Can you get a written sick warning....

[Jellyrollgumdrop]

for being off with PND? My friend has just returned to work after having her baby to be met with this warning! Her sick lines stated Postnatal Depression. Can they do this?

As far as I'm aware the extra protection that applies to pregnancy related sickness only applies up to the end of maternity leave, so a long as it would be usual for a written warning to apply, and it's after maternity leave has ended, it's probably fine.

Would it be usual to issue a written warning for sickness in this way, if you leave aside what it's for?

Thanks Flowery, she had her mat leave then went straight on to sick leave.
She works in the public sector & from my experience they do whatever they like regarding sick warnings, whether they comply with the law or not
They have dropped the verbal warning & just go straight to written warnings, this has been their practice for 6+ months.

I'd be very concerned if no process has been followed. Where's the meetings and hearings? Was the disciplinary process followed?

I'd also be extremely worried if it was my business about being accused of sex discrimination. The reason maternity-related sickness/absence is excluded from usual absence management is because it could only ever apply to women.

I would think there's be a good case for arguing pnd falls under the same legislation seeing as how it's only going to be women with it. However, I am unaware of any cases where women have been overtly less favourably treated after a case of pnd. But I'm not a lawyer, just an hr specialist.

There are lots of conditions that only apply to one gender though, so the fact that only women get it wouldn't make it sex discrimination in itself to discipline for it.

I will check the wording of the regulation in question later but I do think once mat leave is over the special treatment wrt sickness absence related to pregnancy finishes.

If it's a public sector organisation they will have a proper sickness absence policy and disciplinary policy, so if they are not being followed there is of course legitimate complaint.

March her meeting was this morning, it was an "Invitation to attend for consideration for a written warning", thats how the letter went.... She put forward the fact that it was PND & felt she was being penalised for having had pnd etc..

The manager giving the warning said something about ...over 90 days and the maternity legislation doesnt apply, your sick is treated like any other!...????

I would imagine she will appeal this decision, any help greatfully received

Does she work in the NHS?

I do, and it's standard in my workplace that if you're off more than twice in six months, of for more than two weeks in six months, you automatically get a warning (although i'm not sure if that's written or verbal). They don't take it too seriously if they are confident that you have been genuinely sick. A woman I work with has just been off for three months following surgery for a cancer, and she has been given a warning, but at the same time they've said that nothing will come of it, but they are required to by the terms of the contract.

Ok have been through it. Women who are dismissed for reasons connected with having given birth (ie PND) can automatically claim unfair dismissal but this only applies if the dismissal ends the maternity leave; in other words if it happens after maternity leave has already ended, it's not automatically unfair, and should be considered under normal unfair dismissal legislation.

Of course your friend hasn't been dismissed but I would guess the rule about not suffering a detriment also applies in the same way.

So looks like she doesn't have extra protection. It may be as Whatsthatduck says - it's an automatic thing triggered by the absence and won't go any further. If she wants to appeal it, she should read the policies carefully, appeal on the basis of any procedural element that wasn't followed, if any, and if there is provision in the policy for any kind of discretion, rather than it being an automatic trigger, she should appeal it on that basis as well.

Whatsthatduck shes in the Civil Service.

Thanks for all the help Flowery, March & Duck!

We have a staged process, with automatic triggers, which means the line manager has to talk to anyone who has sufficient days or instances in a given time and fill in forms for HR.

But there is a degree of discretion and for something like this we would actually be looking more at what we could do to ease return to work and prevent worsening/ relapse.