Sick leave

[Mellowyellow222]

I have a friend who is a teacher. He takes a lot of sick leave - partly because of all the bugs he catches from the kids. He also takes days off if he is tired.

We were talking about this - and he was complaining that his boss keeps contacting him to ask when he is coming back from his current period of illness.

I commented that in my work there are rules about how many times you can be off and I would probably have lost my job by now, or at least have had a warning.

He said there are no rules about sick leave in teaching because it is accepted the job is so stressful that teacher are expected to take a lot of sick leave.

Obviously he is wrong about this - but are there really no warnings etc for sick leave. He hasn’t been back since Christmas break - and this is the fifth time he has taken sick leave this school year.

If he is sick he's sick. You say he calls sick because he's tired but you may not know the full story.

You can be put on a warning yes but unless you are phoning in sick every Monday or after a specific football team plays etc then I don't really know what you expect his employer to do? Maybe you're just really lucky that you don't get ill.

I do get I’ll - everyone does.

I am Just worried he is burying his head In the sand and there is some sick policy that he will trigger.

Maybe he’s right and there isn’t. Maybe my work is just very strict.

They will have an attendance policy. Eventually he will hit a trigger and begin a process. Perhaps his schools HR are being lax with this.

Teaching is a tiring and stressful job, where children's education and futures matter. It's not for everyone, physically or morally.

In my work you get a warning and if the sick absence continues you can eventually get dismissed.

It’s not about faking - it is always assumed that someone is genuinely sick unless there is string evidence to the contrary. I have taken annual leave instead of sick leave to avoid hitting a trigger.

Hopefully the school have if toned him of the policy. He can be a bit naive on these type of issues and I have had to help him with some financial messes before. He is the type to not open letters from the bank etc and then there is a much bigger mess to clear up. Which I am always called on the sort out!

None of my business I know - hopefully the school are just being lenient with him.

And of course I recognise teaching is a tough job - I certainty couldn’t do it.

Do schools use the Bradford factor?

They will definitely have a policy. It's usually more than 3 periods of sickness in 6 month period triggers meetings/ process

Okay - he isn’t taking the calls from his boss - maybe this is why.

I will chat to him at the weekend. The school should be understanding - but if he keeps up the attitude - leave me alone I’m sick - their patience will run out. He needs to engage.

I would hate to see him lose this job because he has some weird notions about sick leave.