Employee keep calling in sick and causing disruption
Discussion
On the other hand what would you do if she dropped dead, you’d have to cover her work and have no chance of getting hold of her preparation work. Sounds to me like your systems aren’t developed enough to cover such situations. Sounds like you should be uploading to a shared drive.
OTOH sack her.
OTOH sack her.
Sounds like either a) a bunch of people b
hing and whining about someone who might actually be sick, because they work in a toxic work culture (seen this before), or b) a young employee who needs to grow up and realise they can't just do whatever they want whenever they want (seen this before).ooid said:
We do have a quite sophisticated cloud system and yes we are all working there. She refuses to upload the work and cooperate....
I’m no employment law expert, but wouldn’t the non compliance with procedures be grounds for disciplinary?I would have thought that if the absenteeism is covered by a doctors note that’s pretty much a no go.
In my experience these sorts of things are usually dealt with by a generous “redundancy” offer and refilling the post after 3 months has passed. This is a bit of a process, but gets the job done.
ooid said:
We do have a quite sophisticated cloud system and yes we are all working there. She refuses to upload the work and cooperate....
Then surely that is a disciplinary matter for not following procedures. Get recording all instances now so you are prepared for the disciplinary procedure. Record events on loose leaf paper, not in a book. It can then be edited without anyone noticing.ooid said:
The employee first requested a holiday in one of our busiest periods a few months ago, and my line-manager kindly refused due to our work-load. The employee somehow managed to get a doctor report, and went off-sick for a while, by notifying us quite late..
It also sounds like you think its her responsibility to make your role smooth. Its really not...get over it.
Liokault said:
Sounds to me like she tried to help the company by covering her illness with holiday days. but was knocked back and decided to revoke all flexibility/good will from her side.
It also sounds like you think its her responsibility to make your role smooth. Its really not...get over it.
Agree. Communicate sympathetically and find out what the problem is and the best way forwards. They can't work if they are ill or upset because you treat them badly.It also sounds like you think its her responsibility to make your role smooth. Its really not...get over it.
fido said:
Liokault said:
Sounds to me like she tried to help the company by covering her illness with holiday days. but was knocked back and decided to revoke all flexibility/good will from her side.
It also sounds like you think its her responsibility to make your role smooth. Its really not...get over it.
Agree. Communicate sympathetically and find out what the problem is and the best way forwards. They can't work if they are ill or upset because you treat them badly.It also sounds like you think its her responsibility to make your role smooth. Its really not...get over it.
Having been through this a couple of times, all I can say is it's a nightmare. Whilst it is frustrating for you, I really don't see that there is much you can do.
It is your HR department that will have the ultimate say, all you can do is try to nudge them along. The other problem is that you are not her line manager. So HR could just ignore you. (or at worst see you as part of the problem).
It is your HR department that will have the ultimate say, all you can do is try to nudge them along. The other problem is that you are not her line manager. So HR could just ignore you. (or at worst see you as part of the problem).
Drumroll said:
Having been through this a couple of times, all I can say is it's a nightmare. Whilst it is frustrating for you, I really don't see that there is much you can do.
It is your HR department that will have the ultimate say, all you can do is try to nudge them along. The other problem is that you are not her line manager. So HR could just ignore you. (or at worst see you as part of the problem).
This is my experience too. Don't expect HR to support you if - they're largely useless and unsupportive of line managers in instances like thisIt is your HR department that will have the ultimate say, all you can do is try to nudge them along. The other problem is that you are not her line manager. So HR could just ignore you. (or at worst see you as part of the problem).
ooid said:
Is there anything else I should do, or shall I just leave this completely to HR now? The problem of course, we are faced with an extra-work load due to her disruptive behaviour and ideally would employ someone else now...
Firstly you have my complete sympathies (been there, done that....).You shouldn’t have contacted her whilst she was on sick leave. It’s generally considered a no-no.
You say she refused a RTW interview. Are these mandatory in your workplace? If so she should have been told that they’re NOT optional.
In terms of disciplinary there isn’t really much you can do until she comes back. If she’s off sick for a long time then you might be able to dismiss her on the grounds of incapability but there would normally be a process that the Employer needs to go through (meetings, reasonable adjustments, WFH, etc)
Disciplinary in this case applies to when her work is not up to the standard required. Again you would need to put her through a Performance Management process (SMART objectives, timescales, review meetings) before you could dismiss.
p4cks said:
This is my experience too. Don't expect HR to support you if - they're largely useless and unsupportive of line managers in instances like this
It depends on the organisational culture. One place where I used to work the HR Director was fondly known as the “Beast of Belfast”. On a couple of times I’d see his members of his own team run crying to the toilets because of the way he spoke to them. Christ knows what he was like with Employees outside HR.Unfortunately he had to be dismissed when he said the CEO was a lesbian sheep shagger.
ooid said:
Sorry where did you get that impression suddenly? I have mentioned we are simply over-working because she is not sharing her work-preparation and company materials with us (which has been prepared before all these absences), and currently turning into a disruption. There are clear company policies about sick-leave and work-flow policies, which she is refusing to follow.
Then simply follow the clear company policies that she is refusing to follow and follow your disciplinary process.Edited by ooid on Monday 9th March 10:15
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