Is boss supposed to keep ringing whilst I'm signed off sick?

[Doiwantthis8262]

I work in a school (non teaching) I'm signed off sick for 2 works with an injury which means I can't walk or sit easily.
In reality it will take about 10 weeks to recover but 2 weeks should be long enough off for me to get on my feet and muddle through at work with some adjustments. I'm part time also
I sent my doctors note in and also spoke over the phone.
Since that first day in have had repeated calls asking me how I am and pushing me to go back. At the moment I am hobbling between the bed and toilet. That feels like a marathon.
They want me to ring them on Sunday night to tell them if I can go in next week ( I'm still signed off for another week). They have made a few jokey remarks saying they need me and can't manage without me. They can.
As of today (sat) there is no way I can go in on Monday. I'm dreading having to call!
Why are they not accepting my sick note and leaving me alone???

"that the frequency of contact is making it hard for you to focus on your recovery and likely to extend how long you are off for, but shorten it"

I seriously doubt muscles or bones heal substantially slower if the owner is feeling annoyed. This just makes the OP sound like she is trying to not go to work, and would create I'll will even where previously there was none.

I’ve worked in HR and we would read that as - I’ll stay off longer if you don’t back off.
People who have injuries still need rest to recover, it’s totally valid.

If your medically signed off then a welfare check in once a week is all that’s needed by HR who will relay any details to your manager
X update blah blah. Does not want a call from manager this week. Will call in next week. Medical certificate received xx to yy date

Check you sickness policy and it will tell you.

if you keep getting calls speak to HR

Stress absolutely impacts negatively on healing.

In 20 years in HR neither I nor my teams have ever made weekly welfare calls to people off sick. That’s a manager’s job (hence the word manager being applied).

My recovery will take ten weeks. I am not going to be well enough to return early from the 2 weeks absence note, and right now it may be longer. I need to rest and recuperate and are finding the daily contact and pressure to return early at your instance is impacting my ability to rest and recuperate. I will call on Friday with an update either that I'm returning or with a updated sign off if that is what is medically required. Please observe my request and don't call me daily, let's catch up on Friday when I'll have a better understanding on my recovery.

Çç in the head as well as the person contacting you. If they ask to call, say I'm currently not well enough and leave it at that.

Hope you start to feel more comfortable and less stressed. X

Lots of people from "big corporate" who don't get schools, most schools don't have HR, teams, managers, they may have policies but doubtful anyones read them!

I work in a huge state comp, management is SLT (Head, deputy, bursar etc), all staff, even the cleaners can email, phone or go and see any of them in person. The bursar/SBM office runs the admin, HR fall under a lady who also does accounts, there are no managers, just officers.

OP drop the head or school business manager a line, explain the situation and keep them in the loop.

In some schools the Business Manager is responsible for all support staff, the have a SLT lead for their area of work but BM/HR handle everything else.

There is nothing to “get”. This is no different to the small companies and businesses with less than, say, 200 paid staff which is where most people work. Most small businesses don’t have a dedicated full time HR team, some will buy in the service from a commercial provider on the basis of part of an FTE.

You still have the same responsibilities and duty of care to staff, whether “HR” is a full time specialist or Fred from the bursars office. Organisations, public or private, do not get to opt out of employer responsibilities because they don’t employ a full time HR specialist.

Send 1 more message saying your sick note still stands and will not be in next week. Say that you will call on Friday with an update as to whether you will be fit to return the week after or whether you will be getting another sick note.

So there’s no hierarchy, no “Heads of” anything, teachers have no performance conversations or assessments, nobody decides who gets what responsibilities, nobody bothers about anyone’s welfare and everyone fends for themselves? Come off it!

Reasonable contact is fine but not constant harassment. I’d block their number for now

Of course there is, but none of that is run by HR, we have a lady who is the finance officer and does the payroll and recruitment.

Heads of department are responsible to the head, as are all the teachers and to the respective head of department, there is an annual appraisal meeting with your HoD which lasts 30 mins or so. And once a year on average a lesson observation from the head / deputy head, but they leave you alone after a while, its been 4 years since I've been observed.

Largely though, you fend for yourself, I wouldn't expect to have much in the way of management day to day, we have meetings to standardise marking and assessment, discuss scenes of work etc.

In 20 years I've never had the kind of HR related convo I hear about from friends who work in the corporate environment.

If I'm ill I report my absence to reception before 8.00 that day, and unless signed off every day until I return. If I'm signed off it gets reported to the Bursars office and will be good for the length of the Drs note, unless incapacitated from doing so I'd still be require to set cover lessons for that period.

You've only had 1 call, and a request to follow up that call on Sunday. By all means you can say you're not well enough for the follow up call and won't be taking any more calls / returning to work before your sick note runs out, but your boss hasn't harassed you to date.

It may well be policy that you need to ring in to report your absence, which you didn't do. It's not like you've spoken to your boss every day. Quite possibly your boss wouldn't have contacted you more than once if you'd either called in, or answered their first call to you.

And that is far more hierarchy than a primary where the head often line manages everyone, including TAs. When people are saying speak to HR, the person OP would need to speak to is the same person who has been hassling them. That's not to say the head shouldn't be bound by the same rules as a small company, of course they are, but things in primaries often feel very personal.

How are new staff recruited?

Via the head.

Here, here, I don't think people who work in ultra well organised business set ups understand the very loose structures found in schools and the often very limited admin staff.

Not to mention, that even in a large school all staff, whatever level, have direct access to the head via email, phone and often being able to knock their office door for a chat.

We don't do much communicating, I understand in offices there is often a sort of constant text scenario going on, we have 2x staff meetings a week with emailed minutes of that. Important matters get individual emails and notes can be put on SIMs (the tracking software) - but by no means constant communication.

I'm in a department of 5, we go down the pub for the afternoon on inset day 3 times a year to thrash out planning etc., apart from that we don't really talk shop much.

far as im aware in the uk they can Keeping in touch during absence - Acas

The problem I would have is not phoning on first day of absence.
we have to phone on 1st, 5th and 9th working absence days.
only we can phone, no one can phone for us unless we are in a coma

In our large school the head and bursar will put together an advert and put it wherever it goes TES online, local paper etc.

The interview will be done by usually the head + a head of department, that's it.

Only ever worked in education so no idea how other sectors do it.

TBH if my work were behaving like that I'd go back to my doctor and get signed off for longer and say they exacerbated it but I'm vindictive like that. I had 10 weeks off with work related stress back in 2019. I missed their first call, the second ended in me telling them i wasn't comfortable speaking with them as i was off sick because of them, they kept trying to get different managers to call me so i turned my phone off. The policy does state an 'agreed' level on contact but no level was ever agreed so that was my excuse. Ende up in a pay dispute cos i got SSP not CSP which i won.