How many sick days are you allowed to take?

[Abigail47]

In my last job, they didn't really care that much about sick leave. They would let people take up to about two weeks uncertified sick leave, and if you were certified for sick leave, you could take months of sick leave. They also didn't do return to work meetings for sick periods of less that five days.

I only took about four days sick leave in a year in that last job.

I started a new job seven months ago and I'm in shock.

I've taken four days sick leave in the whole seven month period. Two different periods of two days. I was sick. They were uncertified (as I had moved to a new area and hadn't registered with a local doctor in time) and I didn't get paid.

After each period I was called into an office with a manager and made to do a return to work meeting.
I was told in each meeting that too much sick leave can leave to contract termination.

My colleague just took five days certified sick leave, and on her return they said the same to her, that too much sick leave can lead to contract termination.

Aibu to think that four days sick leave in a whole year is not a lot.

Like we are going to get sick . Everyone does.
In one of my sick periods I totally lost my voice with a chest infection. I couldn't speak at all and I have a customer facing role.

What is sick leave like in your organisation?

I don't think 4 days in 7 months is particularly high but like others I would be trying hard not to take any more within the year.

Some really mean answers here. Does no one suffer from migraines for example? Before mine were controlled I would have at least 1 a month where it was often impossible to work.

I've had 2 weeks in the last year but in one consecutive period, which is seen as better than 10 days spread out obviously

My manager has only been in the job for one year.

My colleagues have only been in the job for about one year as well.

My managers manager was in a really senior position in another job. She was only there for seven months in her last Job, as I believe she wanted to move location to be near family.

she is in her current job for six months.

I don't know about security really. As people can just leave and get another job any time they want, in the first two year period.

That's not actually how the Bradford factor works.

There's a score allocated to each period of sick based on how long it was. It then gets increased each time you're off by calculating the number of absences against the total number of days.

There's then a threshold score which is supposed to be used to trigger a conversation. Some workplaces abuse it slightly though.

My workplace is fine, if you're sick you're sick. As long as you aren't taking the mick by always having Christmas sick or every Friday or whatever. They'll notice patterns but mostly it doesn't get brought up.

i dont know
6 months paid sick leave after a certain amount of time working.

episodes of sickness, i have no idea. nhs

it is an episode rather than the days
so a week
would be the same as 1 day

We can take 5 days in a row 4xyear with just a call to the manger. After 5 days you'll need a doctors to stay off sick for longer.

I think like a lot of workplaces, it also depends a lot on what your manager is like.

My manager is extremely strict and harsh.

She was off on annual leave for two weeks and we had a different man and woman managing us. They were managers in other departments and agreed to both watch over our team, while our manager was on annual leave.

Our two temporary managers were much more easygoing.

If we are off sick at all, our manager grills us. If we are late, she grill us.

One of my colleagues told me that she was away visiting family in Scotland one of the weekends that we had a temporary manager. She missed her flight due to traffic jams and had to call in to our work on Monday and tell out temporary manager that she wouldn't be able to make it in on Monday.

If our regular manager had been there, my colleague would have been threatened with contract termination.

She told us that our new temp manager said to her "oh yeah that's fine no problem thanks for letting me know"

Of course he could be nicer to us because he is not directly responsible for managing us all the time, but his attitude was definitely nicer and more humane

I don't often get sick. Ive occasionally worked from home with a heavy cold or cough. I think ive had one vomiting bug over the last 4-5 years and had one day not working and the two days working from home.

My kids are 7 & 5 and don't get ill much either any more. Between them they only missed 3.5 days sick this year from school and 2 days of that was required surgery & a day recovery after it.

Put it this way, I've been in my job 3.5 years and had one day off sick, my prior job i worked for 12, years and had 2 days off.

Repeatedly taking occasional days off is suspicious. Having a proper illness with certification is different

I’m nhs ….RTW is policy whether you off one day or 1 year….need a sick note after 7 days….get paid 6 months full and 6 months half pay….I’ve had loads of time off for various illnesses…..never been put on ‘a stage’ …..probably had more than 2 years off in 6 years …..I know people are managed out of the nhs for sickness , but I’ve never seen it myself with anyone I’ve worked with

That doesn't really make sense does it.

It reminds me of my colleague who went off on sick leave for three months. It was seen as one incident.

But it you take two days at two different times. Its seem as two incidents. It doesn't really make sense

The UK has a huge problem with presenteeism. Our productivity is low and yet companies have these policies that don't allow people to recover properly from illness. It's stupid.

I'm NHS, we have incredibly generous sick leave. And I know people like to assume that everyone swings the lead and goes off for no reason at all, but in my directorate that absolutely doesn't happen. I haven't had a day off sick since 2017 and that isn't unusual where I am. If you support people properly, they will come through for you. UK companies don't want to know this.

That would be considered high at both my work and my husband's. We get colds but dose up and go in as although we don't want to spread it our employers expect up to be at work if we can. We don't often got stomach bugs but have had to be off unpaid
taking turns to deal with the children's stomach bugs (and doing a lot of hand-washing)! We were off when required to isolate for covid. I think before kids I had one or two sick days in a decade. After kids it's from two days to a week unplanned time off a year which I try to retrospectively convert to annual leave - not ideal but I've had understanding bosses. My colleages without kids are mostly never off except one who has a bad back.

What about people with mental health issues.

I have heard of a good few people who have gone on certified sick leave for mental health reasons eg stress, anxiety, depression.

Should they be made to go in?

This is definitely call centre work! Working when dealing with the general public is hard enough, but when you’re dealing with a throat infection and having to deal on the phone with the general public then it’s hard graft. And because you’re always talking on the phone, and everyone else is ill around you and they’re talking too, it’s no wonder everyone gets sick!

4 days in 7 months off sick in a call centre is decent, and being at a call centre for 7 months means that you’re not a new starter. A new starter in a call centre is often when you’re in training and in grad bay.

I would say if you can get this job, run away from a call centre! Best thing I ever did, because once you get a call centre job, you’re often stuck in the merry-go-round of working at all the call centres, until you try something different.

4 days in 7 months is a lot. Return to work forms etc are now pretty standard and is actually the right think to do.

it does make sense
so you are sick, with covid for example, it could be a week or two

a monday every month would be noticed for instance

But 5 days is nothing surely? I ( and most public sector workers get 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay ) in a rolling year ….that’s our full rate of pay….not a statutory amount

But say its not a Monday every month.

Say that one employee is off sick for one month in a year.

And another employee is off sick for two periods of two days in a year.

So one employee misses twenty days of work, and the second employee misses four days of work.

Why would the first employee be treated as one incident, and the second employee be treated as two incidents. The second one with less days sick, would more likely lead to a warning.

Like a lot of workplace policies, it doesn't make a lot of sense.

Agreed. Even if you are generally healthy, the circumstances of your job could be making you sick on a regular basis. For example, staff who work in schools are constantly exposed to covid, coughing, various strains of flu, chicken pox etc...

Also, your age could make you more vulnerable to picking up infections in a workplace. So agreed, stop flexing about how few days you've taken. It's able ist, ageist and shows a real lack of empathy. It could be you one day.

That's great but thats more than a lot of people get though.

I think you are getting lots of harsh responses OP! Lots of martyrs on here tonight! I can't believe how many people have RTW meetings, I have never had one or heard of any body having one, surely managing those and taking the time to have them with a returning employee is a massive waste of everybody's time .Although I appreciate some managers like to micro manage and assert control.

Do you have a health condition that qualifies as a disability under the Equality Act 2010 ? If so, you might want to declare it as your employer has to make reasonable adjustment to accommodate it. If your hospital appointment is in connection with that disability they have to allow you time off to attend - although they don’t have to pay you - and any sick leave you take connected to your disability can be treated as disability related rather than sick leave, and so won’t count towards disciplinary action in respect of sick leave. A disability is a protected characteristic so your rights as an employee in respect of it are enforceable from day one. If your condition doesn’t qualify as a disability under the Act, your employer has no obligation to allow you time off for hospital or doctors appointments, although most employers will observe the duty of care towards their employees’ wellbeing.

But thats why many people choose to work for the public sector though….for the holidays and sickness benefits and the pensions…..for me that’s worth more than getting a higher salary ….I guess it’s like everything…..you make a choice

Because if you're off for a month it's likely something pretty serious and a medical professional has signed you as unfit to work.

Two lots of two days could be just not feeling it today, or it could be that you've had a stomach bug over the weekend and Monday was the last day, Tuesday you're fine.

So yeah, one month v two x one days is one instance and two instances.