Work colleague off sick but on holiday

[Toomanyfecks]

We have a work colleague in our small team that goes of sick (fully paid) with mental health or physical health prior to going on annual leave to lovely places.Its happened 4 times now at least. When they are in work they are mostly great, if a little intense but the pattern of absence has been noticed by all our colleagues but not management it seems. Am I being unreasonable to be at my wits end with what appears to be someone taking the mick??

People saying mind your business, do your own job, etc seem to have no idea how morale sinks when people are treated differently.
It is so unfair on those who work hard and don't take the piss. And sooner or later those people leave as they are fed up!

OP- I wonder if your colleague is mine! My boss is based abroad and has openly said she doesn't know when we are on leave, when are working etc- we all work different days! She even asked us to go back over the past year and try to recall when we had sick days to add to a new system!

My colleague has had the most ridiculous excuses (none are MH) as to why she has an incident, sudden illness or other reason to have a day or 2 off before booked leave. When asked how she is when back- more than once she has completely forgotten the sudden illness!

It really depends on the deeper context - their manager will probably have this if they’re managing absence correctly.

If you have MH issues and you’re going away for a break from reality, or visiting family + friends in your home country - I can see that.

If you’re off for a physical illness and you’re signed off to recuperate, I would question if you’re on a jet ski.

If you’re off with a terminal diagnosis, and you’re living your best life - I’d be more understanding.

Perception isn’t always reality and although it feels unfair to the people watching by, you won’t be privy to the detail. I’d trust management to get the full picture.

It sucks (and we've got one at the moment who's a skiver and pain in the arse) however, at the same time, if you dwell on it too much and are in a situation where management aren't going to do anything about it - it'll eat you up and have more of a negative impact on you than the skiving does.

Also gossiping about why people are off sick never ends well - resident skiver tried doing that when I was off for a period of genuine ill health and it got back to me and I took it up to management so she ended up in at least some hot water for that.

This

This shit again?
Sometimes doctors recommend a holiday for health reasons. Deal with it.
And you and all your colleagues need to stop gossiping and focus on your own work.

one off is ok esp if MH related. If they get routinely signed off before holidays, it's a piss take. I think there is nothing you can do other than raising the impact of workload with management.

No they don't.
Oh really?
That's funny, I must have imagined the three or four times friends and colleagues of mine have been recommended a holiday for their mental health. Silly me.

A million years ago, when I had some HR responsibilities, I gave a few members of my team a pie chart of their absences and pointed viruses did not know what day of the week it was so the prevalence of Mondays and Fridays was interesting.

Am quite sure that this is no longer an acceptable approach - however it did work.

YABU. Don't be a Lickspittle.

it also depends why they are off sick. MH and spending a week on the sun is not so bad but having flue or a bad back and going away for surfing or hiking is far more dodgy..

It is when you have several periods of long term sick leave on top, as I said in my post.

It’s none of your business. If you’re struggling with workload you need to discuss that with your manager so she can redistribute work.

Yes but I am not clear why you would even mention the maternity leaves which are a statutory entitlement. Unless you think she got pregnant 3 times solely to have time off work.

Most work places have an absence policy and will monitor sick leave etc. Leave this for HR or management to investigate. You don't want to create a toxic work environment by speculating that someone is taking the mick when they may have genuine reason to be off work.

I totally get your frustration op! I appreciate people need a rest to recover from MH and a holiday can help.

But if you have a pattern of someone planning a holiday and then shirking work either side it feels unfair for rest of team covering. If we all did this the workplace productivity would plummet.

I had a colleague who was off on MH illness for seven months - gp just kept extending it. HR paid her full pay unnecessarily for 6 months as afraid she would sue (she was suffering workplace stress). She left everything in an effing mess due to her stress she had totally messed up her job. So of course I am covering her work as management too tight to hire adequate temps, and meantime she’s posting on LinkedIn about her “brave battle ” against MH issues and posting on FB her sunny happy holiday snaps.

She came back after work cut her pay to 50% floating in like she was some kind of hero. She was a bit sheepish with me, to be fair. I kept it professional and didn’t say a word to her about her illness or the shitty mess she left me in. She didn’t even say thanks for covering.

I quit that job and got a better one - result is, my old employer stuck with her (she’s still useless) and I’ve taken my skills and dedication elsewhere.

Is it her fault? No. It’s poor employment practice, lack of management skill and an HR team frightened of its own shadow.

I am not clear why you are 'at your wits' end'. You don't mention that your colleague's absences put pressure on you; I think you would have if they did.

If they do directly affect you though, you can mention this to your manager in confidence. However the chances are that management is already aware of her absence pattern and are monitoring it, but managers have to follow a longer process in managing an employee's excessive absence (mainly to avoid the risk of disability discrimination). As others have pointed out though, it is hard to prove that an absence is not genuine so it can take time to resolve.

By all means raise concerns privately with your manager if you want to, but stop gossiping with other colleagues about it - unless you want to be accused of bullying or harassment. Suppose the absences are for a genuine underlying reason that you are not privy to?

It's none of your business. For all you know there is a much bigger picture that the managers ARE aware of but you're not.

It’s worth pointing out that you can’t just sack someone with a disability (or any other protected characteristic) as defined by the Equality Act 2010. There are procedures to be followed including agreed actions with the employee to improve attendance, the consideration of reasonable adjustment such as a change or reduction in hours where possible, and in certain circumstances sick leave taken as a result of declared disability isn’t recorded as sick, but disability leave, and is outside the scope of disciplinary action. Employers need to ensure they follow and document these procedures or they may find themselves at the pointy end of an unfair dismissal case.

Oh I'm with you.

I'm an absolute mug: I go off sick when I literally cannot get out of bed. (Unfortunately it was drilled into me in my upbringing and it's very hard to go off sick with a guilt free conscience)

Most people don't have those values anymore (I'm not saying whether that's a good or a bad thing ) many in my office are permanently off sick with various ailments and on a frequent basis and nobody seems to care much. It makes me internally angry (my problem i know, if you can't beat em , join em?) makes me feel like a mug.

And I've been hospitalised with asthma and have suffered with my mental health all my life. My mum always said work was therapeutic for mental health problems (to be honest, it does blow away the cob webs most times ) but it seems I'm a dying breed.

I accept it's a me problem though. I should just feel more obliged to take more sickies. I find people notice and feel less sympathetic when "Mr/Mrs reliable" goes off sick though. It goes against the expected.

It's dismaying when people with mental health problems use it as a card to go on extended holidays etc. as someone who's suffered life long with anxiety and depression: I've ploughed through work wise all my working life. Yet, I'd be tarred by proxy because of those practices. I really should employ "if you can't beat em join em".

I need so more context here. How often are the holidays?
How many days are we talking here? They leave on the Friday and take the Thursday off kind of thing.

I think you are being ridiculous to be at your ‘wits end’ illness’s happen, whether or not someone is about to go on holiday. It sounds toxic to be mad at someone for being off ill. Your college could have a chronic illness or serious mental health battles. Just because they haven’t disclosed them to you, doesn’t mean they don’t exist.