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?

Same.

At the time I had the cold, I had a sore throat so bad that I couldn't speak. I was rasping.

If you can't speak. And you have a role where you talk to people in any way. How can you work.

That doesn't mean anything. You have a strange attitude to this. The default position should be no sick days. I don't mean that nobody should ever be off sick, just that nobody should expect a certain amount of sick days.

Also - what if coming into work puts others at risk or affects safety? If the sick policy is so punitive that staff come into work sick, that could be the case. Do you want someone who's sick with flu doing a safety critical job?

2 periods of sickness or 5 days in 12mths.

So 2 one day illnesses saw me threatened with further action and potential dismissal if I was to take another day off sick. I was seriously pissed off at that as I very rarely take any sick leave.

I've also been called by managers when off sick asking me to come in as we were short staffed. The last time I was off sick I was hospitalised and my manager asked me if I'd be taking my laptop in with me and continuing to work so my cases didn't fall behind 😒.

Yes. Disabled people are vastly under-employed, I believe.

Maybe they were sick?

This is all very interesting, I am in the U.S. and everyone thinks we have terrible workplace laws but in CA where I live everyone gets 5 paid sick days per state law. No questions asked. If you have more serious issues there are a variety of leaves that can be used and you can’t be punished or threatened with termination for taking a leave so long as you follow the procedures and provide the right documentation - those are paid at a statutory rate by the state. The only time people get into trouble is for not following the procedures for leave, not providing drs notes etc. This is very state specific though, CA is very generous in protection of employees which is why companies keep leaving the state

My conclusion is that the law needs to change - we have a Labour government now, let them live up to their name! Come on, Labour!

It's entirely possible to have a sickness policy that doesn't 'allow' any time but is about whether a staff member is actually fit to work. You know, as if the employees are human or something!

Yes, you need a policy around reporting sickness, coming back etc, but this idea of being 'allowed' so many days seems at odds with human life and biology. Sickness (and disability) doesn't work like that.

Some of these workplace policies sound crazy. I've worked for a couple of private companies in the same industry and have never had issues taking sick leave. No return to work meetings. No limits on a yearly basis. If I had the choice, I'd never to choose to work somewhere where they take such a hard stance if you're off 2 or 3 times a year. Sounds ghastly.

Lack of employment law rights before two years in England. You can just be dismissed for whatever reason.

That doesn’t apply if there is discrimination. Employers should make reasonable adjustments. However having evidence can be hard if you are sacked. Also it is reasonable adjustment. If an employee just can’t do the job due to sickness then they can be fairly dismissed on the grounds of ill health even if they have a disability.

You may not think your sick leave is high but your workplace does. I have taken one day off in 5 years as sick leave.

Optimise your health and practice good hand hygiene and reduce your risk of catching infevtions. You may be able to develop better tolerance so they impact you less.

You sound as though you have had a few jobs but not a career? If it is a career, your sick leave matters .....

@Abigail47 it's the entitled attitude I'd have an issue with, NOT the sickness.

I disagree.

A lot of women have severe menstrual pain.

And there are not a lot of options there to treat it.

In one of my last workplaces I remember there was a woman that used to faint from menstrual pain.

I have severe menstrual pain every single month from morning to night. I'm in pain for seven days of the month even on painkillers.

I have never taken sick leave for menstrual pain even though I'm in severe pain, as i knpw womens health and menstruation is not taken seriously in the UK,

If i ever rang in sick and said it was because of menstruation i know i would be dismissed and I would be laughed at by my employer. I have never taken one days sick leave for periods, despite me having extremely painful periods from morning to night for seven days every single month

I've been to doctors and they say I have some small fibroids In my womb.

I can't go to any further appointments or doctors to get it checked on further, as I can never get appointment leave or annual leave from my job.

In the event that I would need surgery to get the fibroids reduced, I know my employer would be really nasty to me about that too.

"I've taken four days sick leave in the whole seven month period."

I’ve been with my current employer for just over 8 years.

I had one week (5 days) off with covid at the time it was compulsory (work in school so no masks and lots of us caught it). Before that (a few years before that) I’d had two days following a sickness bug (48 hours compulsory). Each time I had a return to work - “Hi Outing, how are feeling well enough to be here?” “Lovely to have you back - sign here and I’ll put the kettle on”.

I would have a “sickness review” after three periods in rolling 12 months but these are simply “is there anything we can do to help” things. If we are signed off medically then we get six months on full pay, six on half and then none but occupational health will get involved - again to see if anything can help like part time hours or even employer helping to get private treatment.

BUT a sickness review in the FIRST 12 months would be a bit “harder” just to make sure you aren’t going sick at the slightest thing. Most of my colleagues easily go a couple of years without any sick leave.

https://www.gov.uk/statutory-sick-pay

Your employer sounds like absolute garbage.

Well then I'm also extremely glad that i dint work for you!

Tell me, where did you go to medical school Dr Fox?

Where I am they don't want us to work if we are ill. If we aren't well enough to work effectively but are still billing the same hours to clients, we could be seen as poor value for money and risk losing clients. They prefer us to rest up and get well asap. So we get up to 13 weeks in a rolling 12 month period at full pay and they trust us not to take the piss!

I don't know if they think it's high or not.

They say the "too much sickness can lead to contract termination" thing to everyone after they take any sick leave.

My colleague took one day off sick leave and they said it to her " too many days of sick leave can lead to contract termination".

She also thought it was ridiculous.

Work used to be relaxed but people took advantage so we now have a return to work interview and sickness is logged but I think it is hit or miss depending on your manager. When I worked in education I got paid when DC were sick/unwell but they were hardly ever ill and parents helped as long as it wasn't sickness or diarrhoea related.

That's easy to say if you don't have children... my children bring literally everything home and give it to me. I am the world's champion handwasher and run 3x a week, eat healthily etc. Was barely sick before kids. Now, I'm more sick. they tend to sneeze directly in my face when needing a 'cuddle'. I know it'll pass as they get older but is grim whilst they're little and there's really no avoiding it if you need to look after them when they're sick.

I’ve only read the first page of posts but I’m shocked at the some of the responses.

I was off for 2 months after a bereavement signed off by my doctor. I did trigger a further monitoring period of 3 months. My boss tells is not to worry if we do get sick again, they don’t want ill people in the office

That’s also my experience of why back to work meetings are held; to establish if the cause of illness was something related to work, or that could have been prevented by changing something in the work environment. So is a series of days off for a bad back or migraine because there’s something wrong the individuals workspace.

The other reason I’ve seen back to work meetings used is where the pattern of sickness across the organisation shows a disproportionate number of Mondays / Fridays off due to sickness. But in all cases actual sickness was fine and not an issue. Those who complained were sometimes the reason the rules were there…!

If it helps put things in context, the average British worker took 5.7 days off in 202, and annualising the OPs record gets you to about 7 days. So they are 20% above the average, which doesn’t seem terrible but I agree for a relatively new employee could be a negative indicator, especially if there are other concerns. I’m not saying there are in the OPs case - their workplace culture seems pretty poor and wouldn’t be somewhere I’d like to work, and I haven’t been ill for years.

I think if women are bleeding constantly for five to ten days every month.

And they have cramps that have been said by specialists to be equal to the pain of heart attacks, there should be menstrual leave available to women.

If we knew that men bled for five days every month, wouldn't we offer menstrual leave to them?