make the genuinely ill feel guilty enough to rock up anyway.

Sceptre86 · 07/10/2021 13:48

It is just the policy in some workplaces and I don't really think there is much you can do about it. I'm a pharmacist and have to ring my absence line at 7am and also ring my boss. I have to do this everyday if it is illness. It is annoying though.

trappedsincesundaymorn · 07/10/2021 13:55

Where I used to work the policy was to ring no later than an hour after the shift started (factory) . We couldn't leave a message or speak to anyone other than a supervisor or manager. We were then expected to ring every 3 hours (it was a 9 hour shift), and repeat the whole process for each day off. The only exceptions were if we were in hospital or had a Drs note.

trappedsincesundaymorn · 07/10/2021 13:59

Forgot to mention, they even expected DP to call in after having an epileptic seizure and threatened him with a disciplinary for failing to do so. A quiet mention of the word "Union" soon made them change their minds.

Yerroblemom1923 · 07/10/2021 15:15

I guess the call in every 3 hrs rule is to ensure you're not having a long weekend away in York etc. Although tbf, when you genuinely ARE Ill I wouldn't want to have to set an alarm every 3 hrs to wake me up to confirm I'm still ill!
I'm guessing the "sicknote culture" has caused all this and sadly the genuine suffer.

trappedsincesundaymorn · 07/10/2021 15:51

@Yerroblemom1923

I guess the call in every 3 hrs rule is to ensure you're not having a long weekend away in York etc. Although tbf, when you genuinely ARE Ill I wouldn't want to have to set an alarm every 3 hrs to wake me up to confirm I'm still ill! I'm guessing the "sicknote culture" has caused all this and sadly the genuine suffer.
We didn't get sick pay just SSP so it cost us money being off...unlike management who were salaried but didn't have to "check in".
Mummabear89 · 08/10/2021 17:28

Our absence line you call them up and let them know how many days that you're planned to be off and it's done and dusted

CottonSock · 08/10/2021 17:31

Ridiculous. Can you leave a message the night before?
If you are puking at 6pm or have covid or something you know you are not in the next day.
Setting an alarm would piss me off.
I'd probably call in for dh in this position

Morgysmum · 08/10/2021 17:36

YANBU, it's the same for pupils, my son was sick and had to have the allotted time off, but I had to ring them every day, to say he wasn't coming in.
He couldn't come in, due to school policy, saying he has to have x amount of days off, so he doesn't pass on his bug. Yet I had to phone up, they should know he wasn't going to be till Wednesday, if off on Monday.
Can you ring in for him, leaving him to sleep? I had one job, where only the person who is sick could phone in (so not there partner) which was difficult, when I had a massive throat infection and could barely talk. Luckily, I only had to tell them once, I didn't have to phone every day, apart from first day back, they had me on the drive thru, so talking all day!

cherish123 · 08/10/2021 17:45

Nowadays, you usually text the HT

LCCC2020 · 08/10/2021 17:46

At the school I work at we have to call the office before 7.30, also text the head and deputy head. We have to call by 4pm to let them know if we will be in or off the next day. And the next day we have to repeat or if back in we have to text the head and deputy to let them know we are back into work

Purplepeoniesdroppingpetals · 08/10/2021 17:53

Ours is 7:15 at the latest and tell them by 3pm if we are off the next day. They’ve also started asking for evidence of medical visits - we can’t get them from parents because drs don’t have the time/capacity to do that, so I’m sure we won’t get anywhere with that.

takenforgrantednana · 08/10/2021 17:59

@ProbablyLate

DH and I are both teachers and have this policy and I wonder if it's the same in other jobs.

If I need a day off for illness I have to ring school between 7:30 and 8am. I appreciate that schools need to know as early as possible if staff aren't going to be in, and this works fine in the situation that you wake up ill in the morning. DH came home ill yesterday and last night let his head of department know he wouldn't be in today and cobbled together some cover work but he still has to be up to ring the absence line.

AIBU to think that if its obvious the previous day that you're going to be off ill the next day there should be another way of letting them know as often having a good sleep can make you feel much better?

no its not the same in other jobs, you are given a longer time to make contact with the employer, i could think of nothing worse than having been ill all night and worrying that i may not be awake to phone my absence in within such a short time frame.

ok yes i understand its difficult when having to arrange cover for the kids, but it certainly doesnt help the teacher recover any quicker, but then again maybe you should be grateful you dont work for asda where they continually pester you on the phone several times during the day just to see if your feeling any better/coming back to work! which to me borders on harrassment

PrtScn · 08/10/2021 17:59

@Twickerhun

Sound alike a policy to inconvenience skivers to me!
Yeah probably, where I work if you are ill you have to phone everyday before 9am.
Waitformetoarrive · 08/10/2021 18:16

Perfectly normally. You report sickness on the actual day, how do you know you will be sick tomorrow. Standard rule in the majority of work places , not sure why you think being a teacher is different.

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