Appraisal / sickness

linnyp

In my recent appraisal I was told my attendance wasn't good enough and I would be set a target of only having a certain number of days off in the next 12 months or I wouldn't get a payrise. Bearing in mind I had 3 weeks off total as 2 seperate illnesses but both times signed off by a doctor, can they really use that against me - it's not as if it's the odd day off here or there for no good reason? Is it legal/ justified to give a low appraisal score on those grounds or withhold a payrise if I'm unfortunate to be unwell in the next year? It's not as if anyone enjoys or plans to be ill - it's part of life that people get ill occasionally and hardly avoidable! Thoughts anyone?

SomeBozo

There is nothing wrong or "illegal" (its not criminal law!) to penalise someone for long sickness periods!

Given that a employer can sack you if you have too much time off sick on the grounds of "capability", ie you are not capable of doing you job, setting sticks and carrots on an appraisal is part of the usual appraisal process.

What your employer should be doing is seeing if your period of illnesses are due to work and what they can do to help you.

Bozo

linnyp

Ok, illegal was obviously totally the wrong word to use! I guess it's more morality isn't it, fact of life, people will get sick and can't avoid it - 3 weeks isn't excessive, certainly not for the illnesses I had. Had it been months, or a lot of time in dribs and drabs I can certainly understand an employer having a problem with it, I feel very unfairly treated for something that is out of a person's control and part of normal life.

SomeBozo

For some employers, 3 weeks and/or 2 sickness absences in one year is "on report" (meaning further absences can be a diciplinary procedure).

Bozo

Bayblue

I can understand how you feel, however I can also see that your company obviously thinks that this is useful tool to discourage people from taking too many sick days. I don't see it so much as a penalty to the sick, rather a reward to those with 100% attendance. You were perfectly genuine when you had time off but as I think we are all aware, some people do tend to exaggerate or even lie about absence. This system is a way of trying to manage that.

I would have a discussion with the person who conducts your appraisal and explain how disappointed you are that your genuine sickness has marred an otherwise good record. Perhaps they may be willing to reassess you. Remind them again that you had doctors certificates and reinforce your commitment to the company. If your appraisal was otherwise good, then I reckon that it's worth a shot.

You were unlucky to have two periods of sickness in one year, and statistically it's unlikely to happen again, so hopefully you won't be penalised again this year.

dmg24

SomeBozo wrote: »

There is nothing wrong or "illegal" (its not criminal law!) to penalise someone for long sickness periods!

Given that a employer can sack you if you have too much time off sick on the grounds of "capability", ie you are not capable of doing you job, setting sticks and carrots on an appraisal is part of the usual appraisal process.

What your employer should be doing is seeing if your period of illnesses are due to work and what they can do to help you.

Bozo

There are however implications if the absence is due to disability (though this would not appear to apply to the OP's situation).

linnyp

No it's not, and the irony is we don't get sick pay other than statutory sick pay so people *really* don't go sick unless they really are very unwell as you can't afford to not get paid so it's not like anyone is abusing a company sick pay scheme.

CFC

The problem is that it's not about saying that someone is not genuinely ill, it's about how sustainable to the business that level of absence is. The job still needs doing whether an employee is there or not.

lilac_lady

Join a union asap.