Guy in work off sick

Big Bottom

Hi,

There is a guy in work who has been off sick for the last month claiming he is depressed.

This guy smokes a lot of weed and is always trying to avoid work when he is in and leaves us all with lots extra to do.

How long can you get away with claiming to be depressed before you have to come in or you can be fired?

TheVoodoo

How do you know he doesn't suffer from depression?

judgefudge

He may actually be suffering from depression. Given hes off this long I would assume he has given in some sort of cert. have a little empathy.

Vito Corleone

How do you know he smokes weed?

Cookie_Monster

surely work would be a welcome distraction rather than sditting at home all day depressed?

discus

TheVoodoo wrote: »

How do you know he doesn't suffer from depression?

They rarely are tbh. It's just so easy to smoke your days away on the public purse.

Profiler

Is there a chance that the guy is in fact depressed?

Lots of depressed people self medicate when they shouldn't. People use, alcohol and other illegal narcotics.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Maybe he's genuinely depressed?

Are you his employer? What do you care if he's off sick? You say he does nothing when he is in work so I don't see what difference it makes to you if he's in or not?

TwoShedsJackson

Are you his manager, or responsible for his work attendance? Because if not, why not leave it to whoever's responsibility it actually is, and mind your own business.

Scar Tissue

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

surely work would be a welcome distraction rather than sditting at home all day depressed?

Eh... no.

Profiler wrote: »

Lots of depressed people self medicate when they shouldn't. People use, alcohol and other illegal narcotics.

and the sweeping generalisation of the day goes to! ^

Big Bottom

This guy is a complete waster.

His screen saver in work is a hash leaf so we put 1 and 1 together.

Id say he is at home smoking it while we all have to pick up the pieces in work

brummytom

I can't imagine an employer just taking his word for having depression, he'll have some kind of doctor's certificate - if he's genuinely ill, what's your problem with it?

kingcobra

Chances are he's smoking weed in order to get himself out of his funk, which obviously just makes the problem worse...

Profiler

Big Bottom wrote: »

This guy is a complete waster.

His screen saver in work is a hash leaf so we put 1 and 1 together.

Id say he is at home smoking it while we all have to pick up the pieces in work

Ah, so you mean you have no proof.

Glad we're not jumping to conclusions here.

Big Bottom

My problem is that we are up to our eyes. I dont believe he has depression, Im sure you could just look up the symptoms online and just say it to a doctor.

Scar Tissue

Profiler wrote: »

Ah, so you mean you have no proof.

Glad we're not jumping to conclusions here.

He has no proof, exactly. I could have a picture of a line of coke on my PC background, doesn't mean I'm snorting.

Did you not just jump to a conclusion that alot of depressed people self medicate with alcohol and other illegal narcotics just a few posts above... :rolleyes:

thomur

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

Are you his manager, or responsible for his work attendance? Because if not, why not leave it to whoever's responsibility it actually is, and mind your own business.

I'd imagine because someone has to do his work when he is not there. Its the responsibility of the HR dept to follow up on his attendance. If he is depressed they should be helping him out with it.

MonkstownHoop

Big Bottom wrote: »

My problem is that we are up to our eyes. I dont believe he has depression, Im sure you could just look up the symptoms online and just say it to a doctor.

how about you keep your big arse out of his business

Ihatecuddles-old

Did he tell you himself that he's off because he's depressed?

Profiler

Scar Tissue wrote: »

and the sweeping generalisation of the day goes to! ^

Can I suggest you do a little digging, if you do, you may find out what I've said is right.

However, as this is After Hours, feel free to hop aboard the outrage bandwagon and rant away.

zenno

Big Bottom wrote: »

This guy is a complete waster.

His screen saver in work is a hash leaf so we put 1 and 1 together.

Id say he is at home smoking it while we all have to pick up the pieces in work

I have a big picture of a kangaroo on my desktop, does that mean i eat kangaroos ? He might just like the picture.

Making accusations against this person just shows what kind of person YOU are. imo.

Profiler

Scar Tissue wrote: »

Did you not just jump to a conclusion that alot of depressed people self medicate with alcohol and other illegal narcotics just a few posts above... :rolleyes:

No, I didn't.

Scar Tissue

Profiler wrote: »

Can I suggest you do a little digging, if you do, you may find out what I've said is right.

However, as this is After Hours, feel free to hop aboard the outrage bandwagon and rant away.

Do you want to back up your post with evidence so? I'll just lay on my bandwagon here..

TheVoodoo

The problem is this general attitude toward mental illness that a lot of people seem to have. ' He's a waster ' ' he sits at home all day smoking weed'

Try he sits awake at night thinking he's worthless, and can't control his negative thoughts or he's loosing touch with his friends and family and feels helpless. Or also think that things he used to find easy now seem a hell of a lot more difficult.

Mental illness a a serious issue, and while i've no doubt that in some cases the 'depression' card is abused, have a think that maybe this person actually does have depression, and has taken the first step in the right direction by starting to address it.

Kind of serious post for AH, but c'mon, you don't know whats going on inside someone else's head.

Tearwave

Big Bottom wrote: »

Id say he is at home smoking it while we all have to pick up the pieces in work

He sounds like quite a smart young fellow indeed.

guppy

Big Bottom wrote: »

My problem is that we are up to our eyes. I dont believe he has depression, Im sure you could just look up the symptoms online and just say it to a doctor.

I work in a place that has its share of pee-takers when it comes to extended sick leave, but mostly the cause is "stress", not depression. They are two completely different things, and most doctors wouldn't be too quick to diagnose depression.

(There are, of course, doctors who'll sign off on anything once they're paid, but I think they'd still be quicker to cite stress over depression).

Big Bottom

Its too easy to claim depression and get sympathy for it I think.

How long is it before he could be let go or could he potentiall stay off 'sick' indefinitely?

At he very least we needto get someone in to do what he is meant to be doing.

Frito

Big Bottom wrote: »

How long can you get away with claiming to be depressed before you have to come in or you can be fired?

Tough one to call. What they used to do with witches was throw them in a river and see if they drowned.

Hank Scorpio

Profiler is right, alot of people self medicate with alcohol drugs etc when they're suffering mental health issues

Scar Tissue

Big Bottom wrote: »

Its too easy to claim depression and get sympathy for it I think.

How long is it before he could be let go or could he potentiall stay off 'sick' indefinitely?

At he very least we needto get someone in to do what he is meant to be doing.

If it's so easy why don't you do it so? Sounds like you don't like having to pick up some temporary slack while your co-worker is going through some sick leave (which he'd need a doctor's cert for, no doubt).

I'm sure he's having the time of his life at home, depressed.

Sparks43

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=81815167

You have really gone to pot Big Bottom

Tearwave

Big Bottom wrote: »

Its too easy to claim depression and get sympathy for it I think.

How long is it before he could be let go or could he potentiall stay off 'sick' indefinitely?

At he very least we needto get someone in to do what he is meant to be doing.

It's usually 6 months before they start taking serious action

Big Bottom

It might be stress leave he is on actually but either way nobody else is taking leave and believe me we are all up against it.

anncoates

I'd be f*cking depressed if I worked with you, OP.

Pawwed Rig

If your company suspects the guy is faking then they have the right to have him assessed by their own doctors. It is not so easy to just look up the symptoms.

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

surely work would be a welcome distraction rather than sitting at home all day depressed?

Depression can be completely debilitating. To work while going through an period of depression would be impossible for many. It is an illness like any other. While it can be good to keep the mind occupied dealing with responsibility may not be a good idea. Especially in the seemingly intolerant workplace that the OP describes. People in general have little understanding of depression so it would most likely worsen for the guy were he to keep going to work.

OP maybe he smokes weed to deal with depression or maybe he just thinks it is a cool screen saver.

thomur

guppy wrote: »

(There are, of course, doctors who'll sign off on anything once they're paid, but I think they'd still be quicker to cite stress over depression).

I used to work in an un-named company. All of the sick notes used to come from a doctor in Thomas Street, even though the ops lived all over Dublin. After a couple of nights out and associated beer, I found out it was because he would sign off anything if you brought a bottle of whiskey.

Profiler

Scar Tissue wrote: »

Do you want to back up your post with evidence so? I'll just lay on my bandwagon here..

1)

Drug abuse as self-medication for depression: an empirical study

2)

When depression leads to self-medication, it can compound the difficulties that the person is already experiencing

3)

Teen 'Self Medication' For Depression Leads To More Serious Mental Illness, New Report Reveals

4)

Do you think there is a form of escape that the mentally ill try to take? An example would be becoming an alcoholic

weisses

nuxxx wrote: »

Profiler is right, alot of people self medicate with alcohol drugs etc when they're suffering mental health issues

We used to call that "a night out"

PizzamanIRL

Big Bottom wrote: »

This guy is a complete waster.

His screen saver in work is a hash leaf so we put 1 and 1 together.

Id say he is at home smoking it while we all have to pick up the pieces in work

He's a waster? He got off his arse to actually get a job in the first place, unlike a lot of other people.

MonkstownHoop

Big Arse, given the previous thread you started you seem to be jealous of this man, he gets women, time off work ect.... while you are a sad lonely individual, i feel sorry for you

Madam_X

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

surely work would be a welcome distraction rather than sditting at home all day depressed?

Yeh if it's mild but if it's severe, the person would be too ill to work. Like a person with a cold making them feel crappy but not enough to justify taking long-term sick leave, as opposed to someone having glandular fever.

marshbaboon

Have you considered quitting your job and becoming self employed as a private detective, because your detective skills are amazing.

All joking aside, unless you're the one that pays his wages it's absolutely none of your business.

Big Bottom

I dont buy this 'self medication' malarky for a minute, if he didnt smoke weed, he wouldnt be stressed or depressed or whatever he is making up. Its a demanding job but everyone else is getting on fine.

LizT

OP given a little time off.