Hospital appointment, take as holiday or sick leave?

[condor]

From your comment Nolar Dog I would hazard a guess that you work in the 'public' (ie tax payer funded) industry as opposed to the private industry.

[whoami]

Nolar Dog said:

whoami said:

However, many employers would trust their staff to not take the piss so would not necessarily ask for a detailed description of the ailment.

Oh I'm sure they are lovely about it. Just as many will have a gossip that tells everyone within 100 yards.

They won't be able to do that if they haven't asked in the first place.

Which was my point.

[Nolar Dog]

condor said:

From your comment Nolar Dog I would hazard a guess that you work in the 'public' (ie tax payer funded) industry as opposed to the private industry.

I'm self employed and have been for the past four years.

I'm currently on strike though

[Thats how I roll]

I imagine most employers only accept "unforseen" or emergency illnesses to be taken (and recorded) as sick leave; doctor's appointments (esp. if booked in advance) needs to be taken as vacation or unpaid leave.

Saying that every company is different; if it's a small company they might be more flexible; larger organisations are more likely to go with the above scenario.

Edit to agree with Coco H below; ops should be taken as sick leave; however an initial doctor's appointment to determine/examine some symptoms would, I imagine, come under unpaid leave/vacation. Any future related appointments/ops could probably be taken as sick leave. Best to clarify with your manager/HR department.

Edited by Thats how I roll on Sunday 9th August 21:25

[Coco H]

I work for a very large firm - any sort of operation etc is taken as sick leave - even if planned in advance which most ops are.

[Colonial]

Coco H said:

I work for a very large firm - any sort of operation etc is taken as sick leave - even if planned in advance which most ops are.

I work in a smallish firm and we have the same situation.

They have renamed sick leave personal leave for that reason.

[Coco H]

We do have some exceptions such as plastic surgery / other non-essential stuff. Likewise we get time off to see a doctor

[bogwoppit]

If I need time off for an appointment of any sort I just say "oh by the way I won't be in on Wednesday morning as I have an appointment". They say "OK thanks for letting me know", no farting around with sick/unpaid/special/personal leave. I imagine for a full day off I would offer to take it as sick leave but my current employer would probably not bother.

Seems most people are actually pretty reasonable, but maybe I'm just lucky.

[Tuscanless Ali]

Nolar Dog said:

For the sake of privacy I'd just book a holiday rather than tell/ask the "bosses".

So would I, if I desperately still wanted to keep hold of my holiday, then I'd ask for a day unpaid.

[Kermit power]

Thats how I roll said:

I imagine most employers only accept "unforseen" or emergency illnesses to be taken (and recorded) as sick leave; doctor's appointments (esp. if booked in advance) needs to be taken as vacation or unpaid leave.

Do you work for the East India company or something equally Victorian?

I've never worked for a company, whether with 20 employees or 360,000, that would expect me to take holiday or unpaid leave to go to the doctor, and they would be frankly idiotic to do so!

The overwhelming majority of employers recognise that a fit and healthy workforce is pretty essential to the efficient operation of their business. The last thing they should be encouraging is for said employees to put off going to the doctor and as a result getting properly sick with something that could've been avoided, just to avoid taking holiday.

The last couple of companies I've worked for have even had a clause which states that if you fall ill whilst on holiday, the days of illness get converted to sick leave and you get the holiday days credited back to you. I assume they do this because they recognise a need for employees to get proper holiday time to relax in if they want them at peak efficiency for the rest of the time.

Of course, none of the above precludes an employer from taking action against abuse of the system.

[Puggit]

I've had 2 scheduled operations this year, working for a largish IT company:

1) Operation to remove growth in eyelid - sick leave booked in advance
2) Vasectomy - no time off

Seems fair, one is elective the other is a medical necessity.

Incidentally, as I work from home, I didn't need time off for the snip anyway...

[Thats how I roll]

Kermit power said:

Thats how I roll said:

I imagine most employers only accept "unforseen" or emergency illnesses to be taken (and recorded) as sick leave; doctor's appointments (esp. if booked in advance) needs to be taken as vacation or unpaid leave.

Do you work for the East India company or something equally Victorian?

And the system was bad abused and poorly ran in past, so now policy is ultra-strict. An appointment that relates to a life threatening/hospitalisation/occupational illness comes under sick leave; anything elective you either make an appointment outside of business hours (aye, right), take annual leave or take unpaid leave. Quite harsh but fair; and quite common amongst traditional American multi-nationals or so I beleive.

[bogwoppit]

American, that says it all. Count yourself lucky you get paid holiday Wonder what French companies are like for this.

[Kermit power]

Thats how I roll said:

Kermit power said:

Thats how I roll said:

I imagine most employers only accept "unforseen" or emergency illnesses to be taken (and recorded) as sick leave; doctor's appointments (esp. if booked in advance) needs to be taken as vacation or unpaid leave.

Do you work for the East India company or something equally Victorian?

And the system was bad abused and poorly ran in past, so now policy is ultra-strict. An appointment that relates to a life threatening/hospitalisation/occupational illness comes under sick leave; anything elective you either make an appointment outside of business hours (aye, right), take annual leave or take unpaid leave. Quite harsh but fair; and quite common amongst traditional American multi-nationals or so I beleive.

I would completely expect something elective to be taken as holiday. It's the non-occupational illness bit that amazes me. If someone is ill, especially with something potentially infectious, surely any sensible employer would want them to see their doctor and get sorted out, rather than thinking "I'm not taking holiday for this", coming in and infecting half the office?

[V8Dom]

Thats how I roll said:

Kermit power said:

Thats how I roll said:

I imagine most employers only accept "unforseen" or emergency illnesses to be taken (and recorded) as sick leave; doctor's appointments (esp. if booked in advance) needs to be taken as vacation or unpaid leave.

Do you work for the East India company or something equally Victorian?

And the system was bad abused and poorly ran in past, so now policy is ultra-strict. An appointment that relates to a life threatening/hospitalisation/occupational illness comes under sick leave; anything elective you either make an appointment outside of business hours (aye, right), take annual leave or take unpaid leave. Quite harsh but fair; and quite common amongst traditional American multi-nationals or so I beleive.

i agree with this.... if the appointment is booked at the doctors in advance its not exactly an emergency, life threatening or even infectous, otherwise it would be an emergency appointment.

[dazerc]

All depends on your works sick and leave policy.

In my work all hospital and doctors appointments are treated as sick days either half a day or full day.

If you are on leave and you are ill you can claim the leave back and have it as a sick day.

[liner33]

A work collegue at the local authority I worked at was required to take holiday for hospital visits she was required to have following cervical cancer , I felt this was very harsh

[Sir Fergie]

liner33 said:

A work collegue at the local authority I worked at was required to take holiday for hospital visits she was required to have following cervical cancer , I felt this was very harsh

Agreed - very harsh - going to essential hospital visits - is not a holiday .

Hope she went on to make a full recovery

Sir Fergie

[TankRizzo]

I imagine the OP has probably got it sorted out by now, some 3.5 years later.

[anonymous-user]

I hate to think of the rights that previous generations fought for that people on here are happy to give up. I havn't worked in the UK for the best part of 30 years but when I was younger I would take sick to see the doctor for things like the physio I once needed to recover from a climbing accident. I now work for a third world companya ad I can take sick days for medical check ups, I am even allowed to take a sick day for the medical for my race licence. If the UK has got to the state that you can't take a day off to 'zap a cancer call' it is asad palce.