Disputing sickness record - about to leave for another role

[bigPileOfDough]

I need some advice about disputing massive errors in my sickness record. For background I have been offered a job that is significantly better and with a better company and I will be handing in my notice ASAP.

Got pulled into a meeting today to discuss the amount of time I have had off sick. I was a bit blindsighted by the number of instances as I was 100% certain I haven't been off as much as they were saying I had, so I went through it in my employment profile.

Out of Seven, five of the absences are recorded incorrectly or are completely wrong. One is on a Saturday and I wasn't ill anywhere around that date at all (we don't, never have and never will work Saturdays), one is on a day I was actually in the office and attended every meeting, but mentioned to my manager on Teams I had felt under the weather with a cold (absolutely fine to WFH, and have a record of me attending these meetings). One is in there twice, another is split over two separate absences and the final one is an absence where it was agreed it would be compassionate leave as I took time off when I found out my mother was dying. The other absence I was actually off and very unwell, and it's the only one they have recorded correctly.

I'm not bothered that I've had time off sick, it's whatever. But I am concerned they are going to present these to my new company and call into question my reliability as it looks like I have been off SEVEN times with sickness in the last year when it has only been three, for a very short amount of time in total and for genuine reasons. Not to mention the stuff with my Mum not even being sickness which I made clear.

How do I dispute this? Is it even worth disputing in the first place if I am not going to be there in 3 weeks time or should I just bite the bullet, explain it to my new employer if they ask about it and hope they believe me?

This is an amazing opportunity and I don't want to lose out on it because my current (and absolutely awful, but that's another thread) employer can't get their shit together for once.

I think you need to ask HR to address the inaccuracies. Your sickness record is likely to form part of your reference.

You absolutely should dispute this

Of course you should question it. You have all the evidence you need to dispute the records so just request another meeting and present it all

Definitely dispute it, and see it through even if you are leaving soon.
Personally I wouldn't mention it to your new employer, but I would BCC your personal email into any emails to HR addressing this and chasing it up, so you've got a record in your personal emails should it come up with the new employer. And forward any responses to your personal email too, especially if there's a resolution.

Find your company’s GDPR policy. It will refer to your rights including your right to have your data corrected. There maybe a process to have your data corrected, follow that.

Otherwise, Email HR and your manager and copy in the Data Protection Officer stating that your sickness record is incorrect and that you are exercising your right under GDPR to have inaccurate data corrected.

Attach a table in the first column list the dates of each sick day, in the second the reason for absence, in the 3rd column state correct, not correct. In the 4th column state why they are incorrect e.g. this is a Saturday I don’t work Saturdays please remove, I worked this day please find attached evidence of meetings I attended, duplicate entry please remove etc.

Legally they have to amend your record.

I thought mentioning a poor sickness record in a job reference was no longer legal? I think a job reference can only confirm dates of employment, job title and possibly salary. I think it was legally challenged in the courts when someone lost a job due to a bad reference but the person had been seriously ill for many months so I think companies steer clear of sickness records but hopefully an Employment specialist on here will confirm. Either way do as previously posted and get your record corrected. Good luck

References can give factual information that's requested. My NHS trust asks for reference to include number of days sickness absence over past 2 years. It's factual and cannot be disputed which is why it's important for OP to get her's corrected

Get it corrected as it could appear in any references for several years.

So I think I might have missed the boat on this as it seems references were requested pretty quickly after I had the interview, which was before I was given oversight of what my sickness record looked like.

I will still dispute it with the company as I am there until 28th and if they correct it they might be able to inform the new company should it come up, or any future companies I interview with.

For what its worth I have a feeling my manager may try and sabotage my efforts to secure this job anyway. She was NOT happy during my resignation meeting whatsoever. Thank god I have my previous employers reference and a decent character reference from a lovely lady I work adjacent to.