Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Being expected to work when ill

41 replies

TwoCatsTwoHats · 10/01/2022 17:14

Fifth day off work with Covid. Possitive lateral flow, still awaiting PCR result which I took on Friday. Symptoms include sore throat, fatigue, nausea and the headache from hell. Feel like I have temp but don't own a thermometer so can't be sure. In short, I feel ill. I can't think straight or do my work properly. I just want to sleep.

However...
I'm a key worker in a sector that is struggling at the moment with staff absence.

Each day I've had to call in sick in the morning. I'm expected to join in via zoom with meetings and work from home. I'm not feeling up to it - I'm feeling quite ill.

Employer seems obsessed with Omicron being a mild illness and is making me feel increasingly stressed about being off work when there's so much work to be done.

I know IANBU but AIBU to ask those of you who've experienced this at work, what you did? It's not easy for people where I work to speak out as life can then be made rather difficult for them. I can't handle the stress that awaits me when I return if I don't just go along with it now.

(Name changed)

OP posts:
girlmom21 · 10/01/2022 17:17

Are you in a union?
Would they act like this if it was any other illness?
If they wouldn't, call in sick with the symptoms rather than covid and say "unfortunately I am too ill to work today. I'll update you tomorrow."

CheshireKitten123 · 10/01/2022 17:18

OP,
You are ill.
You are infectious.
You need to stay at home and self-isolate until you are better.
You should not be expected to do Zoom meetings - that's pants.

When you are better you might like to think about a change of job.

MatildaTheCat · 10/01/2022 17:19

I had covid last week and felt bloody unwell for several days. I actually developed a cough and shortness of breath after I was testing negative on day 12.

You tell your employer in words of one syllable that you are off sick. If possible get someone else to make the call for you if you have to ring in every day.

If it was always a mild illness I imagine there wouldn’t be over 2000 people a day being admitted to hospital.

Get well soon.

MsAgnesDiPesto · 10/01/2022 17:20

If you go into a setting with other people, you will pass Omicron on to a proportion of them - quite a large proportion. Your employer is very shortsighted if s/he doesn’t realise that they would soon be down by a much larger number of staff if you came to work after a positive test. Anyway, you can’t go back until you’ve had a negative test on days 6 and 7.

Your employer needs to understand that the ‘mild’ word being applied to Omicron simply means you don’t need hospital treatment. You can still be ill enough not to be able to work. If you have called in sick, you don’t then work on the same day.

Your employer is a dick. Get well soon.

tiredanddangerous · 10/01/2022 17:21

Have you told work that you're too ill to work?

emsmar · 10/01/2022 17:21

Tell them you're too sick to join in and have been advised to rest. I know what you mean though. What a headache

TheCatShatInTheHat · 10/01/2022 17:22

We are expected to work with Covid, but only if we are feeling well enough.

If you are unwell, tell them you can't work.

TheHoptimist · 10/01/2022 17:23

Many people are working through CV19- it is certainly the norm here BUT a few colleagues have been too ill- they have completed a self-cert and are off

Maybe you need to be clear that you are too ill to work.

CallmeHendricks · 10/01/2022 17:24

I think it seems that the official definition of Covid being "mild" is that it doesn't require hospital admission. There is therefore a huge range of symptomatic illness leading up to that point. Some people have heard "mild" and think that means everyone can continue to work from home, even if the law currently states that they should remain in isolation.

Stick to your guns. You are ill and feel too ill to work. YANBU.

OriginalFlake · 10/01/2022 17:25

I really feel for you. I had Covid in 2020 (before vaccines and lateral flow tests) and it took an age for my test results to come back. Due to staffing levels and not being officially positive, I was expected to work from home until I could barely breathe basically. Me like a fool did it too.

If you are ill you are ill, please tell them you are not fit and then rest up. I wish I had done this, I ended up in hospital. No job is worth making yourself worse.

SchrodingersUnicorn · 10/01/2022 17:28

Are you a teacher? My school made colleagues do this too. It doesn't help your recovery and legally they can't make you. I know it's hard but stick to your guns.

Yubaba · 10/01/2022 17:28

You also don’t know if you have omicron or delta.
Why are they making you call in sick every day? You legally cannot leave the house for 7 (or 10) days so you cannot go to work.
Have you sent them your isolation form?

Original poster
TwoCatsTwoHats · 10/01/2022 17:30

Thank you for the advice so far, all. I definitely need to reiterate how ill I'm feeling but I'm obviously not doing a very good job of it. Total brain fog and I can't work well anyway. I've emailed and texted a list of my symptoms and stated that I am off sick, unable to work.

A number of people have had Covid where I work and as far as I know, weren't expected to work all the time like I am.

I have explicitly told them I am too ill to work. They keep 'forgetting'. Just realised I'm on a list just circulated to run a zoom meeting on Wednesday. This wasn't even something I was having to do before I was off and means having to work long hours to prepare it. This was after I explicitly told them I can't work. It's almost making me think I'm losing my mind, having to repeatedly tell them I'm ill only for them to repeatedly contact me regarding work. Verging on harassment?

OP posts:
Original poster
TwoCatsTwoHats · 10/01/2022 17:32

Yubaba. No I haven't, I don't know what an isolation form is. I'll find out...

OP posts:
goutabout · 10/01/2022 17:32

No, my large employer says if you're sick you're sick, ie if you're off sick you don't attend meetings, do online admin, etc although they might ask you to email something to hand over to a colleague who has to cover for you. You rest and get better.

If you're WFH due to self-isolating but not officially sick, you're expected to do normal duties that can be done from home.

Are you in a union?

TimeForTeaAndG · 10/01/2022 17:33

Definitely unreasonable behaviour from your employer. Is there an HR dept you can copy in when you email and state that for the Xth time I am too I'll to work, I will neither be on nor organising zoom meetings. I will advise of my return date when I am feeling better.

Fantasmic143 · 10/01/2022 17:34

It makes me so cross that people are saying it is mild as an excuse to get sufferers to go to work. My DD has it and I have it. She had a cough and a headache for ONE day. I am on day 7 and although the sore throat, headache have gone, I still have an annoying cough that kept me awake most of last night and am so fatigued. And it isn't like a cold for me! I am so lucky that my manager has essentially said I am not to think about work this week. Good luck OP, stick to your guns - too ill to work is just that.

Yubaba · 10/01/2022 17:34

111.nhs.uk/isolation-note/

Natty13 · 10/01/2022 17:37

Hun, turn your phone off, log off from emails and any other form of communication channels they can use to get to you, go to bed and rest until you are better.

NOBODY, absolutely nobody, will thank you for suffering through. I wish I could say im shocked that they are just ignoring the fact you are sick but I'm not. From my point of view (as a manager in the NHS), you have clearly told them you are too unwell to work. You don't seem to have agreed to take on duties at home while off sick so they don't have a leg to stand on. In my experience, they know this. Sometimes if they think you are a pushover they will try to blame you afterwards but this doesn't seem to happen to people who know they are in the right/won't take it. Sorry this is causing you extra stress on top of being unwell but the simple fact is that as long as you don't stand up for yourself people will take the piss out of you. The future is a lot less stressful if you don't tolerate it.

Original poster
TwoCatsTwoHats · 10/01/2022 17:41

Thank you all again. I've just emailed them the isolation note. Another weapon in my armoury. I'm still expected to call in tomorrow and discuss my WFH arrangements! Does anyone know of a link where it states with Covid you may be exempt from calling in each day? I have stated yet again that I won't be working until I'm better.

OP posts:
goutabout · 10/01/2022 17:41

Just seen your update - if you've repeatedly told them, they seem to be making unreasonable requests.

Out of office on the email "I am currently on sick leave and will not be checking email. Please contact XXX if your email is an urgent one, or I will reply to your email on my return". Then don't check your email! Or at least don't send mixed messages by replying.

LittleBearPad · 10/01/2022 17:46

@TwoCatsTwoHats

Thank you all again. I've just emailed them the isolation note. Another weapon in my armoury. I'm still expected to call in tomorrow and discuss my WFH arrangements! Does anyone know of a link where it states with Covid you may be exempt from calling in each day? I have stated yet again that I won't be working until I'm better.
Send an email and say you will discuss your working from home arrangements once you’re better.

Put your out of office on, hide any work phone and ignore all communication from them.

Newschapter · 10/01/2022 17:55

I am WFH and when I tested positive mid November I emailed my line manager and HR stating that although I was WFH I didn't feel well enough to concentrate on work and I'd let them know when I felt better.

I was 'off' for five days and felt well enough to work after that.

They should not harrass you and make you feel bad for not being well enough to work.

PrincessPaws · 10/01/2022 18:20

@TwoCatsTwoHats

Thank you for the advice so far, all. I definitely need to reiterate how ill I'm feeling but I'm obviously not doing a very good job of it. Total brain fog and I can't work well anyway. I've emailed and texted a list of my symptoms and stated that I am off sick, unable to work.

A number of people have had Covid where I work and as far as I know, weren't expected to work all the time like I am.

I have explicitly told them I am too ill to work. They keep 'forgetting'. Just realised I'm on a list just circulated to run a zoom meeting on Wednesday. This wasn't even something I was having to do before I was off and means having to work long hours to prepare it. This was after I explicitly told them I can't work. It's almost making me think I'm losing my mind, having to repeatedly tell them I'm ill only for them to repeatedly contact me regarding work. Verging on harassment?

Decline the meeting and say 'as you know I am currently off work sick' in the decline
BungleandGeorge · 10/01/2022 18:31

If your sick policy is to call every day I don’t think you can get out of that just because it’s covid. However, quick call that you’re too unwell to work and then no contact act the rest of the day! Is it your line manager or other people asking you to work?