To think having to count non working days as sick leave is daft?

[Chefpig]

It would mean that if I was off work on my next working day for a cold after being off for the Christmas period for 9 days, I'd need a sick note from my GP. I'd feel ridiculous asking my GP for a sick note for a cold that I may usually be off work for for a few days max.

How will they know you’ve been sick on your days off? That’s your own personal time so it can’t be sick leave.

Surely you're misunderstanding? You wouldn't report in sick until your first working day, unless you were hoping to claim back annual leave as sick? Which by your own description you wouldn't need 9 days for?

You can self cert for 7 days.

If you are sick tomorrow then its your first day of sickness

If you were off sick 9 days ago and now take tomorrow off it counts as one long period of sickness

Were you off sick immediately before the Christmas break? that's the only way it makes sense if you were off sick and still too sick to return to work after Christmas.

I once (25 years ago) had to call in sick in a job on the Tuesday after Easter. I was off Tuesday to Friday. So 4 days. It went on my record as 10 days as they included from Good Friday to the Monday I returned. I didn’t understand it then and I still don’t understand it. My working days were Monday to Friday. The place wasn’t even open on bank holidays or weekends. They insisted I got a doctors note.

I know what you mean, if your SL days leave straddle a non-working period it counts those days, and it makes no sense.

Were you off ill just before Christmas and they'd count it as one long period? Otherwise I think someone - not necessarily you- has misunderstood policy here.

A company I once worked for insisted that you needed to phone in sick if you were sick on a holiday or a bank holiday. I got in trouble because I had 2 days in hospital in the middle of a 3 week holiday. And no, it wasn’t because they credited annually leave days back to us, they just really badly misinterpreted the guidance.

Who were you supposed to call on the bank holiday?!

It would never have occurred to me to claim back leave days if I was sick on holiday. I just consider it to be the luck of the draw. 🤷‍♀️
But the industry I’m in only pays statutory sick so there’s no point. If you’re ill you lose a days pay for the first few days until SSP kicks in.

I think the problem there is that it makes no sense in some cases but does in others, and systems can be too rigid. If you were off for six months then there would always be some non-working periods in there, even if just odd bank holidays, but it clearly is one six month absence not, say, two months off then a bank holiday, three weeks then another bank holiday, then three months. It seems reasonable to count that as one period for things like sick pay, documentation needs, rules around OH referral, etc. However, if you had D&V on December 23, then a work closure until Jan 2, and on Jan 2 you had a heavy cold and couldn't work it does seem unfair to count it as one long period of leave, and apply policy accordingly. Though some employers are normally slightly suspicious of sick leave that 'lengthens' a holiday anyway, and so might be particularly discourage sick leave that adds extra days at both sides of Christmas...

If it’s the same sickness reason I would understand why you need a sick note for a 9 day illness. However, it sounds like you’re talking about two separate illnesses which would each be self cert.

I think you’ve misunderstood - it tomorrow is your first working day, regardless if it you’ve been ill on your days off, tomorrow would be your first sick day from work - you can self cert

You can’t be off sick and on annual leave at the same time. At my work the HR system doesn’t even let us record someone as off sick on days they already have leave booked, we have to cancel the leave and it gets credited back to their allocation. But I guess if you only get SSP you might be better off using leave anyway?

You will only count as being off sick when you are on leave if you tell them that’s when you became ill.

same as my place

Yeah people do end up using holiday for being ill, especially if it’s a single day. Better that than lose the money.

This was the case at my last workplace. It was a university, so we finished for Christmas on 23rd and returned on 2nd. If you were off sick on 22nd or 3rd you needed a GP's sick note for the whole leave period. Apparently it was to put people off adding days either side.
Someone who worked for me had flu and was off sick 2nd and 3rd and was asked by HR to provide a sick note from the GP. She was someone who was never normally off sick so I argued her case and in the end HR caved in. It made me think they weren't legally allowed to do it.