I got fired today!!

[Amiunemployable]

I started a new job on 1st September.

I was given an offer of employment letter when I started but never received a contract.

Today I was fired. Apparently I've had too much time off and failed my probation.

They've said I've had eleven days off. By my tally it's six days. Not eleven. Two were caused by migraines with aura which I've never had before and my GP reckons it was highly likely to have been caused by my office lighting as the migraines only started after I got the job. And since i stopped using the overhead office lights, (i sourced my own alternative) I've been migraine free.

I know it's still a high amount to have had off but I recieved PIP for a disability that does unfortunately mean it's difficult for me sometimes to get to work. But I've done my best.

Have I got a leg to stand on here? I never received a contract. Was never informed of a probation period. To then be told I'd failed a probation period that I didn't know existed? I signed nothing that mentioned probation.

I wasn't offered an extension to the probation period or a improvement plan, etc. Just straight dismissal, with no prior warning, for failing a probation period I didn't know existed. And also told I've had 11 days off and I don't think it's been that many.

If I really wanted a job I would struggle in. And if I had a chronic problem I would try to be indispensable and known as reliable as soon as possible. Sounds like OP quite likes staying at home and being a carer. So she needs to find someone to fund her lifestyle.

I retired after 43 years and rejoined the company part time.... Still had to get through a 6month probation period..... Didnt have any days off sick🤦‍♂️.... I'd give it up, learn and move on.

@cooksbrandedclockGenuine question - what do you expect your employees to do if they’re ill? Do you want them to come in with a sickness bug/migraine/flu etc and be unable to function/infect everyone?
People get sick, and sometimes it’s bad luck that it happens in the first few months of starting a job. It doesn’t mean they’re unreliable, if their performance is otherwise good.
It doesn’t sound like a very well run business if you have no contingencies for staff sickness.

You must have some really hard things you’re struggling with yourself in order to write such a nasty post to a random stranger. Thoughts are with you.

@TheQuirkyMakerIt doesn’t sound that way to me, she’s studied for a degree as a mature student to improve her career and is upset about losing the job, that wouldn’t have been the case if she’d wanted to stay at home and not work.
I’d probably try to struggle in too (though not with a stomach bug), only because of attitudes like these where employers immediately think you’re taking the piss if you take time off sick. But I don’t think it’s a good culture, people should be able to have time off to recover if they’re otherwise good employees.

Achieved a degree and doesn't know taking sickness in the first few months will end your career? Yeah, right.

Sorry OP, it’s a terrible time of year for this to happen and probably quite a shock if you felt you were otherwise doing a good job there.

However, and I’m sure this has been pointed out already: at 6 days off in the time you’ve been there - that’s one day a fortnight off. If it’s actually 11 days that’s more like once a week. Yes, you can’t help being unwell, but equally I would want to hire someone who is fit and able to do the job that I am paying them for - and the amount of time you’ve had off would make me question that.

Put it down to experience, get some temp work over Christmas if you have to, and start the job search afresh in the new year.

They realised that it was going to be a recurring thing. I thought all jobs have probation period. Look for something suitable for you. This way no one waste their time.

Most people will get an average of 10 viral illnesses per year. Ten! That's before you take into account migraines, low mood, broken limbs. I expect people to come into work with a cold. I would only expect people not to come in if they were vomiting, hospitalised or at home with the flu. A cold, a cough etc - you come in as there is a job to do and you can't have 10 x 3 days off a year!

Interestingly if the computer caused a migraine and OP had to go home I don't think this would count as sickness - as she had come in to work. Also not sure why a migraine means she needs to be off Friday to Monday (which I know she hasn't confirmed but I suspect)

No one ever calls in sick to say they are skiving and don't fancy it. They have a plausible sounding illness. But then if they are off again and again then that will be an issue, especially when their colleagues are turning up with a cold etc and doing the job that they are receiving money for. A job isn't there to provide an income out of kindness, it's payment for work done.

I'm speculating, but I wonder if OP's disability is something like autism causing her to be easily overwhelmed and mean she is calling in sick where others would just carry on. Which I have sympathy for, but I would gently suggest she needs a job that isnt as overhwleming

@Amiunemployable Unfortunately even if you had been told about a probation period, it wouldn't have mattered as it doesn't sound like you had any choice but to miss work regardless.

I'm in a similar position to you and am looking for jobs with remote working, or at least that offer a hybrid style working.

How were you supporting yourself previously without claiming any benefits if you weren't working?

If you didn’t declare your disability then it’s not a protected characteristic dismissal so unfortunately, I don’t think you’ve got a case here. Although from your description your days off sound like several unrelated issues anyway.

Sadly I think it sounds like the disproportionate amount of days off since starting has led them to suspect you’re making things up. Not that I think you are, things just happen sometimes, I once started a job and on day 4 got unwell and ended up in hospital and not going back for 2 weeks.

You would go in with a sickness bug and make everyone else ill, while you couldn't do your job properly anyway because you'd spend most of the time in the bathroom as is the norm with a sickness bug?

As for the child, you'd take your ill 7 year old son into work with you? Or would you leave him at home to look after himself?

There's an awful flu going about and some of my DC friends have been off school for over a week. The parents have been fortunate that for most they have one parent WFH or a grandparent able to take over. OP clearly doesn't have those options.

@JKLollingBut she didn’t have a cold, she had a sickness bug (I read that as a V&D thing, not a cold), migraines and her child was ill. Usually people who skive off are also poor performers when they’re in too, but the OP was told her work was good, so there’s no reason for them to think she was lying. If you’re off for more than 3 days in a row they usually require a note from a Dr too, so it’s not like you can keep the lie up for very long if skiving.
At the very least they should have brought it up with her and given her a warning rather than just firing her out of the blue.

I'm sorry this happened to you.
I do agree though that whether its been six days or eleven days, its still too many instances of sick leave.
I don't understand why they said eleven days and you say six days. Did you leave early the day before you took sick leave and they are counting this? If you were in the office, this is surely easy to prove if you send out emails as you cross reference the dates.
My guess is that it doesn't really matter as a} you won't be using them as a future reference b} you may be fixing on this because its the only part you have any control over.

I hope you find some temp work or work from home in the near future.

Sorry OP but you must have known all those absences wasn't a good look as a new employee. All you can do is put it behind you, learn from it, and move on.

They can do what they want within the first 2 years unfortunately but I can see you’re stressed, I hope you find a new role soon. Maybe ask for a decent reference if the work was good?

side note- why do all Mumsnet kids have autism/sen? It seems so disproportionate to children I know. Like every other post “I have 5 kids, all sen”…..how!? I have 4, no sen just normal kids with normal needs (ones a bit highly strung but we love her for it 😆).

I may make a post asking do you identify your kid as sen and if so what’s sen about them? Is it like behind with reading or are they smashing their head off the desks?

Sorry op this sounds shit for you just before Xmas.

ignore the stroppy twats on here.
it’s meant to be a good space to rant regardless of any situation.

can you look for work from home jobs ?
there’s a site called work from home hub online that advertise this sort of wfh admin type jobs so that may work better for you

its a shitty time for many right now. Everyone is feeling the pinch and the country has gone to shit which doesn’t help so sorry your getting grief here aswell

65 working days since 01/09 and you've been off for 11 of them! That's ridiculously high and more time off than I've had off in over 2 years at my current job!

Of course people get sick, and both the employee (and the business) need protection - but here we are talking about a brand new employee who has within just weeks of starting work proved themselves to be unreliable, by being absent on no less than 6 occasions - and it could be up to 11 - through not just sick leave but other things that should have been discussed/negotiated prior to employment commencing.

Businesses do not have the capacity to be charities to the unreliable and those who do not give full disclosure from the outset, thereby leaving the employer both unaware and preventing them from making reasonable adjustments from the start.

As much as I may sympathise with the OP’s personal circumstances, I too would free this brand new employee of only a few weeks from not working very much for me. Had they then come back at me with other new information that makes it appear they want to ‘create a situation’, I would be relieved I’d dodged a bullet. Hard, but true.

And yeah, I'm a bit annoyed that there was no contract, no mention of probation, no warnings. No back to work meetings after absences to discuss, etc. They were very happy with my work, and my time off hasn't been mentioned before today. As I said, there were no warnings, no discussions. It just feels shitty. No opportunities to improve and keep my job, etc.

Irrespective of whether they used the word "probation" or not, you must have been aware that in your first few weeks there they would effectively been trying you out to see if you could do the job properly or not. You must equally have been aware that no employer was going to be too happy about someone taking off six days within less than three months; why did you need them to confirm that? I don't know any employer which routinely has back to work meetings after each day an employee is absent.

I think possibly you have an unrealistic idea about what employment means. Next time you start a new job, you really need to do your utmost to be there every day - that means trying to have some pretty rock solid emergency child care arrangements in place, and going into work when you're unwell, unless you've got something contagious or are literally unable to get out of bed.

When you're a new employee, surely you can work out that taking a lot of time off work is going to endanger your chances of being kept on without needing your employer to spell it out to you?

I agree with pp that it sounds like they include weekends i.e. if you were off sick from Friday morning to Monday evening they would count that as 4 days sick not 2

I've never heard of that before. Why are people allowed to include 2 days at the weekend if you're not supposed to be working on those 2 days? I know someone mentioned up-thread, but I didn't think to ask.

I have been sympathetic to people's illnesses / struggles while also raging inside at the amount of work I had to cover, causing me to miss out on time with my own family, because of it.

The fact is that was a lot of time off and if you pass probation, it gets harder to get rid of you. Most people move heaven and earth to make a good impression in the first 3 months. You didn't and it was an indicator of a likely future where they just couldn't rely on you to show up.

I've had return to work meetings after leaving early due to illness 🤔 and that was leaving 3/4 hours early