Is a period reason to take sick leave?

lazygal

I overheard someone saying they take sick leave every month because they have bad periods. Which got me wondering, is it a reason for sick leave? I've not taken any sick leave during my pregnancy, even when I had serious morning sickness. How do employers feel if a woman takes sick leave for reasons associated with periods? Is it a legitimate reason?

Tigger99

Well if they are really bad I don't see the problem

My baby sis is often crippled with back and period pain that no painkillers or the pill can change. She can hardly walk.

Eviledna

lazygal wrote: »

I overheard someone saying they take sick leave every month because they have bad periods.

You sort of answered your own question there. Some women suffer far worse than others during their period, people with endometriosis or pcos etc can be bent over, vomiting, and basically far worse than a bad cold or other equivilent "valid" reason for sick leave.

And tbh, valid is a particularly iffy word here, sick leave is not to be taken lightly, but employers have to be very very careful about the way they deal with sick leave. At the end of it it's down to the employment contract and Irish law, but a rule of thumb if you can get a doctor to issue a cert for it, it's valid.

As someone who used to have severe difficulties with the TOM through school and college, and now I don't thanks to the POP pill, I can't stress how diffent one person's experience with bad periods is to another. It's not something to be flippant about, because if you've never really suffered you might find it hard to imagine how it's worth taking a day off. But at the end of the day one person's justification for taking a sick day is between them and their employer, only.:)

Storminateacup

I used to have to take the 1st day of my period off school and college. All the other days of my cycle were fine, but that 1st day, I would be running a tempreture, I'd have diahoreia, I'd feel freezing, and I would actually vomit. I was sent home a lot from school because of it.

2nd day, I'd be crampy but I wouldn't be ill.

I guess it's different for everyone but don't underestimate how awful one can feel during their period. I used to even take motilium which didn't help jot.

Posy

Well I can't really judge from an employers view, and I've always sailed through that time of the month. But one of my friends has polysystic(?) ovaries and has always suffered from really painful periods, to the extent where she'd be curled up in bed for two days every month popping prescription painkillers and crying with the pain.
It's like backpain or something- you can't medically prove that you have really painful periods, but if they're so bad that she needs time off work every month I would think she'd need that checked out by a medical professional.
If her period always came on a Friday the boss might be a bit suspicious!
Legally, though, I don't think there's anything you can do if someone takes one uncertified sickday every month. I'd feel sorry for her if they're really that bad.

nicechick!

It properly more common then we think for all of us its so different, for me I suffer terrible luckily for me I work in Retail and know my cycle so well at this stage that I try to take my days off around it though there are times I get it wrong and am forced to take the occasional day

If someone is taking 1/2 days per calender month in sick leave due to the same illness it properly may potentially become a performance related issue purely as its so ''regular'' or persons may be forced to back it up with a sick cert or broach the subject with there manager

Kooli

If you're sick, you're sick I would have thought.

I don't see it as any different to asking 'is a stomach ache a good enough reason to take sick leave?'

What's your own opinion Lazygal? Do you think that if a sickness is caused by the womb it's not a 'real' sickness?

Tigger99

lazygal wrote: »

I overheard someone saying they take sick leave every month because they have bad periods. Which got me wondering, is it a reason for sick leave? I've not taken any sick leave during my pregnancy, even when I had serious morning sickness. How do employers feel if a woman takes sick leave for reasons associated with periods? Is it a legitimate reason?

Umm if they have bad enough period pain to take the day off sick then its a reason for them, its not really anybody else's business.

Now I could be completely off but Im getting the impression from your post that because you didn't take sick leave with serious morning sickness that you are going to make a judgement on those that do for period pain. Sorry but it just comes across wrong:(.

Its curious that you didn't take time off for serious morning sickness, did you feel that you couldn't justify it because it (and period pain) are only the domain of women? I know women that ended up in hopsital on an iv drip for dehydration because of morning sickness, it can be dreadful from what I hear.

The reason im wondering this is Im genuinely interested if some women (even having experienced it) wont take time off for bad sickness just becuase its female related?

lazygal

I didn't have hypermesis-that's the morning sickness that would land you in hospital, I just had some vomiting and a lot of nausea which comes and goes. I guess I've always been a 'just get on with it' person, unless I had a temperature or communicable illness I would always have been sent to school and I am the same with my working life, I've only taken time off for a back injury. I had very painful periods myself and was on the pill for them, but I still went to work. I know some women can't though, physically its not possible, so it is an illness. I just thought it was an interesting debate for the Ladies' Lounge more than anything else!

wes31

a bunch of victor meldrews

Paddy Bateman

Kooli wrote: »

If you're sick, you're sick I would have thought.

I don't see it as any different to asking 'is a stomach ache a good enough reason to take sick leave?'

What's your own opinion Lazygal? Do you think that if a sickness is caused by the womb it's not a 'real' sickness?

But surely this advocates sexism at work as men won't have the same issue

Maple

wes31 wrote: »

a bunch of victor meldrews

This is the Ladies Lounge. I suggest you read the charter and find yourself a good dose of cop on before you post here again.

Maple

angel01

The odd time would be acceptable but if you were to do this every month, that would be 12 days and if I was calling in for that many sick days over the course of a year, I think they would be giving me a disclipinary! :eek:

KittyeeTrix

Paddy Bateman wrote: »

But surely this advocates sexism at work as men won't have the same issue

I don't think it would constitute sexism.....
As a female you can be through no fault of your own be unfortunate to suffer painful periods which may require time off.....

Paddy Bateman

KittyeeTrix wrote: »

Paddy Bateman wrote: »

But surely this advocates sexism at work as men won't have the same issue

I don't think it would constitute sexism.....
As a female you can be through no fault of your own be unfortunate to suffer painful periods which may require time off.....

But if a male and a female of equal ability were going for promotion then the one less likely to take sickies should get the job?

Neyite

I think it really depends, to be honest. I used to have a very upset stomach and faint with the pain, but as I got older they seemed to get a little better to cope with, but every third one would floor me. I still just went into work despite it being the last thing I wanted to do. Lets face it, who does want to go into work when your period comes?

I worked with a girl who would take 2 days off every month without fail. All her workload for those days landed on me, and after a year or so I was privately getting kinda annoyed, especially since she freely admitted that she never went to a doctor to see if there was anything more serious at play (and had no intention of doing so), and never took anything, not even a paracetamol for the pain. When work started asking her for certs she refused to go to a doctor, or get certified, and walked out soon after.


I do think that she was putting it on a bit, especially since she always seemed to get her period on a monday and tuesday, and one wednesday she came in, having gotten engaged while out sick with her period.

I have worked with a girl who had endometriosis and would be in utter agony every month, but she had a great work ethic who never took a single day off due to that reason. I worked with her for 3 years before she happened to mention it. They were just very different people I guess.

So for me, if they were diagnosed with severe period pains then grand, I dont have a problem with them calling in sick.

KittyeeTrix

Paddy Bateman wrote: »

But if a male and a female of equal ability were going for promotion then the one less likely to take sickies should get the job?

That would be sexism to deny a female the job I would think on the basis she gets periods...

cee_jay

Paddy Bateman wrote: »

But if a male and a female of equal ability were going for promotion then the one less likely to take sickies should get the job?

No, but the person with the least amount of sick leave would get the job, all other things being equal.

Novella

Paddy Bateman wrote: »

But if a male and a female of equal ability were going for promotion then the one less likely to take sickies should get the job?

In the same way that a woman may suffer from extremely painful periods, a man could suffer from frequently occurring migraines though. Just because a man isn't going to be taking time off due to a period doesn't mean he won't ever be sick.

Princess Peach

Paddy Bateman wrote: »

But if a male and a female of equal ability were going for promotion then the one less likely to take sickies should get the job?

I don't think it would be based on the likeliness that a woman will in the future take sick leave because of this. But if she had a monthly habit of it it probably would affect her advancement in the job. Is it fair? Probably not but that is not how most businesses operate in the real world sadly.

I think if I was an employer I would be a little skeptical about this excuse. I would probably insist it is accompanied my doctors notes saying no treatment works. I'm not accusing any woman in particular of exaggerating, but it could be an easy excuse to use to get a couple of days off work every month.

mood

It would obviously depend on how bad symptoms are. I have a few years of serious pains. i would wake at 3am crying the pain was so bad. Strong perscription pain killers didn't help at all. I also passed out a few times. Now there is no way I could have worked or even got to work in that condition. Some how my period always arrived at weekends so it never really effected my job.

iguana

Paddy Bateman wrote: »

But surely this advocates sexism at work as men won't have the same issue

No more than allowing men with prostate or testicular cancer time off work.:rolleyes: Men and women have different bodies, there are many illnesses that are exclusive to one sex or the other. People taking time off for for an illness that only one sex can get is not sexism. In fact the opposite would be true, not allowing people time off due to illness that only affects their sex would be sexism.

Paddy Bateman

iguana wrote: »

Paddy Bateman wrote: »

But surely this advocates sexism at work as men won't have the same issue

No more than allowing men with prostate or testicular cancer time off work.:rolleyes: Men and women have different bodies, there are many illnesses that are exclusive to one sex or the other. People taking time off for for an illness that only one sex can get is not sexism. In fact the opposite would be true, not allowing people time off due to illness that only affects their sex would be sexism.

I see so period pain = cancer ? Interesting point of view

Stheno

iguana wrote: »

No more than allowing men with prostate or testicular cancer time off work.:rolleyes: Men and women have different bodies, there are many illnesses that are exclusive to one sex or the other. People taking time off for for an illness that only one sex can get is not sexism. In fact the opposite would be true, not allowing people time off due to illness that only affects their sex would be sexism.

I'm sorry but having suffered through horrendous periods as a teenager that caused me at worst to faint and .at best to feel like a zombie, I would never ever equate period pain to cancer, particularly having had very close relatives die as a result of cancer.

I actually can't think of many illnesses that may cause you to take time off work that are gender specific apart from cancer of gender specific organs and the likes of severe period pain, the difference is that with cancer you've no real choice, with period pain one can investigate several different ways of preventing or limiting the impact.

I worked in one organisation and with one department we actually planned for the female members of the team to be off due to period pain as they would ring in and claim that was their reason not to be in. One member of staff rang in so often with this excuse they were sent to the company doctor.

opinion guy

Paddy Bateman wrote: »

But if a male and a female of equal ability were going for promotion then the one less likely to take sickies should get the job?

For all you know as a potential employer the man could suffer from chronic back pains that for one week a month becomes debilitating and the woman might be a career woman who had a hysterectomy so as to never have kids.

There is no way to know who is more likely to take sickies.

Paddy Bateman

opinion guy wrote: »

Paddy Bateman wrote: »

But if a male and a female of equal ability were going for promotion then the one less likely to take sickies should get the job?

For all you know as a potential employer the man could suffer from chronic back pains that for one week a month becomes debilitating and the woman might be a career woman who had a hysterectomy so as to never have kids.

There is no way to know who is more likely to take sickies.

Way to go with the unusual examples...

A friend of mine suffered really really badly with period pain but just "got on with it" as lazygal put it, but it only meant she was physically in work but sure she was no use to anyone. Then one day she collapsed in the office and ended up having to have an op to have fibroids and huge cysts removed. So while I've never had to consider taking a day off at that time of the month, I would never think twice about someone else doing it. Everyone is different and what makes one person sick, may not make another person sick.

opinion guy

Paddy Bateman wrote: »

Way to go with the unusual examples...

The back pain is NOT an unusual example.

Whilst hysterectomy in younger women is unusual, using the pill isn't, and that in and of itself can prevent, or greatly reduce the severity of periods.

The point stands. You can't predict by virtue of gender who will be taking more sick leave.

Paddy Bateman

opinion guy wrote: »

Paddy Bateman wrote: »

Way to go with the unusual examples...

The back pain is NOT an unusual example.

Whilst hysterectomy in younger women is unusual, using the pill isn't, and that in and of itself can prevent, or greatly reduce the severity of periods.

The point stands. You can't predict by virtue of gender who will be taking more sick leave.

What has back pain got to do with anything? Men and women suffer from it equally

opinion guy

Paddy Bateman wrote: »

What has back pain got to do with anything? Men and women suffer from it equally

What actually is your point or are you just trolling ?

Micky Dolenz

If a person is sick they are sick. I would have sympathy with the worker and employer if it was a monthly occurrence, far from ideal for either party.