Going On Holiday When Signed Off Sick

[Tickytocky]

AIBU to book a holiday when signed off sick from work ?

Huge backstory, but basically off sick with work related stress. Doctors note in place for 4 weeks. Desperately need a change of scene and some sunshine. Haven’t been off work for nearly 7 years. Haven’t had a holiday in 9 years not that that’s relevant (feels very relevant).

Would this be unreasonable of me ?

I worked with a person who was off sick, then found out they had gone on holiday, to Australia for 3 weeks during sick leave. We all had to pick up the slack which of course is fine when someone is signed off.

However they were off due to a back problem and a knee complaint....but they could travel how many hours in economy (nice picture on facebook) without any problems (also pic of days out in Zoos etc). That kind of did nark somewhat.

What if you need the sickness leave to, you know, recover from sickness, before looking for another job?

These threads always bring out the work martyrs and the 'oh but your poor colleagues' batshittery.

Doctors can and do order people to go on holiday for health reasons.
If colleagues have to overwork to cover someone's sick leave, that is a management and structural problem, and only a cunt would say anything to make a colleague feel bad about it or create a 'frosty' atmosphere at work.

Can't you just take holiday to go on holiday?

That's not correct. I work for the Local Authority and was off sick from September 2023-January 2024. I was in Portugal for a week on holiday in October and I had to use my Annual Leave to cover it. I had always thought the same as you so checked with ACAS and they were indeed correct.

These threads always bring out the work martyrs and the 'oh but your poor colleagues' batshittery.
Yeah, how dare the poor colleagues admit they're affected. They just need to pick up the slack and be happy their colleague's on holiday.

This is screenshot from the ACAS page

I went recently for a mental health break when I was signed off sick.
I don't have anyone from work on my social media and my profiles are 100% private. I barely posted anything anyway but if I did have colleagues or my profile was more public I'd tread carefully.

After my daughter was born I had 3 months off sick, one month fully off and then 2 months doing a phased return. I had a week off during the phased return and this came out of my annual leave.

It might be worth a conversation with your HR department

My manager is all about supporting any activity that makes people feel better if they’re off with stress - relaxing days out, visits to spas, meals out etc. anything that is helping to reduce and/or manage stress.

But I’m aware not all employers are like this!

Go on holiday but don't tell anybody at work. Don't post holiday pictures online. Once you are back from your holiday you ought to look for another job.

So you can’t demand that the employee takes annual leave, but if they go on holiday you can stop their sick pay and pay annual leave instead. Perfectly legal.

Always best to be honest about it.

FFS.

if someone tries to ring her and gets a “this phone is not in the UK” ringtone the game is up and she’s fired for dishonesty.

<slow clap>

I'm not quite sure why but I couldn't go on holiday whilst off sick. I understand that it would probably be therapeutic for you but personally I couldn't do it.

That's what I'd always been led to believe too.

Waterskiing holiday with "Broken Leg", yes, that would be wrong
Holiday to unwind because of stress, yes, go for it!

Yes that’s right, if they have requested to take annual leave instead of sick leave. You can’t force them to do so. I don’t doubt some employers use this to their advantage, maybe not telling employees that their booked holidays can be cancelled while they are signed off sick. I work in the public sector and we try to look after our colleagues in my organisation. It is a loophole but also necessary. For example we might have a member of staff who is expected to be absent long term, for cancer treatment for example. It means that if an employee chooses to do so, once their contractual sick pay is about to drop to zero pay they can take annual leave to top up their salary. It can be of benefit.

I was going to say this.

The company I worked for allowed staff to go on holiday while on sick leave as long as it wasn't likely to further damage health. However, we were expected to take annual leave for the period we were away.

I would be wary of posting photos, status on sm, if you have friends on there and they are colleagues. As could get another colleague overhearing this and report you to management. There’s always a snitch.

About 12 years ago I had surgery and required to have 8 weeks off work. Had a few days booked away about 250 miles from home towards the 8 weeks, which was booked months before the time and before I had any symptoms. Last sick note expired 3 or 4 days into my annual leave. So had those 3-4 days put back into the kitty to book off again.

I didn't say that. I said people should take up the overwork caused by poor management with their managers.

I think the problem is that there are lots of people feeling stressed and anxious who choose to carry on at work. It’s pretty easy to get a few weeks signed off due to MH issues but they feel they should work. A holiday would also do them a ‘world of good’ but they carry on at work. Hence there can be irritation with others going on hols when off sick.

If you are allowed to, go but as others have said do try and keep it quiet. People will have some negative thoughts, but won’t be mean enough to vocalise them I hope.

Yes, on MM it's always the managers' fault.

Well who else's 'fault' is it if there's not enough staff/contingency to cover illness and emergencies?

In the NHS we really don’t have extra people hanging around to cover clinics at the drop of a hat. The idea is laughable.

Well, again, whose fault is that? Certainly not the fault of a staff member forced to go off sick.
We should all be willing to blame the system, rather than taking out frustrations on colleagues.

Personally I wouldn't but it appears that you're well within your rights to go on holiday OP so that's the answer.