Colleague off long term sick but running businesses on the side

[bubblesandfizzwithcherryontop]

A colleague of mine, lets call her Jane has been off sick for the last 5 months.
She stormed out of the office one day after a row with our manager after being challenged about her bad attitude towards others and refusal to do certain aspects of her job role.

Despite being off sick and on full pay (NHS), Jane has been running a couple of home-based businesses on the side. One is arts and crafts based (making keepsake type gifts to sell), and the other is make up artistry (she does wedding and party make up). She advertises both of these side businesses all over Facebook and other SM. Very open about both of them.

People from work are on her SM, but this doesn't seem to deter her from advertising the businesses whilst off sick, allegedly too stressed to even get out of bed.

Its causing a lot of resentment at work, especially as she's on full pay.

Report the cowbag.

Whew lot's of support for being off work and paid by the NHS whilst running a couple of other jobs on the side.

What I'm seeing is a lot of people saying that whatever is going on is between colleague and employer. Insofar as it affects OP and the team (in terms of workload and stress etc) then it is between OP (and the team) and the employer.

not that it's fine to take money from one employer and do the exact same job for another.

Make sure management are aware in a "she might be too sick for this job but able to do those jobs" way. Then forget about it. If the NHS are lenient with sickness there's nothing you can do about it.

None of your business...

As long as she is paying tax on her self-employment and has a valid sick note from her GP for he NHS role there are no issues there.

Some people don't seem to realise that you can be signed off sick from one job but still be able to do another. For example if someone has a physical job and cannot perform that job because of an injury, they might still be able to continue to work in another job where they are home-based and only need to still be able to use a computer while signed off from Job number 1 . Or someone might be off sick because of stress/mental health issues which is aggravated by one particular job, but able to continue with another employment that does not cause them mental health issues.

So you might report all you want but technically she is not doing anything that management can do anything about. They are legal cases that support this.

In the end this is for this person's manager and HR to deal with, not for you and your colleagues to gossip about. If her absence affects your workload then speak to your manager about hiring someone to cover her work while she is away. That is all you need to be concerned with.

The key though is that if she can’t manage to hold down a full time job then she needs to quit that job and find something less stressful. It’s not ok to be taking a salary from that job, meaning she can’t be replaced by someone who is actually doing the job, while not intending to return because she feels she can’t but she does feel she can go out and do other jobs.

It’s not surprising that so many people take the piss like this when there is so much support for doing so.

Yup, they must have some sort of capability procedure surely.

And people are unrealistic in thinking that people aren’t going to talk about a colleague whose workload they are covering while she’s gloating on facebook about her other incomes.

Would it be ok for the rest of the team to walk out with stress and then start a beauty salon together?

I don't know who all these saintly types are who would not be very p*ed off about this. If I was covering someone else's work /my team was struggling because someone was sitting at home on full sick pay making trinkets to

With a colleague like her am surprised the whole team isn't off with stress! Maybe that's the answer?....

I'd report her too. Too stressed to leave her bed apparently, but is working on the side? Come on, she didn't like being told to do her job and she's taking the piss. People do this, not every person claiming stress is genuine. And we don't know if she is getting money from this business too, if she is, that's probably in violation of her contract. She knows this but doesn't care. Well she can face the consequences too, see if she cares then.

We also have a generous sick pay.

It is amazing quite how many people recover full health on the week it drops to half pay.

My initial reaction is do you really know all the details and as a PP said you should only be involved in talking about any impact on your workload etc.

However what strikes me is the number of people on here basically saying you can pretty much do anything if an NHS employee on long term sick and hard to be fired. I’m a big advocate for the NHS but not in its current form and this is why. Throwing more money at it alone will not fix the problem as there are some engrained cultural issues ie. don’t speak up and nothing will be done anyway.

@Artyswan but that is using the situation to your advantage as, unless you are sick, it is impossible to work two full time jobs. Saying that it is quite possible to be too sick to do one job but fine to do another is minimising that someone is essentially using sick leave for financial gain. No one is saying that this woman can't go and do arts and crafts in her sick leave, but promoting it as a business (two businesses) whilst saying she can't work is just wrong.
I came from private healthcare with terrible sick pay and people did just not do this on the this level. On my ward we have one or two sick per shift and it is a massive drain on our budgets. Obviously some are genuine but it's the same names all the time. Amazing how we offer lots of support, therapy, CBT for staff who never take up the offer but then they go off with stress. My problem with the 'stress as an ailment' thing is that nothing changes in those six months. If the main reason for the stress is the workplace then all people do in that time off is worry and dread coming back more. They usually haven't developed any coping strategies, they haven't changed anything at home (i.e. speaking to their partners to make them pick up more of the mental load) so the whole thing just repeats itself.

However what strikes me is the number of people on here basically saying you can pretty much do anything if an NHS employee on long term sick and hard to be fired.
I think it's pretty much across the board, hard to sack people.
Probably most managers don't want the hassle - warning letters, meetings with representative etc etc
Perhaps it should be a symbol of a good manager.

I know the NHS is feeble about getting rid of non-performing employees, but is there no procedure at all for reviewing the situation of people who are off for months on end? Most businesses simply could not sustain keeping someone on full pay for months on end when they aren't there.

I wonder how many of these super-tolerant people would be quite so relaxed about this if the person in question were their employee? I'd be really unimpressed if someone I employed was telling me they were far too stressed to do any work at all and yet I could see blatant evidence that they were actually doing plenty of work in their own businesses.

As for the people saying it’s none of the OP’s business and it’s between the employee and management, excellent. That means the employee’s workload is none of the OP’s business either. See how quickly management have to act once the rest of the team refuse to pick up the slack because they apparently have no right to an opinion on someone taking the piss and expecting them to do their job while they swan about the country to fancy weddings and sell their crafts on the side. Wonder if they’re using their sick pay to fund their new businesses?

As for it not being illegal, well IMO it should be, but either way it’s still immoral.

You do know she is allowed to work in one job and be on paid sick for another ?? Mind your own bloody bisiness. The two jobs are no doubt completely different..you can be physically too ill for one job but fit and capable for another

@SaintHelena

I’ve worked in industry for over 25 years. People are ‘exited’ very easily, if they want someone out you are out.

I know the NHS is feeble about getting rid of non-performing employees, but is there no procedure at all for reviewing the situation of people who are off for months on end?

Yes, in my team there is. It is reviewed via regular check ins / phone calls with your manager and referrals to occupational health.

You're the exact type of people that make working environments so toxic. I loathe people as nosey and bitter as you

It's endemic in the nhs, give her another month when her full pay stops and she'll be back.

similar horrific piss takers have had such an effect on my workplace that those of us remaining are planning to leave.
this is everybody’s business- when the sick rates are so high and all that seems to matter are the longterm sickers- not those of us that come to work
shame on her and all of her type

OP I'm with you.

She's taking the piss and it would annoy me no end.