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

4 months off sick on full pay? When I was off with MH I couldn't do a fucking thing, let alone go on holiday.

From experience a lot will return when pay reduces to half... its fact. No other judgement

People are often brazen when they know they aren’t doing fuck all wrong.

Mental health issues wouldn’t necessary prevent someone from going on holiday, and arguably could help. It could also have been booked since before the sick leave, and difficult to cancel a holiday without losing money. I definitely wouldn’t be posting on social lead though. But equally don’t think anything can be done about it.

At my place of work if we are on holiday we have to come off sickness and go onto annual leave, then back onto sickness (still counts as 1 episode). Our policy is that you have to be available for work but unwell to qualify for sick pay and if you are on holiday you aren't available.
I definitely wouldn't post on SM. I haven't ever been in the position of being off sick and due on holiday but the SM posts would let everyone know I was breaching our policy.

Yes. I've know someone with serious mh problems and helping her get out and go to Tesco was an achievement. If she could have gone on holiday she'd have been back at work. I don't think she posted on sm for about 18mths.

Why would the people who are covering them know why they are off sick?

In the nhs you need to get managers permission to go on holiday due to them paying you full pay (you can be called in at anytime to speak with them).
Usually the holiday will be approved but you need to use your annual leave allowance from that year. When you return home from your holiday you go back to occupational sick pay with no break in the sickness period.

I came back after a week which was too soon but I rushed back because I’d never been signed off before and I felt deep shame. I then needed longer off but I came back months before half pay kicked in.

Have you been seriously mentally ill? Or just physically?
If a MH issue which one? Some would need home rest, some wouldn’t.

@LadyTangerine yes you are. And your anger should be at your management.
I have worked in a job where every decision affected someone's life: health, wealth or happiness. In a toxic environment (like the NHS), that can destroy you.
Getting to an airport, getting on a plane and getting to your destination have none of those choices.

I was signed off on stress for almost 3 months. I was a mess. Towards the end of the period, I went on a holiday we'd booked months before. I was dreading it. However, it was exactly what I needed to clear my head and just breath. Coming back from the holiday I felt able to go back to work.

Then I realised I had to take my employers to an ET so it all kicked off again. I was in a better place mentally - at least partially because of the holiday - so didnt have to take any sick leave. I won the ET.

So my holiday made a huge difference to my mental state. I didnt tell people about it or post any photos though!

A holiday can help with mental health but her line manager should know and have approved it in line with company policy.

In my place of work we can’t get external cover in, so anyone off - everyone else’s load increases. We have a mental health - all of us.

My friend was a headteacher and one particular person let’s call her Sharon, she often was on long term sick and on full pay. She got full time pay for 6 months off and she would go to about 4 months, then come back do 6 months and so on. She never informed the school of the holidays she went on. Twice she was seen by people from the school, without her line manager knowing, returning from a flight at the local airport all whilst claiming to not being able to get out of bed. It then came to light that her daughter had moved to France and she was going to visit her twice a year for 3-4 months for a ‘rest and to help with her mental health’. She was even booking the next flight during term time for the next visit and then extending it using the holiday eg off from October half term through December and back end of January. The school were picking it all up organising cover and her head of department had years off it, setting the work whilst she was off ill. Eventually the head of department had a breakdown and couldn’t cope. The head of department never returned to teaching. I don’t know what happened to Sharon.

But it’s unwise to post on social media about it.
This is slightly different as this person pretended to be off ill to go on leave
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-68182281.amp

Oh, I didn’t realise I was disagreeing with an expert who had a friend (insert irrelevant anecdote because everyone’s circumstances are different. I’ve had friends who didn’t react badly to chemo at all and took zero time off, doesn’t mean I’d judge those who did. Its clear you distinguish between poor physical health and poor mental health.

Nope. That doesn’t address the validity of the holiday, just your tendency to be judgemental.

Totally fine for them to go on holiday and post on social media. A break will help their mental health
It's not their fault their role isn't being covered

@Tapoopoo Exactly my experience too. Gives you back the strength to actually stand up for yourself

It’s Facebook it has nothing to do with work

It's incredibly inappropriate to have your employees on Facebook tbh. You seem like a poor manager

You're allowed to be on holiday if you are off sick - esp if it's for mental health reasons. It's not like she's been signed off with a bad back and she's posting pics of her sky diving.

I was signed off for four weeks post my appendix being removed and the last week we went away to a nice peaceful forest log cabin.

You think someone with a MH issue ‘can’t be bothered’.
No point in talking to you further.

unfortunately, its those who take the p*ss which probably doesn't help with judgements from some. I've known people who have been very open about playing the sickness policy. It's really unfair. I hope you ok.

Really how should they manage the situation then - how do you suggest they get that person who is off ill - how do they get their work done? Do they need to advertise, recruit and train someone to do their job not knowing if they are off for 2 weeks or 2 months or 6 months. You have written a glib response with no idea how a company or team can be anffected by illness Others carry the load.

I think your big management mistake @TeaAndBrie is being friends with them on social media. I suggest you unfollow them . Too many blurred lines

I was off long term sick many years ago with depression and went to a small concert one night with a friend. Unfortunately I bumped into a couple of work colleagues who were very pleasant to me, but who I later learned had been very scathing about me at work. It was such a huge effort for me to go to that concert. To motivate myself. Get showered and dressed. Get out the front door. And I felt so overwhelmed afterwards. But all they saw was me at a concert looking pretty normal. There was no social media back then and it still got broadcast to all and sundry.

So my conclusion is - don’t judge, because you don’t know how that person is feeling inside. I do think putting photos on Facebook was a bit silly though. But maybe they aren’t thinking in the Machiavellian way of someone who is well because, actually, they’re not well.