Sick days off work: how many is too many per year ?

MassiveJim said:
If you are sick during holiday time you are legally entitled to claim the days as sick and ask for the holiday back.

Like other have said if you have Flu you are going nowhere, I was not able to move from my bed for 24 hours when I got Flu, and after that time I still spent most of my time in Bed.
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Yep did'nt leave my bed apart from food/water/loo. A big bag of tissues, bowls of steam and Valkyria Chronicles 4 got me through the two weeks.
 
My company "allows" 30 days a year of self certified (but Doc note required) medical absence but those who accrue the most sick leave are also the first to go when layoffs/downsizing occurs (which is rare TBH) yet people still treat it as 30 £extra£ days off a year.

For myself there's two types of sick leave - Flu/sickness etc and hospital sickness (broken bones, disease etc) and I personally find the "every 2-3 months I need a week off with flu" type to be the most annoying when a colleague does it.
 
Shocky-FM said:
Slightly off topic but smokers in our workplace have to be 150 metres away before they light up.... Is that reasonable?
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150 metres away from what ? :confused:

Do you work on a garage fore court or some where that there a lot of petrol or gas on site or at a school or hospital, etc ?
 
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chaparral said:
150 metres away from what ? :confused:

Do you work on a garage fore court or some where that there a lot of petrol or gas on site or at a school ?
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Our work is not quite so hard on smokers but the smoking shelters have all been moved to the edges of the site. People complained about the smell blowing into the building as well as not liking the fag ends on the floor (despite having bins) it was also decided it was not a good look for when visitors came on site.
It does mean now a smokers break is a minimum of 20 mins which when many non smokers don't even have the tea breaks (that they should take) get a bit funny about.
 
bigmike20vt said:
It does mean now a smokers break is a minimum of 20 mins which when many non smokers don't even have the tea breaks (that they should take) get a bit funny about.
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A few years ago one of the non smokers at my work place used to go to management all the time moaning about smokers stopping for a fag in non break times so management fitted a camera facing the smoking area :(
 
bigmike20vt said:
Our work is not quite so hard on smokers but the smoking shelters have all been moved to the edges of the site. People complained about the smell blowing into the building as well as not liking the fag ends on the floor (despite having bins) it was also decided it was not a good look for when visitors came on site.
It does mean now a smokers break is a minimum of 20 mins which when many non smokers don't even have the tea breaks (that they should take) get a bit funny about.
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I guess if the situation is something like you’re paid by the hour to do short repeated tasks then maybe there is reason to moan. Otherwise I don’t really get the moaning about others taking breaks. I mean in plenty of salaried roles where you have negotiated a salary and are eligible for a bonus and annual pay review/negotiation then who cares??? So long as you get your stuff done on time and/or the smokers still deliver what they need to deliver then I don’t see the issue.

If someone is on top of everything they need to get done by the end of the week then I don’t see the issue in having say a 2 hour pub lunch on a Friday or knocking off at 4pm... as you might well have worked late earlier in the week and/or taken short lunch breaks or eaten at your desk. There has to be a bit of give and take.
 
dowie said:
I guess if the situation is something like you’re paid by the hour to do short repeated tasks then maybe there is reason to moan. Otherwise I don’t really get the moaning about others taking breaks. I mean in plenty of salaried roles where you have negotiated a salary and are eligible for a bonus and annual pay review/negotiation then who cares??? So long as you get your stuff done on time and/or the smokers still deliver what they need to deliver then I don’t see the issue.

If someone is on top of everything they need to get done by the end of the week then I don’t see the issue in having say a 2 hour pub lunch on a Friday or knocking off at 4pm... as you might well have worked late earlier in the week and/or taken short lunch breaks or eaten at your desk. There has to be a bit of give and take.
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I didnt say i was one of the people complaining... indeed, i aint getting involved in that one. just saying what i see ;)
 
physichull said:
It basically judges harshly those who take lots of odd days sick leave against those who might just take one whole week off. Makes sense in my opinion.
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Two cases I worked on (times approximate):

Man A was off for about 6 months (return to work talk)
he worked for about a month and then went off for around 3 months (verbal)
He worked for a month and went off for about 4 months (written warning)
He worked for a month and went off for 6 months (final written warning)
He didn't have time off for about 6 months and he was set back to zero.

Man B who had a flawless record for 30 years had a day off sick (return to work talk)
Two weeks later another day sickness (verbal)
One week later another day sickness (written warning)
Two weeks later another day sickness (final written warning)
Three weeks later another day sickness (sacked)

5 days off compared to nearly two years.
 
If you get a verbal or written warning for being off sick to much what you meant to do ?

1. Go in when you're sick
2. Quit you're job
3. Wait for them to sack you
4. :confused:
 
chaparral said:
If you get a verbal or written warning for being off sick to much what you meant to do ?

1. Go in when you're sick
2. Quit you're job
3. Wait for them to sack you
4. :confused:
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Go in and cough/sneeze in the face of the person giving you the grief would be my plan.
 
Shocky-FM said:
Slightly off topic but smokers in our workplace have to be 150 metres away before they light up.... Is that reasonable?
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My work has a smoke-free policy, but you can light up once you're off the premises and so the smokers will just find the nearest pavement, estate, road turning etc that is off-site. Depending on where your office/dept is and where the nearest exit is, it can be anywhere between 20 metres and 50 metres.
 
SexyGreyFox said:
Two cases I worked on (times approximate):

Man B who had a flawless record for 30 years had a day off sick (return to work talk)
Two weeks later another day sickness (verbal)
One week later another day sickness (written warning)
Two weeks later another day sickness (final written warning)
Three weeks later another day sickness (sacked)

5 days off compared to nearly two years.
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I must admit I can't quite understand the verbal and written warned for being sick for a day, especially given the record, surely at some point a referral to occupational health should come into it, prior to sacking.
 
So is there no distinction between self certified and doctors note? I struggle to believe it would be legal (and certainly not ethical imo ) to sack someone with otherwise solid service for hitting a rough patch over a 6 month period esp if with doctors note

Depending on the job it is also self defeating.last time we took on new member of staff it took over 2 years to train them to the point that their work no longer needed to be checked
 
I’m of a generation who tends to just go to work unless really poorly. Ive had time off for major stuff such as 6 weeks at the start of last year but I’ve no idea what any policy has ever been because in 30 odd years it’s never been an issue. You tend to know the people who take liberties and cry wolf all the time.
 
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