Written Warning for Sick Leave
Discussion
I run a small professional business, sick leave is not really an issue to us, no one has much time off, owing to illness. I’d never reprimand anyone who was clearly ill & was off for a week ish. With that being a rare occurrence.
My wife has worked 15 years for a long established national clothing & now food retailer. She now works 2 days a week. The firm make their employees work 5 Bank Holidays a year. She went in on New Year’s Day, but she was quite unwell owing to the seasonal coughing virus that was going around, she missed her rostered shifts on 2nd & 6th Jan.
That meant she triggered their disciplinary process. Despite not being absent at all in the previous 20 months, she was issued a written warning owing to this sickness period, with the demand that she immediately improve her attendance ratio.
Her bonus & chances of transfer to another store are impacted by this warning having been issued.
Is this normal practice in the world of bigger business these days?
My wife has worked 15 years for a long established national clothing & now food retailer. She now works 2 days a week. The firm make their employees work 5 Bank Holidays a year. She went in on New Year’s Day, but she was quite unwell owing to the seasonal coughing virus that was going around, she missed her rostered shifts on 2nd & 6th Jan.
That meant she triggered their disciplinary process. Despite not being absent at all in the previous 20 months, she was issued a written warning owing to this sickness period, with the demand that she immediately improve her attendance ratio.
Her bonus & chances of transfer to another store are impacted by this warning having been issued.
Is this normal practice in the world of bigger business these days?
frisbee said:
Are they treating it as 2 separate illnesses?
I bet this is the case. You could probably argue it’s 1 illness assuming she didn’t work any days in between. There doesn’t ever seem to be anything companies are willing to do about it. Lesson learned: don’t bother taking one day off and trying to get back to work as soon as possible, might as well take whatever the maximum possible without a sick note is.
N111BJG said:
Is this normal practice in the world of bigger business these days?
Yes. Unfortunately Managers have little flexibility in the way they apply the Policy. It’s partly to prevent them being accused of favouritism, partly for lots of other reasons. Let’s say a colleague of your wife goes off sick for 10 Mondays in a row. When they get a warning letter they will immediately point to your wife and say “I’m being bullied. SHE also exceeded the target and SHE didn’t get a letter!!” Completely ignoring the fact that their sickness was far worse. In cases like these people will ignore the 99% of evidence stacked against them and use the 1% where the Manager might not have followed the Policy and argue that the Manager has failed completely.....cossy400 said:
She was literally "sick to her back teeth"...............Countdown said:
cossy400 said:
She was literally "sick to her back teeth"...............
Retail companies are complete b
ds to work for.
A few years back I worked for a clothing retailer and due to sickness had a complete week off. Returned Monday and walking into the office greeted everyone as I did with a "Morning".... my boss replied saying they were doing depts timesheets and wanted my doctors certificate. They simply wouldn't have it that I didn't need one and was self certing. I had a threat of disciplinary action against me. I smiled and replied I'll speak to HR and get them to email you the procedure
Later in the day I popped up to HR and sorted it all. My boss was less than happy when HR informed them that I was correct.
I would certainly speak to HR about it, but to be honest sounds like a firm I wouldn't like to work for.
ds to work for.A few years back I worked for a clothing retailer and due to sickness had a complete week off. Returned Monday and walking into the office greeted everyone as I did with a "Morning".... my boss replied saying they were doing depts timesheets and wanted my doctors certificate. They simply wouldn't have it that I didn't need one and was self certing. I had a threat of disciplinary action against me. I smiled and replied I'll speak to HR and get them to email you the procedure
Later in the day I popped up to HR and sorted it all. My boss was less than happy when HR informed them that I was correct.
I would certainly speak to HR about it, but to be honest sounds like a firm I wouldn't like to work for.
Thesprucegoose said:
What is the written warning actually for?
Did she follow company sick reporting procedure, i.e called in to say she wasn't going in?
The warning was because she’d exceeded the 3% absence trigger, that’s all. Did she follow company sick reporting procedure, i.e called in to say she wasn't going in?
All reporting requirements were observed, I know because I did it as she was too unwell.
It is even acknowledged that the illness was genuine.
I've come to the conclusion that companies like this are in the majority these days.
Cutting out the BS, the reason it happens as companies grow, is bad middle management (who like to play the hero by solving problems that didn't exist) and backstabbing c**ts who like to run to the boss and get people into trouble in order to forward their own career. In my last job I very much saw it creeping in, over a 12 month period one manager (who behaved like a psychopath) had the owner convinced that anyone who was sick, was in fact not sick at all, and things started changing for the worse.
N111BJG said:
The warning was because she’d exceeded the 3% absence trigger, that’s all.
All reporting requirements were observed, I know because I did it as she was too unwell.
It is even acknowledged that the illness was genuine.
I would raise a grievance then. Being treated unfairly, the system clearly isn't set up for reduced hours contracts.All reporting requirements were observed, I know because I did it as she was too unwell.
It is even acknowledged that the illness was genuine.
Went through this a few times at work. Company uses the Bradford Factor, have had to sit a few members of staff down and ask them to "improve their health" (Whatever that actually means) Whilst a couple where "taking the pith" the rest had genuine health issues. All it meant was they came into work when they really shouldn't have done or booked the odd days leave off.
What made it worse for me was in my role I could work from home. So when I was recovering from my cancer operations I could work from home. If I hadn't of had that option I would likely have been on a final warning at least. Whilst my staff never had that option (working from home)
What made it worse for me was in my role I could work from home. So when I was recovering from my cancer operations I could work from home. If I hadn't of had that option I would likely have been on a final warning at least. Whilst my staff never had that option (working from home)
Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff