To think I don't have a secure job now

[gottogetorganised]

I'm not one for taking sick days and rarely get sick, in fact I've been at my current job 4 years and not had a day off sick, however I did come down with a bug which left me very unwell.
I felt very guilty and pushed myself to get back to work asap and went in too soon.
I hadn't been at work long, maybe an hour before I became unwell again and probably due to the fact I'd overdone it coming back too soon.
I was sent home again and on my return my employer has said that because I came back into work for an hour it will count as a second sickness and it's a 3 strikes system so even though I've only ever had one sickness bug if I am unwell again in the next year I will automatically be unemployed.
I now feel I need to find another job because my employment feels quite precarious.
I can't rely on my job to pay bills and mortgage knowing if I catch anything I'm going to be fired.
Is this the general rule of every job?

I think you know the answer to your question. Where on earth do you work?

That sounds very harsh and punitive. What country are you in?

A very well known franchise in a head office.

I'm in the uk.

You've been there 4 years so I would expect some kind of policy/procedure. I do think it's unfair that trying to come back early leads to 2 absence periods if you weren't well enough but unfortunately it is the place in many places of work

Your job sounds awful. Yes it’s normal to have a threshold for sickness but this normally would initiate a meeting/warning rather than outright dismissal. You’ve been there over 2 years (are you in U.K.?) so I don’t see how they could get rid of you so easily. Are you in a union?

Are you sure they will fire you? Rather than it just triggering some kind of sickness absence procedure?

Make sure you've got money saved just in case x and no debts

Most places I have worked over the last 35 years have had policies on sickness limiting the number of self certificated sick days that can be taken in any 365 period after which disciplinary action will commence.

The usual has been 3 periods. To be self certificating (I.e. no doctor certificate), the period must be less than 3 days. If you are sick on a Friday or Monday, the weekend counts.

What do they mean by three strikes? Are they saying that you will be sacked after that? I would need to check, but I'm not sure they can do that without going through a further process. This may be of little comfort though as it potentially only extends the inevitable.

How is your performance otherwise?

Someone told me a while ago that Sainsbury's give a warning for any occasion of being off sick, whether it's one day self certified with a stomach bug or 3 months signed off with cancer.

Not sure if it's actually true or not but I was disgusted.

God is it Tesco? I left there when I was a student as I found their policies on this sort of thing really bad.

3 strikes in a year and you're out meaning each sickness counts as a strike was how it was put to me as company sickness policy.
My performance is good, in fact my supervisor felt this was unfair and went to his superior thinking it should be one sickness and came back to say unfortunately it will count as two as you've come in so anymore sick days in the next year and I don't have a job.

Have you checked this is the policy? We get put on some kind of absence plan if that happens but really it doesn’t mean much

Used to be 3 absences in a rolling year would trigger a disciplinary hearing. Regardless of the absence. Then the hearing would decide if the outcome was a verbal, written or final warning. I think most retailers are the same. Awful places to work.

It's probably the same "policy" that says you can't come into work for 48 hours after sickness or diarrhoea even if you feel fine (and then sack you) for doing as they asked.
Worked for one of those.

Tricky one then. I'd probably start looking if I were you.

The first thing that I would do is read my employee handbook and if you've not been given one then ask for it. If they don't do one then ask for their written guidance/rules on sickness absence as they can not reasonably deny you this. I suspect that your manager is talking out of his arse as it's fairly precise in law on circumstances in which you can be dismissed. If you've been continuously employed for over two years then you are protected so have a look at the ACAS website - I will try to link at the end but if I fail then google ACAS and look at the dismissal and sickness pages. Nothing from what you've said would indicate that your employer has a legal reason to dismiss you.
It depends on what you want to do and how much you like your job. You may want or need to quietly look at other employment or you can do the above and make it clear that you know what your rights are.

I can tell you for a fact that this is not true.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention - keep a diary on when, what, where if you do question it with your manager. You may need to list dates and conversations if you do get dismissed and need to take it further etc

Is this Boots? They're fucking awful.

@wednesdaywoes
This is definitely not the case with cancer. People with cancer are protected for life under disability legislation with regards to employment - a fact that I sometimes have to remind my manager & area manager of occasionally.

Yes this is not a secure employment I would start looking around.
Anything from cancer to just being unfortunate could lead to multiple cases of illness in a year.
One year i was off 4 in 12 months, all illnesses I was floored and either puking or unable to come into work for other reasons.
Before then I wasn't off sick for 3 years.

i have to say, that’s one of the benefits of public sector working - 10 days/4 occurrences in 365 days and that only results in an action plan (and a LOT of people exceed this threshold)