Can I ask what a new employer sees as excessive sick leave?

[Moanyoldcow]

Just that really. I'm currently pregnant and having some health issues. I am going to have to take some sick leave and am just worried about my sickness record.

I've hardly been sick the past two years (2/3 times a year) but will probably go up to nearer 10 this year.

I'm not planning to look for new work necessarily but you never know. Would a new employer find 15 days sick over the last two years unacceptable?

"Get your illness linked to pregnancy, that will protect you"

Only if it's an actual medical condition otherwise you've just kicked every pregnant woman that comes after you.

And no I'm not superwoman, I've just been brought up with a good work ethic. And I've seen how hard it is to run a business with chancers taking the piss out of sick leave.

Bopi tbf 2 instances of 3 days over 260 available working days (ish) isn't excessive at all. I'm not a fan of the bradford factor but this would give OP a score of 12 and IME the trigger point for just a informal chat is average 50 points so OP would be well under.

You have had a team member off for just 1 day less than OP yet you seem to think OP is some sort of hypochondriac?

If a manager came to me blarting on about a staff member having 2 instances of sickness lasting 3 days in total over a year giving a BF of 12 I'd think they were being a bit of a prat tbh.

And the 'regularly' was in response to you saying you estimate you'll be taking up to 15 more days that year.

OP don't worry, if Bopi was off for genuine flu they'd have had about 2 weeks off minimum. Way more than your 3 measly days and a higher BF score of 20

Where I work there are set trigger points where your absence would be reviewed by the HR manager:
3+ instances in a 3 month period
6+ instances in a 12 month period
8+ days of sickness in a 12 month period.
So no, I don't think what you're describing is excessive. We work with children though so are encouraged to stay home if we have anything we could pass on to them.

You missed out three crucial words, bopi

Get your illness linked to pregnancy if it is, that protects you

IF IT IS.

What I'm saying is that if the ops illness is pregnancy caused then she can, and should, be protected. That's the law.

As I said, I've taken only a couple of days in total that were not pregnancy related over the last decade or so.

I work well over my hours. I'm flexible, I go above and beyond, I am certainly not a shirker or a pisstaker.

I also had HG in my pregnancy - the attitude like yours that any time off at all was not to be tolerated meant I worked with no time off, vomiting up to 20 x a day in the office. I fainted in the office and just got up and got on with it. I took many calls just lying on the floor because I knew I'd vomit or pass out. I went for drips in my lunch break (even taking a bloody lunch break was frowned on.)

Eventually I was put in rest leave at six months due to that and some potentially life threatening complications. If I'd been able to rest a bit at the start I'd have been able to work much longer.

People get sick. I'm lucky in that generally I'm healthy and I also have a high bar for staying in bed (never, generally.) but I'm also aware that other people do get ill. I had a colleague hospitalisedfor a week with chickenpox last year. One with cancer, etc etc.

There are always pisstakers, and everyone knows who they are. That's no reason to enforce a culture where people are afraid to take genuine time off for genuine illness - we e fought hard for worker protection in this country, let's be grateful for the protections we have.

I find it amazing how a simple question can lead to such judgement so quickly.

I'm not justifying anymore to Bopi - its people like her that make work so unpleasant for so many people.

Zaurak - yes - IF I need to take any time off it will certainly be pregnancy related and probably dictated by my consultant. I'm hoping it won't come to that though. I'll make sure it's pregnancy linked if I do. Thank you for the advice.

Some places use a rigid system of trigger points (such as Bradford scale) and some don't. Where I am, it's either frequent absence, or unexplained absence, that will get you a meeting with HR (that's me ). The meeting is to figure out whether there's a work-related cause, whether you need support, and in rare cases to gently remind people their absence has been noted.

If we're hiring and someone's reference etc comes back with a high level of sickness, we would have a chat before they started. Sometimes people have an unlucky year (an accident / surgery / are unwell due to pregnancy etc) and we'd talk that through. We'd want to know though, so we could keep an eye on it and make any reasonable adjustments for example if someone had back problems and needed different equipment. If they had a high number of episodes of time off and had no explanation, we would be concerned - it would be the hiring manager's call about whether to still hire them, but we would probably observe them very closely.

HG is a medical condition. You should have time off and understanding for that. I agree and if you were my employee I'd be the first to offer lifts and favours and be correcting anyone who dared question you.

2 days for a heavy cold and 1 for a migraine.

You wouldn't take time off for those in my company; the cold you'd medicate and carry on and the migraine you'd leave early if it was bad enough.

Two or three days a year would seem a fair amount to me, based not only on myself but on the others I work with. Our leave calendar shows that the average sick leave taken here is 0.7 days a year; so it's not much.

I'm not sure it should be that little but it's not a slave driver problem here; it's just that people would rather come in and try to work and leave if they can't; which doesn't then count as sick.

Judging from your previous posts Bopi I think we're all glad you aren't our manager.

No. Plus most emoyers do no ask about sick leave. Pregnancy related sick leave would be disregarded anyway.

Bloody hell - you have to give blood in the place.

I was sent home for the cold after being in for 2 hours. My manager said I was too ill and to go home to bed. I was still the same the next day.

If you wake up vomiting with a migraine then you don't tend to go to work.

Plus I'm asthmatic so a heavy cold for me and people like me can be worse than for others.

Thank you Newme.

Do people really take time off for a heavy cold?? Not flu??

Surely you just take Lemsip or paracetamol?

Have I been doing it wrong all these years?

Did you read my post Hayesking? I was sent home. I did go to work. My manager said I was too ill and sent me home.

Judging from these posts it seems I work in an unusually sympathetic environment and maybe I'll be staying put - I'd hate to work for one of these ridiculous places where being ill twice a year leads to being called workshy or a skiver.

I didn't suggest either of those things; and I also have asthma.

I think it's a perception thing. You think your work are sympathetic but they mark you as absent if you go home. I think mine are better, where people tend to come and try to work, but will go and not be marked as absent if you need to leave.

It's also going to be about how illness affects you.

To be honest it sounds like you'd be better off just to apply to places - the places that think that is too much leave aren't likely to be where you want to work. The pregnancy related sickness won't count for anyone.

Congratulations on your pregnancy and I hope the HG passes soon.

Anchordown- you'd be expected to work with a migraine?! I can't see, I'm physically sick and certainly can't drive safely with a migraine. Thankfully I've only had 2 in the last 5 or so years but still if I was told I was expected to come in after calling sick with a migraine I physically would not be able to as I would t be able to drive in.

2-3 in a year, would be seen as excessive & trigger a back to work review/interview

I would be expected to work with migraine and heavy colds. And have, despite being almost unable to see. I have awful migraines :(

My current employer is by no means the worst I've worked for. It drives me nuts because you get one person in with something grim and they spread it then everyone goes down. For office based roles there should be an understanding that people can dial in from home and work from the sofa with a laptop. Obviously that's not possible with many jobs but it is for a lot and its crazy it's not done more.

I extend more understanding to the teams under me - I know them all well, I am flexible and I have sent people home when theyve blatantly been unwell. I have never had to escalate to hr for sickness. I find that if you treat people like adults they generally repay the courtesy. Unfortunately my management never got that memo

When I had a miscarriage this year I was going to go in. Physically I could probably just have managed even though I was in a lot of pain and bleeding heavily, But mentally I felt bad. So I took two days. And felt guilty :(

As for giving blood - true story, but one place I worked in actually did bleed the staff to calibrate the lab machines.

Reading all of this stuff I'm so thankful I work where I do!

I have been given a laptop to work from home when suitable, I have flexible hours to accommodate dropping my son to school, they are very understanding regarding emergencies (family) and sickness and their attitude means that I work as hard as I can for them.

They would never expect me to work with a migraine (luckily I only get about 1 a year) and would rather you took time off when sick rather then spread it to everyone else.

Oh, and they pay well too.

Op I'd be glad you didn't come to work sneezing all over me!!! I am keen to know where you all work it sounds horrendous!

Yeah mine pay very very well. It's a trade off for me - I can cope with it and the money is good. So I stay. But it's high pressure.

Jeez I count myself amongst the top 1% of lucky with my work then.

Normally as fit as an ox, I was rapidly taken ill with an unexplained virus and took a week off work, sleeping almost non stop. My boss knew from the start and just let me have the time, knowing I'd sort out whatever work needed doing as and when I could.

Not a single sick day was recorded, and we continue to work very harmoniously on a give and take basis.