Advice on COVID

Jackaroe

A guy that works with us, whose work feeds into our service delivery/deadlines, emailed a number of us today to casually announce he’ll be logging off probably for a few weeks or a month or more as he has been diagnosed with Covid and expects it will take a while to fully get over it.
Now this guy is a known spoofer, has been caught out regularly blatantly lying about work they haven’t done, has been impossible to contact over the past few months while WFH, has not delivered on numerous deadlines in that time requiring the rest of us to clean up his mess. The next month also coincides with a huge project that he has to deliver to us. The rest of us (3 people) will have to put in an extra 200 hours over a month or 6 weeks to deliver it.
I spoke to my boss today to express my concerns and my boss who was fuming as well as much as told me he doesn’t believe him either but there’s nothing he can do, they have to take him at his word, the guy said he just got a phone call confirming his results so he can’t give any evidence, and he obviously can’t go to a doctor to get a cert. It sounds like such BS that he can just pull this to get out of having a really busy month and land us in it. Is there really nothing that employers can do to call people out on this crap? Anyone been in a similar position with some advice?

gauchesnell

Jackaroe wrote: »

A guy that works with us, whose work feeds into our service delivery/deadlines, emailed a number of us today to casually announce he’ll be logging off probably for a few weeks or a month or more as he has been diagnosed with Covid and expects it will take a while to fully get over it.
Now this guy is a known spoofer, has been caught out regularly blatantly lying about work they haven’t done, has been impossible to contact over the past few months while WFH, has not delivered on numerous deadlines in that time requiring the rest of us to clean up his mess. The next month also coincides with a huge project that he has to deliver to us. The rest of us (3 people) will have to put in an extra 200 hours over a month or 6 weeks to deliver it.
I spoke to my boss today to express my concerns and my boss who was fuming as well as much as told me he doesn’t believe him either but there’s nothing he can do, they have to take him at his word, the guy said he just got a phone call confirming his results so he can’t give any evidence, and he obviously can’t go to a doctor to get a cert. It sounds like such BS that he can just pull this to get out of having a really busy month and land us in it. Is there really nothing that employers can do to call people out on this crap? Anyone been in a similar position with some advice?

Bit confused to be honest. The HSE contacts the employer as there would have to be contact tracing. Does he work for your boss

Jackaroe

Yes he works for my boss. He has not been on site since March and has had no contact with anyone from work since then so there would be no contact tracing to be done from a work perspective

gauchesnell

well he would be able to provide evidence. Of course he can. Results are provided by text message from HSE

Your employer would still be informed though - well should be.

Does your employer have a specific cov19 policy - it should. That would detail if employees can self certify or what they need to do.

Is this person still being paid as normal or are they on sick leave and governed by those rules.

Jackaroe

From what I understand he said to my boss that he got a phone call with the results, so no written evidence. If it’s a case that he definitely should have a text then can an employer ask to see that?
We do have a Covid policy but it’s more to do with health and safety, I couldn’t see anything about test results or proving you have it.
They will go on to our sick leave policy which is essentially full pay (less whatever SW deduction) for 6 months, then income protection. So no issues or concerns about losing out on pay.
Thanks for your reply by the way

gauchesnell

your employer should speak with your HR dept to double check but if normal sick leave applies then some evidence would be required. But double check with HR.

Even if no evidence was required for the initial 2 weeks it would hope it would be required after that.

Potentially out for so long would require medical intervention. The person would need get the SW forms stamped by their GP anyway - or their hospital.

You dont need to physically attend a GP to get a prescription or cert anymore - least not with mine.

screamer

Don’t know how he could state he’ll be out for months that straight away shouts BS to me. Any decent HR will advise your boss- his boss how to handle this but there should be some details in company policies and generally a regular phone call from the employee is needed to report on progress and a sick cert is needed every week or two from the employee. Also, they can and should be made to attend the company doctor for ongoing sick pay and to check if they are unfit to return to work.......

Jackaroe

Yeah it’s definitely going the HR route, but a resolution will probably be months down the line so no benefit to our immediate workload. Not sure if a doctor will certify that you have COVID over the phone, and I’m sure he’ll just say that as he had Covid he couldn’t leave the house anyway to go to the SW or anywhere else

jrosen

Surely like any illness he will have to send in a sick cert.

gauchesnell

Jackaroe wrote: »

Yeah it’s definitely going the HR route, but a resolution will probably be months down the line so no benefit to our immediate workload. Not sure if a doctor will certify that you have COVID over the phone, and I’m sure he’ll just say that as he had Covid he couldn’t leave the house anyway to go to the SW or anywhere else

well then he doesnt get paid - as other said speak to HR. If normal sick leaves applies then a cert is required. If none provided then no sick leave and then disciplinary action etc

If the person has already been diagnosed by HSE the GP doesnt need to diagnose anything.

Maybe your manager calling him out on this might give him a kick.

You dont need go to SW to complete those forms....actually there is very little you need to leave the house for these days.

As previous poster said a good HR will sort this out

Jackaroe

screamer wrote: »

Don’t know how he could state he’ll be out for months that straight away shouts BS to me. Any decent HR will advise your boss- his boss how to handle this but there should be some details in company policies and generally a regular phone call from the employee is needed to report on progress and a sick cert is needed every week or two from the employee. Also, they can and should be made to attend the company doctor for ongoing sick pay and to check if they are unfit to return to work.......

Absolutely, that’s why we knew straight away what he was up to when he mentioned it will probably be a month (the exact time that this project would take him). How are sick certs/company doctor going to work during COVID though? If you supposedly have Covid and say you are still feeling unwell presumably the company doctor, or your own GP wants you nowhere near them?

smellyoldboot

Sure if he was that useless in the first place it won't have that much of an effect on your workload. Prob be better off/less stress with him off the scene. Leave him to it.

Jackaroe

Will their GP have access to the HSE records to confirm they have been diagnosed by the way?

Jackaroe

smellyoldboot wrote: »

Sure if he was that useless in the first place it won't have that much of an effect on your workload. Prob be better off/less stress with him off the scene. Leave him to it.

That’s not far off the mark and long term we will be glad to see him gone

gauchesnell

Jackaroe wrote: »

Absolutely, that’s why we knew straight away what he was up to when he mentioned it will probably be a month (the exact time that this project would take him). How are sick certs/company doctor going to work during COVID though? If you supposedly have Covid and say you are still feeling unwell presumably the company doctor, or your own GP wants you nowhere near them?

as others have said they would have access - it is public health.

My partner had cov19....it was the recovery from it that was the killer but he was cov19 negative after 2 weeks.

sounds like a spoofer. Everything is set up these days so that people dont have to leave their home if they think they have cov19.

Vetch

Jackaroe wrote: »

Will their GP have access to the HSE records to confirm they have been diagnosed by the way?

Yes, anyone who gets a test is referred by GP, and the HSE returns results to the person tested as well as the referring GP. So the GP would be able to certify a positive Covid result without seeing the person.

If test is negative, HSE sends text. If test is positive, HSE phones the person tested.

OP, it is not up to you or your team to work an extra 200 hours in a month to meet a deadline. That is your company's and managers problem. The deadline has to be pushed out and company takes any hit etc They will not appreciate it if you put in the extra hours and will be in trouble if anyone takes then to the labour court for breaching the Working Time Act.

Jackaroe

Tow wrote: »

OP, it is not up to you or your team to work an extra 200 hours in a month to meet a deadline. That is your company's and managers problem. The deadline has to be pushed out and company takes any hit etc They will not appreciate it if you put in the extra hours and will be in trouble if anyone takes then to the labour court for breaching the Working Time Act.

I know what you’re saying, and while we could hold a hard line and refuse to pick up the slack, the impact on the rest of us for not meeting this deadline would define relationships between us personally and the clients involved for a long time to come. So the long term stress wouldn’t be worth it, even if we wouldn’t be sanctioned by the company for it.

gauchesnell

Jackaroe wrote: »

I know what you’re saying, and while we could hold a hard line and refuse to pick up the slack, the impact on the rest of us for not meeting this deadline would define relationships between us personally and the clients involved for a long time to come. So the long term stress wouldn’t be worth it, even if we wouldn’t be sanctioned by the company for it.

its a ****e situation for you and your colleagues.

Basically no reason why person cant provide evidence is required to do so by employer.

Wesser

The ordering doctor receives the result so the patient should be asked to provide a sick certificate from their doctor.

HildaOgdenx

He absolutely should have to provide a cert, and if not, the company policy should state what happens, e.g. that he would be placed on unpaid leave, in the absence of a cert.

Medical certs, prescriptions and social welfare certs are still being issued, by GP Practices, albeit by different methods, than normal. But definitely are being issued.

As pp have said, his GP should have been informed of the result, in which case, they would be in a position to issue a medical cert. Certs can be posted out, if necessary. He absolutely would not have to attend the surgery, to obtain a medical cert, if he has a confirmed case of COVID.

It doesn't solve the issue for you and your coworkers, I know. But the company definitely needs to address this.