Holiday photos on Facebook whilst off sick

[TeaAndBrie]

Really interested to hear opinions on this one.
Staff member off long term sick (fully paid as local gov) due to mental health issues, signed off by GP for 4 months so far.
staff member is friends with manager on Facebook.
staff member has been uploading photos of holiday abroad on Facebook.
i would not expect someone who is on LTS for mental health reasons to never leave the house etc
Holiday photos seem a bit much though - especially when manager and other colleagues who can see these pics are having to pick up all of the work whilst he is away.
YABU - let them have their holiday, it’s good for them!
YANBU - let them have the holiday but would be better to have have pics on SM

All the people saying ‘when I had a serious mental health condition I couldn’t do xyz’… that’s you and I’m sorry for your experience.

things I have done while in serious mental health situation:

• gone on tour with work
• gone on holiday
• trained as a health professional
• worked as a health professional
• taught students
• volunteered

there have been times when I’ve had no choice but to carry on with the thing I am doing in life because just letting it all fall apart felt worse than soldiering on. But I was mentally not ok and if there had been the option to take time off to get better without bankrupting myself I should have done it. nobody should have to talk themselves into going to work and talk themselves down from panic attacks. I used to bribe myself with treats to go in. Thankfully now I love my job.

You sound amazing, and I wish there were more supervisors like you.

MH is not black and white like something like a broken bone is. I had a colleague off with a broken bone and he was out and about all the time. No one questioned it at all. He could not do his job, so was signed off. MH though.... if you are seen out your house, some people think you can go back to work. Never mind the fact that for some people, it is the job that is causing them to be unwell to start with.

When some of us say there is still stigma about MH, this is what we mean. Not people sneering at someone for acting a bit strange... but not believing they are ill because they are not putting on an act for you.

I would just add that those on long term sick accrue holiday whilst on leave, so I would get HR to contact them with you to explain that they still need to advise of holidays etc. save you paying them at a later date possibly!

Have I read this correctly, that when someone on sick leave physically takes a holiday away from their home, it has to be marked as holiday so that it's taken out of the holiday entitlement for that year, along with not accruing holidays for that period? I'd never considered that before. How does the employer prove that "holiday" was taken during sick leave?

Poor guy, so lovely that he has a supportive partner in you.

Local Government Manager here...you need to raise this with HR for advice not Mumsnet! You won't get anywhere with it though but best to log your concerns as chances are they'll be back after the 6 months are up and it will all start again by autumn.

Ableism and Puritanism alive and well on this thread.
If you aren’t well enough to be giving your all to your job then you don’t deserve to rest or enjoy yourself or do anything like have a life. Work must be the first priority!

The real epidemic in this country is not people ‘taking the piss’ with mental health issues or going off sick. It’s the attitude that we are obligated to jobs and employers first and ourselves last of all and anyone daring not to make work the be all and end all is to be judged and shamed and name called.

I’ve had several incidences of severe MH issues thanks to work stress and in a couple of incidences because of pressure to not let my ‘team’ down by putting my recovery first. In every case of stress the cause was a piss poor manager who would rather I die on the job than actually manage their team so they didn’t need to be signed off with stress.

Sorry to hear that. That could be a whole different thread.... WFH means some people can avoid taking time off sick, but it obviously depends on your job and reason for being off sick. You can rest after an op or injury at home and still work... MH reasons don't stop because you are at home.

A bit insensitive if colleagues are picking up the slack.

But being off with mental health issues is not something you can criticise, and that includes a therapeutic holiday.

I work in local govt and see the absolute piss take. I had a team member with whom I was going down the capability route. He was beyond useless, disruptive and incapable.

As soon as I became his line manager, I gave him 6 months (unbeknown to him) before I started disciplinary proceedings. Guess what he did at that point? Took 6 months off with stress and then resigned. In those 6 months, he posted plenty to SM showing holidays, spa breaks, golf retreats…

The best I could do was not give him a reference.

Honestly it's going to breed resentment with the people picking up the slack they may come back to an unhealthy office

People should understand you don't "need" to post everything

@xenobitch

Thank you 💜 funny thing is I'm office based most of the time. A lot of our team isn't. I remember a time before covid, if you had a sick note they let you be. I had to be on a teams call with video every bloody week :( I can't imagine trying to teams them from abroad. It was actually embarrassing. Hair all over and probably unshowered. I actually can't believe I had to do that but they said it was policy I had to be on camera. Like wtf honestly.

I think they shouldn’t be posting all about it on SM I just think it’s cheeky.

Exactly this @XenoBitch, I currently have a colleague of with a broken bone, they aren’t allowed at work due to H&S reasons and I fully expect they’ll go on holiday and quite rightly.

This could be in any public sector office, hardly identifying!!!

If we looked at it through the eyes of a GP/occupational health etc the it would be something that is advised to support mental health management and recovery/aid returning to work- it is not against most sickness policies to do this. Most people would be a bit subtle about this however.....rather than advertising on a social media platform. Mental health is unique and no one can judge an individual case- she could be going through hell and a holiday may be what is keeping her going. Be kind always :),

Working with Occupational Health for someone that I line managed once, for their ill health, and OH fully supported our employee going away for a holiday, so we fully supported this too.

It’s not the OP’s business, and if they voice anything at work, could be formally reprimanded for their interference

Now that you know they're on holiday, you really do need to check staff handbook and relevant policies to check whether there's anything relevant there. If they should have booked it as holiday, then they'll need to be made aware of that, and their holiday records/sickness records adjusted accordingly. You can't unknow it, now that you're aware!

I would anonymously report sending an email using a fake email to manager

I can understand why this sticks in people’s teeth a bit but the GP has obviously feels that the person is unwell enough to be off work and often will advise someone to go on holiday to help with their mental health. People post for all sorts of reasons and nothing is as it seems. It does seem slightly daft to post holiday pictures but when you think about mental illness can’t be seen, and is extremely serious and debilitating so actually they have every right to go on holiday and there’s not a jot anyone can do about it unless you want to get done for discrimination against a protected characteristic.

Rookie mistake! All dossers know - you don’t have colleagues as friends on social media. Damn, the art of slacking off is dying.

In all seriousness though, a holiday is good for the mental health. It kind of depends, is he in the country side relaxing with family or ripping bongs and doing shrooms in Amsterdam?

How brave and pointless.

Oh that's a bit galling OP. Would piss me off if plastered over SM.
Maybe a phone call for an update on how he's doing would be a good move. He doesn't have to stay off if he feels well enough to come back to work!

i mean if you’re happy to make up for someone else’s work when they’re swanning about on holiday you go right ahead. But once people get away with this once they keep doing it.

Actually I’m fine to cover when people need it and I was signed off once and once only despite the wonderful experience you seem to believe it is and I e been working for 28 years.

I think the best thing you could do is stop being friends with people you line manage on FB because it does muddy the waters! Best you dint know these things really!

It is really tricky when people are off with mental health issues because holidays are therapeutic but your employee probably should have more sense than to post on social media.

I’ve seen it from every side as I’ve been a colleague of someone who did similar and line managed someone who did similar. I also took a day trip to the Isle of Wight once whilst off sick with stress. Only off for a week but I needed the week off and my day on the island was great for my mental health.

I would say generally, the less you put in social media the better but others think very differently.