This is going to be vague as I'm trying not to give anything away that might be outing. I have name changed. It's long with a basic question at the end.
Situation is colleague came back last September having been furloughed since March 2020, and began a very close and exclusive friendship with their line manager which they hadn't had before.
I wasn't furloughed over Covid, and was doing much more than my hours covering the work due to colleagues being furloughed, and there was extra workload. She was CV which was why she was initially furloughed, and was offered some hours to come back but said she wasn't happy due to being CV, which was reasonable.
Their line manager isn't in charge, but is very influential and manipulative.
Colleague has caused lots of issues (such as not doing her work) but if anything is said their line manager backs them unconditionally and will "get them out of trouble" and praise them to the skies. For example in September, when they'd just come back, Line Manager nominated them (and tried to push it through) for "employee of the year"-bearing in mind they'd been furloughed for the last year this was at best laughable.
Situation has gradually deteriorated between those two and the rest of the workers on our site, and several people (including me) feel that they are bullying people especially if anyone challenges them. Colleague has been doing more and more things which cause issues and not doing what she needs to do.
Line manager announced last year that she was going to take parental leave from end of May through to October, and this was approved by management. Shortly before the Line Manager left, I overheard a conversation between Colleague and Cleaner, who sucks up to the pair of them. Cleaner asked what Colleague would do if someone challenged her when Line Manager wasn't there to back her. Colleague said "If I don't get my way I'll just go on sick leave with stress until Line Manager comes back."
Other people have heard her say similar things, although nothing as direct as that, more along the lines of "if I can't do that then I might as well just say I'm stressed and take sick leave".
Now, you probably see where this is going... Colleague lasted longer than I, personally expected. But end of July she had a row with someone. Basically she'd been asked several times to do something and either refused or not done it, so they asked someone else and she hit the roof, screaming in his face.
She's done similar before but Line Manager just backs her even when it's clear she's lying (one time Line Manager accused me of not telling Colleague something to which I pointed out I told both of them together, to which she said "You didn't tell her well enough") Obviously this time she doesn't have Line Manager to back her.
So she had holiday in August (she has extra holiday so she can take a good amount of the school holidays off as she's got little ones) and hey presto on the 1st of September she's announced that she's got sick leave from the doctor... until the week Line Manager comes back.
Now this came up at work today. We're all aware she's playing the game. I don't think, assuming she has a sick note, which I assume she has, that anything can be done-even if she sits there in front of the board of directors and tells them openly "I wasn't stressed, I told the doctor I was because I wanted extra holiday".
Others thought that as she was so open about it, then she could be given a warning and told to come in anyway.
Who's right here?
Management are aware-they had been told before it all blew up that she was saying she'd do that, but are likely to basically take the easy way out anyway, they always do, so it's an academic question.