Off Sick, keep in contact?
Discussion
Friend of mine had a big operation just before Christmas. She was told that she would need 10-12 weeks off work to recover and informed her work place of this about three months before the operation.
Six weeks into the recovery period, and her boss has texted asking how she is and when she will be back to work. She sent a polite reply back saying she is still on strong painkillers and can't drive or stand up for long periods or anything yet, and pointed out that she was still signed off for at least another 4 weeks.
Boss has replied asking her to phone in regularly from now on to "keep up to date with changes at work".
Is that allowed? My friend now feels pressured and that her position may be at risk.
Seems a bit unnecessary to me. I can't see that anything will change that much that she couldn't be informed the day she goes back to work.
Six weeks into the recovery period, and her boss has texted asking how she is and when she will be back to work. She sent a polite reply back saying she is still on strong painkillers and can't drive or stand up for long periods or anything yet, and pointed out that she was still signed off for at least another 4 weeks.
Boss has replied asking her to phone in regularly from now on to "keep up to date with changes at work".
Is that allowed? My friend now feels pressured and that her position may be at risk.
Seems a bit unnecessary to me. I can't see that anything will change that much that she couldn't be informed the day she goes back to work.
It is recommended that employers keep in touch during sick leave. There are better & worse ways to do it but it should be done.
http://www.hse.gov.uk/sicknessabsence/step2.htm
http://www.hse.gov.uk/sicknessabsence/step2.htm
boyse7en said:
Boss has replied asking her to phone in regularly from now on to "keep up to date with changes at work".
No sure I see the problem, if anything this will help her hit the ground running when she does return.That said, I know of a few employees who have been too sick to attend work, but not too sick to go on holiday, nights out, weekends away and posted it all over facebook, while moaning that the boss was hassling them about returning to work. Not saying this is the case with your "friend", but often is.
We have clear guidelines for KIT.
Depending on the nature of the illness dictates the level of contact. This and mutual agreement between manager & staff member.
I can & usually works. But, I represented someone who was off sick with work related anxiety and depression and manager hassled her daily. She said it was to see if she could do anything to help but the staff member took it as harassment.
It was inexperience on the managers part. No malice intended & some good lessons learned.
I suggest your friend speaks to her manager to clear things up. I'm fairly sure it will be well meaning on the gaffers part.
Depending on the nature of the illness dictates the level of contact. This and mutual agreement between manager & staff member.
I can & usually works. But, I represented someone who was off sick with work related anxiety and depression and manager hassled her daily. She said it was to see if she could do anything to help but the staff member took it as harassment.
It was inexperience on the managers part. No malice intended & some good lessons learned.
I suggest your friend speaks to her manager to clear things up. I'm fairly sure it will be well meaning on the gaffers part.
I recall a thread, possibly on here but may have been another forum, where the poster was complaining that his partner had not been informed of an (internal) promotion they would have been ideally suited for due to a period of long term absence.
Calling in every week or so to find out what's happening work wise may have prevented that occurring I reckon. Don't think there's anything wrong with the odd infrequent chat, as long as there isn't any pushing for tasks to be completed before the end of the sick leave.
Calling in every week or so to find out what's happening work wise may have prevented that occurring I reckon. Don't think there's anything wrong with the odd infrequent chat, as long as there isn't any pushing for tasks to be completed before the end of the sick leave.
Thanks for the advice. I've been lucky enough to have only had one day off work in the last 10 years so I'm not up to speed on the rules, regulations or expectations.
I think that thinking about work all seems a bit much for her. She's taking codeine plus over-the-counter painkillers for the pain and they make her very drowsy. Her boss wasn't very pleasant when she was informed about the operation and I think that may be playing on my friend's mind.
I think that thinking about work all seems a bit much for her. She's taking codeine plus over-the-counter painkillers for the pain and they make her very drowsy. Her boss wasn't very pleasant when she was informed about the operation and I think that may be playing on my friend's mind.
Most local government sickness procedures officially have you ringing in once a week, although you tend to find local agreements when someone is off long term (i.e. cancer or operation recovery) that aren’t as tight, especially if there is a good element of trust and someone without a “history”.
As a boss not keeping in touch cost us dear in one instance. In this case it was maternity leave during which a colleague of the employee in the same team was promoted. Upon return from maternity absence the employee lodged a grievance that she had been overlooked. Her sexual discrimination claim was a result of HR failing to inform her of what was going on. It would have taken one email, phone call or text for us to be in the clear. I wanted to take it to tribunal, as the disgruntled employee was no match for the promoted colleague, but was persuaded otherwise. We settled. The employee resigned immediately and moved to another part of the country. An expensive lesson!
ChasW said:
As a boss not keeping in touch cost us dear in one instance. In this case it was maternity leave during which a colleague of the employee in the same team was promoted. Upon return from maternity absence the employee lodged a grievance that she had been overlooked. Her sexual discrimination claim was a result of HR failing to inform her of what was going on. It would have taken one email, phone call or text for us to be in the clear. I wanted to take it to tribunal, as the disgruntled employee was no match for the promoted colleague, but was persuaded otherwise. We settled. The employee resigned immediately and moved to another part of the country. An expensive lesson!
I think you were well advised.She would have argued that she was discriminated on process, not on end selection.
Edited by Vaud on Thursday 2nd February 07:43
I had to get my heart fixed rather unexpectedly before Christmas otherwise I would have kicked the bucket. Simple fix but I was under doctors orders not to drive or fly for 21 days so I had to be off sick. After a few days I was climbing the walls board out of my tree so desperate to maintain contact to keep my sanity. I was told to pack it in & come back when I was ready, nothing was more important than me getting fit again. Had a couple of curries with my team though as strangely, there was a lot of work in and around the area needing overnight stays close to where I live! I think what they really meant was they could not afford for me to be permanently broken so three weeks off was worth it.
In all seriousness, check what your HR policy says & follow it. HR seemed a lot more concerned than my bosses who just took the piss out of me saying when I regained the third of my heart that wasn't effective, they could get a third more work out of me! and generally had a laugh and were relaxed about the whole thing.
In all seriousness, check what your HR policy says & follow it. HR seemed a lot more concerned than my bosses who just took the piss out of me saying when I regained the third of my heart that wasn't effective, they could get a third more work out of me! and generally had a laugh and were relaxed about the whole thing.
I'm sure I recall a thread on here where someone's wife was off on maternity and got back to find a colleague had been promoted into a position that she would have gone for if she'd been aware of it.
I may be guilty of a gut reaction but as an employer it does seem you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.
I may be guilty of a gut reaction but as an employer it does seem you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.
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