Off sick from NHS job but still work second retail job?

[Dippiedottie]

Just that basically- if I am signed off my full time nhs job can I still work my 4 hour retail contract? I'm due back from maternity leave next week and have been signed off sick (stress of returning to work) so won't be back to my full time job but I have been working a 4 hour retail job on Sundays for past 3 months of maternity leave.
Can I continue to work here? Thanks

Nevertheless, off sick both jobs I go it would seem.

I don't think it's a question of fraud, more a question of ethics. I think that if you realistically can go back to the job with some adjustments then you aren't doing anything wrong (though your employer may not see it that way). But if you know the job is really not for you and you're just trying to keep the money coming in for as long as you can, then that's dodgy, but possibly not in a legal sense.

You don't get sick notes any more, you get 'fit notes', so you can be signed off as fit for limited duties, and as such, fit for one part of a job, or one job and not another. An easy example may be pain, where 'light duties and only able to sit to work' may be written. If a patient has two jobs, and one is very physical, with lots of heavy carrying and standing, they may be unable to do that job. If the other is a passive job, where they check tickets at a ticket booth, sitting down, they may still be ok to attend that job.

Having said that, the NHS is very hot on fraud, and I would want to declare all work to OH/my manager and get written approval for it.

A colleague of mine was signed off with stress from 1 job but still able to work with us in her second job (NHS) As the doctors sick note specifically said it was that job causing the stress. I think if your note explains it's that specific job then you are ok. At least in her case our NHS employers were happy that she could work with us whilst off sick with the other job. It might be worth emailing your employer to let them know as you then have a paper trail and proof that you have been as open and honest as possible.

Ex-NHS union rep here. Not rtft thread but be very, very careful about doing your other job. I repped for someone a few years ago who got in trouble for doing precisely the same thing.

Check the sickness absence policy; most in the NHS will say that you're not allowed to work elsewhere when sick unless it has been defined as therapeutic - it can be regarded as fraud and lead to dismissal.

If you're signed off sick then you shouldn't be doing either job.

I wouldn't be very impressed if I was your NHS Manager. Is it really worth it for four hours a week.

Others on here have different opinions and will probably tell you to go on holiday as well.

My GP recommended a holiday when I was signed off with anxiety. If it helps a person to regroup and ultimately return to work, what's wrong with that? If you'd been signed off with a bad back or similar then fair enough, but for mental health issues, going away (if it's a relaxing, possibly child free break) then why is that not OK?

That last sentence made no sense, but I'm sure you get the idea!

It doesn't seem right if you are being paid by the nhs whilst off sick. If it's too stressful for you why not reduce your nhs hours, or leave and go agency or back or leave altogether and just work in retail if it's less stressful.

If the thought of going back to your NHS job is so stressful that you’ve been signed off sick, how are you going to go back in the future? Is the job suddenly going to improve and cause you less stress? Surely the same stressors are going to be there no matter how long you’re off sick?

OP it's fine. The only proviso being that if your contract with NHS job doesn't allow second employment, which you seem to have covered

To PP who mentioned employer claming SSP; they don't anymore. It's a statutory payment funded by employers.

SSP is calculated and qualified on a per employment basis. No problem whatsoever with what OP is suggesting, and I don't understand the snarky responses

Like Toddlertea I have known two colleagues who have been sacked by the nhs and struck off/suspended off by the NMC for being signed off with stress but working elsewhere (one was doing bank work in care homes and the other was doing something completely unrelated to her nhs job)

Is it worth the risk?
If not i would get signed off both.

it's a statutory payment funded by employers.

The tax payer then.

I hate seeing people abuse the NHS. It's so under resourced and paying people who are selectively sick has a direct impact on patient care.

OP you've had the best part of a year to prepare to return to work. What are you going to do now that you couldn't have done before?

You need to read your contract, secondary employment and sickness. Are you receiving sick pay, if so is it from your Trust or SSP. Instead of going off sick why don't you look at redeployment, do,you have annual leave you could take. How long do you think you'll be off sick for before you get put on a sick review.

Bombardier, no, it's funded by employers.

You should NOT be working. Better give up the Saturday job, or you'll find yourself in big trouble and you may HAVE to work in retail.
Is it worth sacrificing your career for four hours a week?

I think if it's something like nursing that you couldn't do with a bad back but you could do another sitting down job and your fit note stipulated that then you might be ok, but going off sick with stress before you've even gone back seems a bit odd to be honest.

You can't continue to work for someone else if you are signed of sick as this means ALL work. I have been in the NHS 22 years and seen 2 colleagues sacked (and their careers over) for this. A 4 hr retail job is not worth doing if it means losing your FT NHS post.

I know someone who did this. Main employer tried to do a disciplinary/sack her but we're told by HR it was too much of a grey area to persue. That employee could argue that pt retail job was good for her mental health.

But a different employer may decide to persue it. I wouldn't risk it.

It is possible and there are many situations (e.g. if your day job is as a bus driver and you teach piano in the evenings) where it’s very obvious that it’s appropriate. The NHS staff mentioned working bank posts while off sick from main job were always going to be screwed though.

But the OP needs to double check her contract, go back to her GP and clear her position explicitly with her employers before doing this: it’s just too risky to do it and hope for the best.

I think you should be not doing either job. What are your plans to address the stress? I say that because if you end up dismissed because of your sick record you’ll find it very difficult to get back into work. Intermittent or long sickness is being addressed much more closely now in the NHS as it is recognised the longer someone is off the less likely they will ever return.

Given what you have said here about being turned down for s career break your employer will think that you are using a sick note to delay your return to work because you do not want to return. The fact that you are working the retail job to give yourself some funds suppirts this. Be very csreful that you dont fuck up your career like this. If you really dont want to work then resign. Of course working and looking after kids etc will be stressful but you arent even doing it yet so hard to see how u can be currently sick.