made to feel guilty for illness

stumpo78

not sure if this is the right place for this? ive recently had a couple of days of genuine illness, i was off work for 2 consecutive days, and I followed the absence procedure to the letter. But when i actually rang in sick, the duty officer i spoke to told me that it was "totally unacceptable" that i was ill. and made me feel very guilty about it. i was wondering, is he really allowed to give me his personal opinion or to to pass judgment on the spot without even seeing the state i was in? ( i was sick with the flu/very bad cold - unable to stay warm, nausea, shakes ). i have a feeling that it;s to do with a period in my employment about 2 years ago where i had frequent illness/absence due to personal circumstances which have long since passed. what can i do about this???

3DataModem

What do you want to happen? Employers are permitted to scrutinise sick leave and even dismiss you for excessive sick leave.

stumpo78

there isnt anything a want to happen, i just dont think its right for my supervisor to tell me that its not accpetable for me to be ill, when it is not a frequent thing and to make me feel guilty about it

shanered

fair enough i suppose, but your probably better to just say that your sorry and you would like that to be the end of it. I dont know if it consitutes harassment...

Galwayguy35

stumpo78 wrote: »

not sure if this is the right place for this? ive recently had a couple of days of genuine illness, i was off work for 2 consecutive days, and I followed the absence procedure to the letter. But when i actually rang in sick, the duty officer i spoke to told me that it was "totally unacceptable" that i was ill. and made me feel very guilty about it. i was wondering, is he really allowed to give me his personal opinion or to to pass judgment on the spot without even seeing the state i was in? ( i was sick with the flu/very bad cold - unable to stay warm, nausea, shakes ). i have a feeling that it;s to do with a period in my employment about 2 years ago where i had frequent illness/absence due to personal circumstances which have long since passed. what can i do about this???

There isn't anything you can do about it. The first three days are uncertified so the supervisor/manager only has your word for it. Maybe he/she was just having a bad day or there may be a problem with people taking sickies.

allibastor

i would not take huge problems with it, just tell them you were sick and if they still give you hassle over it ask them would they like to be furnished with a sick note. if they still act the maggot, go to his manager. being human is to be sick at some stage of your life, unless you live in a bubble.

tatli_lokma

some bosses also just react like this as standard practice. They see it as a way of making you think twice about pulling a sickie - if you are feeling guilty about taking 2 days off, then you are less likely to ring in sick when you just need a day off. Problem is, this guilt trip tactic only works with the sort of employee who would probably not pull a sickie in the first place.

I wouldn't fret about it too much.