Am I going to get fired? Unfairly?

Illegal Alien

Hi all,

I've been having problems in work for the past while now, and I think it might finally be curtains time for me. I've been in my job for about two and a half years and am on a permanent contract.

I'd move jobs, only this is the worst timing possible, as I work in the financial sector and jobs are few and far between.

Ok so my basic story is that this year I have had 11 sick days. Now the majority of which have been certified, and all of which have been certified when required. (3+ days).

If I remember correctly, at least 5 and 3 of those days were in succession, leaving another 3 which may have been three separate occasions or 2 days in a row and 1 day on its own. (So basically out sick between 4 or 5 times this year - but a total of 11 days.)

Now my problem is that all of these are genuine, not all for the same reason, and I had a similar level of high sick days last year also. I have also had issues with lateness which have been brought up to me on a handful of occasions with my boss over the last year or so.

Now I'm just laying out the picture in a fair manner, holding my hands out to the above and will admit I'm not a perfect employee and those are the bad parts.

My worry comes from the fact that, after a while, we had a disciplinary meeting about a month ago for all of the above reasons.

In the meeting, I was basically asked to explain myself, and I explained that I was out sick because I was sick and there's not much I can do about that and also took responsibility for my lateness, which has since improved considerably and is not an issue at present (since the meeting) and I pointed out all the things I do to "go the extra mile" to make up for any failings I may have and really push myself. (Which is fair enough)

Anyway, the result of the meeting was a scalding, but no "official" warning. Phew.

So I pulled up my socks and got on with things, only for 3 of my 11 sick leave days to occur since. Again, this is genuine and I am certified by my doctor and other than that my performance has been as expected with all other aspects (my work and on time etc.).

However I have been advised that they are now going to have another disciplinary meeting with me "on top of the recent meeting, in light of your recent absence".

Now I was under the impression that the case before had been discussed and that they were satisfied that I was genuine and making an effort, so they did not find grounds to give me an official warning.

So am I known being disciplined purely on the fact that I was sick???

What annoys me is that there are people in the office who were out for a few weeks this year already, and one for a couple of months already, yet they have not had any action taken against them, because they were sick...so how am I different?

Does this rule apply differently to me because there are other issues that needed to be discussed, were resolved and have not re-occurred? I know I'm not going to win employee of the week, but I genuinely have been trying, and my illness to an extent does effect my time keeping as well as causing a number of sick days (which my doctor can verify).

I just feel miserable in my job and want to leave as bad as I feel my every move is being watched and they are looking for any excuse to attack me in an attempt to get rid of me. They have been hit hard by the hard times and have already let a couple of people go and I'm next in the firing line.

But do you reckon this could be potentially grounds for unfair dismissal or constructive dismissal? (Hypothetical question and from a purely non-legal stand point).

I feel harassed and unhappy in my job and I do feel like I have certain grounds to call foul play as they are really putting the heat on me and I feel like I'm being forced out.

I know I'm not perfect, but someone with an "obvious" disability is sometimes given a bit of slack for that, but what about someone with a not so obvious disability? I am trying my best, they did employ me and I'm not looking for special treatment, only fairness.

Also, on a slightly bitter/irrelevant note, but no disrespect intended to anybody, I find it ironic that I was told that they are only interested in their staff coming into work, and they are so worried about these honest, fully certified 11 days I've missed and some late time (that I made up) coming out of their coffers that they feel it necessary to hold 2 disciplinary meetings against me, despite it (the sick days) being completely out of my control, yet a manager just went on maternity leave (probably by choice) and will be collecting 180 paid days out of the office and she is showered with gifts, kisses, well wishes etc.

I'm trying my best in work and am feeling massive pressure over 11 days and am in danger of losing my job, yet someone else can choose to get pregnant and get 180 days fully paid (plus an optional 180 unpaid days after) out of work and be celebrated.

Equality?

(obviously having a baby is deserving of the time off, and women have every right to that time off, the point im making is just from a company stand point, giving me hassle over a few days when someone else is getting patted on the back for choosing to leave the company for the second time in 3 years for 6 months at a time, probably costing the company around 60k-80k in total for someone not even there, and she's a hero....)

Sorry for my little rant there at the end and thanks for reading. But what do you make of my whole situation? Thanks for any thoughts, positive or negative and thanks for any advice.

Nody

Sorry but 11 sick days in 6 months (and heck, even a year!) is a LOT of sick days, esp. if it is split over multiple occasions. Having a doc cert means nothing as you can get them for 40 euro at your local GP and be out for a week so for a company a sick cert is worth nothing in terms of evidence.

Since your previous meeting was over your lateness AND sickness and you now went on sick leave AGAIN of course they will have another disciplinary meeting over it since you said you'd pull your socks up and you only done half of it.

Doing "my best" don't mean that it is good enough for the company, never has and never will and the whole bitching about maternity leave is quite frankly childish. Not only is maternity leave one of the holiest grails in the law in terms of protection, you also did not even consider the fact that the company wants to have said manager back because she's that good. Instead you go of on a rant about how the company is unfair because you, who has been late and out sick a lot for the last two years+ is not given a free pass after you had a disciplinary where you said you'd improve it.

MJOR

Do you have a long term ilness? Why are you late so often?

AARRRGH

I've worked with people who continuously take sick days and are frequently late. It demoralised the entire team.

Although you say you are not taking the piss, I don't really believe you. Are you sure you couldn't have come into work some of those days?

People who come in late are normally the people who take the piss.

From http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/employment/employment-rights-and-conditions/leave-and-holidays/sick_leave/ -

In some circumstances, where an employee has consistently been absent from work (or if through illness is no longer capable of continuing work), employment may be terminated. Employees are protected in certain circumstances in this instance through the unfair dismissals legislation.

They obviously want to get rid of you. They will find a reason.

I think you should try to get a new job.

mikemac

You set out your points very well but taking a swipe about the manager on maternity leave is pretty bitter and childish.

11 sick days in less than a year is pretty poor and well above average. Sure you’ve improved your lateness but it shoudn’t have happened anyway.
Your teammates (if you have a team) are carrying you and most likely resent you.
I reckon you’ll be gone before Christmas, the very next mistake or absence and you’ll be gone.

Best to quit now before they push you out.

AARRRGH

micmclo wrote: »

Your teammates (if you have a team) are carrying you and most likely resent you.

Yep. They talk about you behind you back and think you are a disgrace.

micmclo wrote: »

Best to quit now before they push you out.

I agree.
`
OP: You may feel hard done by, but you are damaging morale and your employer can't trust you. It's a bad situation to be in. Clearly it's making you unhappy, so you need to sort it out, probably by leaving.

professorpete

Illegal Alien wrote: »

I know I'm not going to win employee of the week, but I genuinely have been trying, and my illness to an extent does effect my time keeping as well as causing a number of sick days (which my doctor can verify).

I know I'm not perfect, but someone with an "obvious" disability is sometimes given a bit of slack for that, but what about someone with a not so obvious disability? I am trying my best, they did employ me and I'm not looking for special treatment, only fairness..

If you have a genuine illness/disability and your employers fire you for these reasons, then you have a case, if not, then you don't.

To be honest, it sounds like you're exaggerating your illness/sickness/whatever, and milking the situation. However, if you do have a genuine illness or disability (which you've alluded to in the above) then I sand corrected.

+1 to the above comments re letting your team down, them carrying you, etc, it's a right pain in the arse when a team member takes the p!ss like that.

bigeasyeah

hmmm-does sound a bit off.I was was out sick from work one year for about 5 weeks.Three weeks of this were continous and another two weeks of sick days thereafter.It was all related to the same injury I received away from work.Nothing was said nor done to me apart from a back-to-work interview.

snellers

my typical attitude in the past has been unless I am physically unable to get off my sickbed, I would go into work ....and be sent home if I am really that bad. If the manager decides they don't want to catch whatever stinking cold you have that is their perogative to send you home or allow you to leave a bit early.

(and 99 times out of 100 the fact you are out of bed and walking about you tend to feel a lot better than wallowing in your bed and end up working the whole day)

I may be wrong when I say but sounds like you are fairly young and have a 'still at college' mentality with regards to attendance. There really is very little excuse these days for taking sickies unless you have a genuine 'proper' illness. (a head cold /sore throat/ sick tummy doesn't count)

as for the poor timekeeping there is no excuse whatsoever - get up earlier and get to work early if necessary.

Claire121

I have to say I'm pretty shocked at some of the replies in this thread. OP doesn't make a good case as they have admitted to being late a lot, but there are plenty of reasons someone could be too sick to come into work. I was out for a week with tonsillitis - I was in hospital with it, couldn't swallow, had to be fed through a drip, pounding headache etc. Are you really saying I should have gone into work so it didn't look bad? It's hardly a case of the sniffles! Not to mention that going into work sick exposes everyone else to your germs (that's how I got sick in the first place, from someone who refused to take a day off and came in with the flu). I've already had 5 sick days in 2 months, from that bad case of tonsillitis and one day for a blinding migraine. I'll need another day soon to go into hospital after an abnormal test result. Some people are just quite unlucky with their health, are you saying we should all be punished?

I don't think the comments about maternity pay were below the belt at all - most women choose to get pregnant, nobody chooses to get sick. I'd much prefer to be in good health and come in every day. Why the mentality around here that people who take time off sick must be lazy or faking?

January

Maybe this meeting is to establish if you were genuinely sick again, we get those all the time, standard questions just making sure we have our heads right like:

"Why were you out sick?" (I think that if you call in sick they are checking that your story matches).

"Have you got a cert?"

"How do you plan to stop this happening again?" (seeking medical advice from a proffesional)

I do not however agree with your comments about maternity leave and I do think they were below the belt. Yes most women do choose to get pregnant but it is their God given right to and it is also their right to work. How can you expect a woman who has just pushed something the size of a football out of her vagina to return to work straight away? She gets patted on the back and hugs and stuff because she is doing an amazing thing she is giving birth to a child! Men would get the same if they could birth children, but they can't!

nesf

Illegal Alien wrote: »

I know I'm not perfect, but someone with an "obvious" disability is sometimes given a bit of slack for that, but what about someone with a not so obvious disability? I am trying my best, they did employ me and I'm not looking for special treatment, only fairness.

Are they aware of the disability? Did you inform them of this disability when you were being hired? Did you make it clear that you get sick often with this disability? If you didn't inform them then you don't have a leg to stand on in my opinion. If it was going to seriously affect your ability to work, which it seems to be doing, then the employer needs to be informed of it.

The thing with an "obvious" disability is that when that person is being hired the employer knows what they are getting. If the person is in a wheelchair they aren't going to be hiring them for a job involving a lot of high shelves. The problem with "hidden" disabilities is that often the employer doesn't know what they are hiring and if your disability is causing you to need more than 10 sick days every six months then the employer does have genuine reasons for concern. If someone is missing this many days then they aren't going to be able to do the job they were hired to do in a lot of cases. Bluntly, they're entitled not to hire a disabled person for a role which they could not do, either be it because of physical limitations or on the nature of the role itself; having a person in a critical role where any day missed puts a huge strain on others isn't a job suited to someone who because of a long term illness is going to have to take a fair few sick days every year.

Claire121

I do not however agree with your comments about maternity leave and I do think they were below the belt. Yes most women do choose to get pregnant but it is their God given right to and it is also their right to work.

So a woman CHOOSES to get pregnant gets months off, paid, while someone who is sickly/disabled through no fault of their own, gets punished and looked down on? Am I the only person to see a problem here? A woman who is 7-8 months pregnant is not considered fit for work, but you should be able to go in with flu, tonsilitis, migraines, food poisoning, broken limbs and any number of medical issues..........??? Come ON, ffs. I'm not against maternity pay or anything, but I believe people who are genuinely ill should not be punished. Once you have a note from a Dr, that should be the end of it.

watna

Claire121 wrote: »

So a woman CHOOSES to get pregnant gets months off, paid, while someone who is sickly/disabled through no fault of their own, gets punished and looked down on? Am I the only person to see a problem here? A woman who is 7-8 months pregnant is not considered fit for work, but you should be able to go in with flu, tonsilitis, migraines, food poisoning, broken limbs and any number of medical issues..........??? Come ON, ffs. I'm not against maternity pay or anything, but I believe people who are genuinely ill should not be punished. Once you have a note from a Dr, that should be the end of it.

I think you're taking this a little personally when this thread isn't even about you. You said you had tonislitis, right? Well that is a proper reason to be off sick and I don't think anyone disagreed with you. However, this thread is about to OP who hasn't stated why he was off sick or that he actually has a disability apart from saying that he was genuinely sick. Other posters have asked him to clarify and more than one person has said if he is genuinely sick that is one thing but that if he is taking the píss that's another.

Not a single person said that in your specific case you should have gone to work or that people who are genuinely very ill should go to work. It sounds like you've had a bad experience and are a bit bitter but there's no need to jump down people's throats.

OP, maybe you should go to the meeting and discuss the sitauation with them. Maybe, as was said above they just want to clarify things with you. If it sounds like they're intent on taking it further then maybe it is time to look elsewhere. As you said, you had med certs etc. Did you have one for each time? Constant sick leave can put a lot of pressure on people. I had to do someone elses job this week because she was sick. I've only worked for the company for 2 weeks but apparently there is a pattern to her sickness (always when a certain task needs to be done) and it has been noticed. They will be discussing it with her next week. It did put a lot of pressure on people, me especially, because I essentially did two people's jobs when I'm only in te place a wet week.

Nobody begrduges if some one is genuinely sick or has bad luck with their health (which has happened to me before) but being too quick to call in sick when perhaps it isn't %100 necessary will not be looked upon well. In this case, we only have the OPs word that he was very sick. I'm not sure but from what he has said I get the feeling that not all sick days were fully warranted. Only his employers and him know the facts though.

Claire121

Well the point is the OP said their sick days were certified. If you have a doctors note, that should be the end of it, IMO, yet OP's work and people here are still saying OP should have gone into work. You don't need to have a disability to have a lot of sick days. I'm sure my 6 sick days in 2 months looks bad on paper, but I was genuinely ill. The kind of attitude displayed on here is what makes people go into work spreading germs around when they'd be better off staying at home. There was a bad scare at my work not long ago from someone who came in with an infectious illness and put several pregnant women at risk. It's plain irresponsible to come into work sick.

It seems, from some of the condescending replies, like a lot of the posters here have the good fortune to be in great health and don't realise some people genuinely have health problems and suffer from more than the odd sore throat or case of the sniffles. I know a lot of people take the p*ss but I think employees should still get the benefit of the doubt, especially if their sickness is certified. If they fail to produce a sick note or are constantly taking the odd day here and there, that's another matter.

January

Claire121 wrote: »

So a woman CHOOSES to get pregnant gets months off, paid, while someone who is sickly/disabled through no fault of their own, gets punished and looked down on? Am I the only person to see a problem here? A woman who is 7-8 months pregnant is not considered fit for work, but you should be able to go in with flu, tonsilitis, migraines, food poisoning, broken limbs and any number of medical issues..........??? Come ON, ffs. I'm not against maternity pay or anything, but I believe people who are genuinely ill should not be punished. Once you have a note from a Dr, that should be the end of it.

Read my post, I didn't say someone with a genuine illness should get punished or looked down on!

A woman who is 7-8 months pregnant is totally fit for work, unless she has an illness and has been signed off work by her doctor. I am planning on working untill two weeks before my due date (legally I am not able to work after that, I'd work right up untill my first contraction if I could).

I agree that once you have a note from your doctor that it should be the end of it. But maybe, like I said, they are assessing him to see if there is anything that can be done about this illness. If I had a medical condition and it kept striking me and making me unfit for work, I assure you I would be seeking further medical advice than just my GP.

nesf

Claire121 wrote: »

Well the point is the OP said their sick days were certified. If you have a doctors note, that should be the end of it, IMO, yet OP's work and people here are still saying OP should have gone into work.

Yes and no. The problem is that it's not that difficult to get a sick note from a sympathetic GP and it can be abused. The other problem is that someone who calls in sick a lot and regularly can cause a lot of problems in a job because if the place is even remotely busy their work is going to be dumped on the people around them who might already have more than enough to do.

pirelli

MJOR wrote: »

Do you have a long term ilness? Why are you late so often?

You never answer questions ilegal alien and I am not talking about just this thread. That's what annoys people. Alot of people have posted and you never even acknolwedge them.

Apart from attacking the maternity leave ( as if it involves you personnally)
you might have a case. You might be able to challenge any verbal warning given to you over being genuinely sick.

As for the constructive dismissal, you don't have a chance. They are very hard to win and you would have to prove your case. You might feel a secret vendetta against you, but in most cases this very hard to prove.

You mistake, like I have already explained to you in another thread, is allowing them to push you around and give you warnings over being sick. If you were genuinely sick then you should be able to convince them of that. If you were given your employee rating and your manager managed to squeeze in the fact that you had too many absences and asked you to improve, and you agreed or gave in and you didn't appeal it or take issue with it ( if there is no appeal mechanism) than you have been duped.

If you feel hard done by, then now is the chance to stand up for yourself and challenge it. As a last resort take a 'labour relations' case or something and or get a doctor's medical report and talk to your employer and ask them for alternative work patterns or duties and explain what is wrong with you even stress. If your stressed about the economy, then tell them that.

If you don't let them know how you feel, then your going to get steam rolled and in the end they can say that , yes we gave him warnings for being absent. He agreed to the warnings and whilst You probably wont get sacked for that alone, it will effect your performance.


Take a stand, you will suffer for it, but you at least will thank yourself in the end. Anyway i doubt that your performance rating is down to just your absence, the crucial question is, would be the same anyway. Honestly, if the answer is yes, then don't blame them for the presure but do try and resolve the fact that you are prone to being sick and you do not want your performance to be weighed against this factor.

How Strange

Claire121 wrote: »

I was out for a week with tonsillitis - I was in hospital with it, couldn't swallow, had to be fed through a drip, pounding headache etc. Are you really saying I should have gone into work so it didn't look bad? It's hardly a case of the sniffles! Not to mention that going into work sick exposes everyone else to your germs (that's how I got sick in the first place, from someone who refused to take a day off and came in with the flu). I've already had 5 sick days in 2 months, from that bad case of tonsillitis and one day for a blinding migraine. I'll need another day soon to go into hospital after an abnormal test result. Some people are just quite unlucky with their health, are you saying we should all be punished?

Why the mentality around here that people who take time off sick must be lazy or faking?

Claire121, it seems you're taking these replies very personally. This post isn't about you so why are you being so defensive about your own sick leave. No-one knew until you mentioned it and since then you're the only one who keeps bringing it up.

OP, I think there's more to this story than you're telling. 11 days - which in work terms is over 2 weeks - is alot of sick leave for less than one year. I manage staff and I would be asking questions.

I think it's a bit strange to call a full disciplinary meeting for 2 weeks sick leave and time keeping so I think there has to be more to this otherwise it seems like a very heavy handed approach by management and HR. It also seems odd that they are convening another disciplinary meeting based on 3 days sick leave but I'd assume that you taking another 3 days after the first meeting may have been the straw that broke the camels back.

The excuses about maternity leave just make you seem resentful and immature.

cance

heh...

i work with a bloke very similar to you, always sick, always late... always presents a doctors note and my boss just doesnt give enough of a fuck to fire him. He racked up about 11 days in his first 3 months and only got worse as time goes on. The only difference between your story and his is that our person is completely incompetant.

He is the reason I would consider moving jobs, i have to carry my own workload and his. I dont give a shite if he has a doctors note, his daily wage is worth more than the 50~ euro he pays his doctor for a cop out cert and he knows this fine and well.

His blatant brass neck and gaul continue to stretch my time/ workload and this goes unnoticed, moreso its affecting my happyness in my job. I have admiration for your boss in actually trying to get you to cop on or give you the chop, there is nothing worse than people who take the piss then complain about other benefits they aren't entitled to.

you were sick all the time last year, and now you have 11 days in 6 months, either you have a shite diet, smoke too much, dont get enough excersize or have a different concept of what "sickness" is to the working world, straighten up and fly right or take the chop... you are being treated very fairly by your boss IMO.

Claire121

you were sick all the time last year, and now you have 11 days in 6 months, either you have a shite diet, smoke too much, dont get enough excersize or have a different concept of what "sickness" is to the working world, straighten up and fly right or take the chop... you are being treated very fairly by your boss IMO.

There are many reasons someone could be sick 11 days out of 6 months that have nothing to do with diet, smoking or exercise. Some people are p*ss takers yes, but plenty of people have genuine problems. You sound like someone who has had the good fortune to have stayed fairly healthy, not everyone is so lucky. Even fairly minor things like food poisoning, tonsilitis, sprained ankle, can easily call for a few days of work. I think people are too quick to assume someone is just lazy. This mentality results in people coming into work when they shouldn't (i.e have something infectious).

cance

Claire121 wrote: »

There are many reasons someone could be sick 11 days out of 6 months that have nothing to do with diet, smoking or exercise. Some people are p*ss takers yes, but plenty of people have genuine problems. You sound like someone who has had the good fortune to have stayed fairly healthy, not everyone is so lucky.

i would say the opposite about myself, i used to be out sick far more often when i did smoke / do very little in the way of exersize. i also used to take the piss with sick days in a previous job i hated, since moving i've seen the impact it has on your colleagues and the how blatant it looks.

11 days out of 6 months would raise an eyebrow but would not have been such a problem if the OP hadnt been taking the piss last year aswell. people dont get disciplined for absenteeism for no reason.

if you regularly need over 10 sick days every 6 months i'd be more concerned about the root of the problem.

Claire121 wrote: »

Even fairly minor things like food poisoning, tonsilitis, sprained ankle, can easily call for a few days of work. I think people are too quick to assume someone is just lazy. This mentality results in people coming into work when they shouldn't (i.e have something infectious).

you do have a fair point about the infection, i agree that when you have a cold etc and you are working in an office based environment (especially with air conditioning) your cold will take out half of your floor if you come into work with it.

i don't feel i was being too quick to judge OP based on their self admittance of the amount of time they have taken off.

nesf

Claire121 wrote: »

Even fairly minor things like food poisoning, tonsilitis, sprained ankle, can easily call for a few days of work. I think people are too quick to assume someone is just lazy.

I agree, and such occurrences do happen and the vast majority of employers that I've had direct or indirect experience with are very understanding when some unusual unlucky occurrence like a sprained ankle, sport injury or a very bad infection has someone off work for several days or even weeks.

The thing here is that there's a big difference between one person needing 4 or 5 days off work for an unusually severe infection/injury/whatever and someone who averages over 10 days off every 6 months regularly. The first is both understandable and while it makes life difficult for the other people, I've generally seen no ill will about it. The latter, is a very different situation and I don't think cance was complaining about people who would fall into the former category. A normally good worker who rarely gets sick, getting very sick is a very different case to a worker is taking a day off every second week constantly.

Claire121

i would say the opposite about myself, i used to be out sick far more often when i did smoke / do very little in the way of exersize.

Yeah but not everybody is you. I've never smoked in my life, try to eat well, walk to work every day and I've had really bad luck with my health in the last 2 years for no apparent reason. Chest infections, tonsilitis, migraine, bad bouts of flu, 'women's problems' etc. One doctor suggested it was taking so many antibiotics that was making me run down but I had to take them, so it was a vicious circle. Believe me, I'd way rather have gone into work than take 10 days off, I don't get sick pay.

if you regularly need over 10 sick days every 6 months i'd be more concerned about the root of the problem.

What if there is a reason? I'm genuinely curious - what if an employee suffers from a long term illness, are they permitted a certain amount of time off?

nesf

Claire121 wrote: »

What if there is a reason? I'm genuinely curious - what if an employee suffers from a long term illness, are they permitted a certain amount of time off?

It depends, can they still do their job? If they're missing a lot and there's no way around it, it would seriously impact on their ability to do most full time jobs which an employer would have every reason to be very concerned about; especially if the illness was known to exist and not disclosed by the employee when they joined the company. In such a situation it might be better for the employee to find a job where it's flexi-time and they just need to make up X number hours a month or a certain piece rate or whatever.

Dudess

The absenteeism due to illness - I can't see a problem. You had certificates for most of it.

The constant lateness - that very much is a problem. I'd be inclined to believe it's this that's causing your employers to be less sympathetic about your days off due to illness. It's not always that difficult to get a doctor's cert and they might be suspicious about your non-certified days. They might be of the view that if this person can be late so regularly, well maybe they can pull sickies too.

But again, tell us a bit more about yourself in the illness/disability department.

homeOwner

I think the problem in this case is the pattern of behaviour rather than the company having a problem with people taking sick leave. By the Ops own admission he has regularly been late and this coupled with 11 days off in 7 months for which he had a note on only some occasions is showing a pattern on behaviour. For the times when the op had a cert I am sure the company has no problem. Its the single days here and there (of which there have been 3 since the original meeting, i think) is showing that the Ops behaviour hasnt changed. Sounds to me like HR is preparing the way for a dismissel.

AARRRGH

OP, the problem you're facing is that everyone has worked with a useless **** who took the piss when it came to sick days and coming in late.

I'm yet to work with a person (with a poor attendance record) who was genuinely ill for all the sick days they took. Typically they're the useless employee who the company would love to fire but can't.

So even if you are telling the truth, the fact of the matter is most people aren't going to believe you so you're not going to win us or your employer over.

Start looking after your health and taking your job more seriously and you'll find your problems will most likely disappear.

Honey-ec

Claire121 wrote: »

I was out for a week with tonsillitis - Not to mention that going into work sick exposes everyone else to your germs (that's how I got sick in the first place, from someone who refused to take a day off and came in with the flu)

It's physically impossible to contract tonsillitis (bacterial) from someone who has the 'flu (viral).

Not to mention that if someone genuinely had the flu, they wouldn't be able to drag themselves out of bed to go into work in the first place, regardless of how much of a martyr they were.

nesf

Honey-ec wrote: »

It's physically impossible to contract tonsillitis (bacterial) from someone who has the 'flu (viral).

A viral infection could make you susceptible to a bacterial infection by bring your immune system down no?

Illegal Alien

Hi,

Apologies for not getting back before, but I really appreciate everybodys input but I suppose I was trying to put everything to the back of my mind and get on with things until all of this was over.

Anyway, to give you all an update, I went to see the "company doctor" regarding my illness and not only was I supported 100% that all of my illness and days off were fully justified, but the doctor also said that she may recommend that disciplinary action was "wholey unnesecary/innapropriate" for my condition.

I feel a lot better now as I know there are a lot of people (as seen on this thread) who don't believe people can be genuinley ill and miss work, and can be viewed as lazy and not pulling their weight (my team recently met 100% of our service level agreements and my work rate and standard has never been an issue), however, now my boss will have recieved 2 letters from 2 seperate medical professionals, one nominated by each of us, to say that I am fully justified in my absence.

I know they'll still want to make my life hell in there, but that's life unfortunately, but I do feel somewhat vindicated now. I know they are well within their rights to do all this, but the general attitude displayed by them and the tone they take, I feel to a certain extent they just wanted to make me jump through hoops as much as gain a medical insight into my condition. (Do they think my doctor, or any doctor out there, is so morally and ethically corrupt that they would constantly lie for the benefit of €50 a pop?) but there is definitley some friction there now. (and 100% not just on my part.).

But thanks again for all your advice and opinions.

Also, I know the maternity leave shot was a cheap one, but I am / was slightly bitter and do feel it's justified to an extent. Does somebody really give a sh*t about the company if their willing to fu*k off once every couple of years for 6 months on full pay to have some kids? If they're willing to do this, should I be willing to come into work if I'm unwell?

Sometimes life gets in the way of being a loyal servant, but some are by choice and some are unfortunate. Some are celebrated, some are berated.

Oddly enough, choosing to take 6 months pay without being there is the celebrated one, being unfortunate and unfit for work is met with comtempt. I can honestly say I would rather have full health and be in there every day than be sick and have to put up with this sh*t too.