worried about being sacked for sick leave;better to resign??...

[Deleted User]

from what I have gathered browsing through here and other places it would seem the answer to this question is a resounding "no"!! but can you be sacked for being off sick?

Zazen999

What sort of sickness is it?

If they have referred you to OH rather than just get rid under any disguise then you've got hope!

Are you likely to get better soon or is this going to be a long haul?

[Deleted User]

hi there
had flu last winter for a couple of weeks , then a stomach bug 48 hr thing...but for the last several weeks have been sick with a virus which has made me quite sick.... it will go away so it isnt necessarily "long term" but it has been quite a few weeks

I think my anxiety over what they "could" do is taking over...they havent said anything about dismissal at this stage, but some of the tone of conversation have veered towards the "are you capable of doing the job if your off ill so much" etc...

Jacey53

Deleted_User wrote: »

from what I have gathered browsing through here and other places it would seem the answer to this question is a resounding "no"!!

I am worrying my self sick (possibly literally!) with all this and seem to be going round in circles which get me nowhere...so thought I would put the situation out for any opinions/experiences etc...

I have worked in my profession for coming up 8 years now, the past almost 4 of which has been for the same organisation...I moved jobs within the company about this time last year and have had quite a lot of time off sick ...probably about 6 days (2 different periods) up till march or so this year, but then more recently have been off almost 5 weeks (tried to go back for a week but was still ill and got told to go home!) ..

it has got to the stage where (quite rightly) it has hit a "trigger point" system and been referred to occupational health......I am still off sick at the moment (with a drs note) and there is really nothing I can do except wait to get better....but I am so worried I am going to lose my job as a result of sickness...

a part of me thinks, career wise, if it is even an option they may fire me, would I be better off to quit so I dont have "being dismissed" on my record ..... the other side of course is I am presuming they may fire me, they havent said anything to that effect (yet) but it is likely the stress of this is also not making my health any better...


anyone been through this? experiences? opinions? words of hope/advice?

thanks

I have been through the occupational health referral as I was off work for several periods with depression. In my case they were looking to see whether I was doing everything I could to speed my recovery - I had followed up on all the suggestions my GP had made - and also to see whether there was anything my employers could do to help me get back to work.
I certainly don't think you should resign - unless you want to for reasons unconnected to your illness, but do keep in touch with your employers and let them know what is going on.
OH will also be considering whether you are capable of continuing at work - but has your GP suggested it will be long term? or are you going through a bad patch?

SarEl

The first thing to do is to stop putting your carts before your horses Worrying yourself into sickness about things that haven't happened yet is silly (understandable - but still silly!).

Lets get the worst case scenario out of the way. Yes, sickness absence procedures may lead to dismissal on the grounds of capability. OK. You already knew that. But the point of sickness absence procedures is to avoid that - not to lead to it. Occupational health are independant of the employer. Their role is to advise the employer to enable them to carry out their duty of care to an employee. They aren't scary and they are often very useful.

They can provide you with medical opinion that is an alternative to your GP's - and they have all the time in the world to do so, because they don't have to have you out the door in 10 minutes. They will advise both you and the employer. This may result in your not being able to return to work immediately, but it may also result in some sort of adjustments to work to allow you to return - perhaps part-time or to a differnt job on a temporary basis - now or in the future. You may find that there are a lot of alternatives between the two you have in mind - going back or getting sacked. Your health is as much their concern as it is yours.

If, and I want to stress the if, the employer cannot sustain your absence in the longer term, then they must follow a proper procedure. As such, this takes some time usually, and is not necessarily a barrier to getting a good reference or another job once your health has recovered. Ok, it would be stupid to say that employers don't ever consider health issues in interviews - but everyone gets sick sometime and once you have recovered there are no grounds to assume that you will be anything other than your usual healthy self. IF this happened, you might get referred to their OH for a check to ensure you were fully fit for the new job, but if you are then that would be a formality.

In the worst case scenario - do not resign. This doesn't look any better on a CV, and often looks worse. Just tell the truth. But first, concentrate on getting better.

[Deleted User]

Thank you guys

Jacey- thank you for sharing your experience, its reassuring-my head tends to catastrophise!
what I have now shouldnt be long lasting/chronic...altho in rare cases it can be but there is treatment I have been to see my GP about it and followed all the advice, and kept in contact with work so I am hoping they will see that as a measure of commitment ... I certainly dont want to resign..

SarEl -thanks, you are right I am absolutely putting the cart before the horse! I dont know why I have such a negative view of all this,...resigning isnt the answer and I dont want to leave, I just want to be well enough to go back and carry on with my job!

I need to remember to get (and keep!) things in perspective....

cheers again

Zazen999

Do you know how long you are likely to be off with the virus?

[Deleted User]

Zazen
drs cant really give an answer- at first they said it should be gone in 2-3 weeks, that was 5 weeks ago. last week I was just told "well it takes as long as it takes" and keeping going while ill will just make it worse/prolong it ....
as work are expecting me to let them know in the next day or so what is happening, the stress is coming back as I dont feel well enough at the moment to go back in....but am worrying more time off looks worse or puts me in a worse position potentially...

hard...as Im sure the worry and stress isnt making the recovery any quicker/easier

Evilm

Having been in a similar situation in the swine flu crisis of the summer can anyone tell me from a prosepective employers view just how much of a black mark being sacked for illness really has on your CV? Its worried me a bit since and I would like to know.

Googlewhacker

Evilm wrote: »

Having been in a similar situation in the swine flu crisis of the summer can anyone tell me from a prosepective employers view just how much of a black mark being sacked for illness really has on your CV? Its worried me a bit since and I would like to know.

I would have thought it depends on why you were off, it was down to say a skiing accident that is blatenly a one off but took a long time to recover then really not a problem however something like mental illness requires a more trusting employer to take the risk because it is regarded as more likely to suffer from it again and to be a higher risk to employ someone with a history of MH because the slightest thing could trigger the person again.

SueC_2

As has been said, it really depends on a/ the employer and b/ the circumstances. I would very happily employ someone who had suffered any one-off long-term illness, no matter if it lasted weeks, months, or longer. But someone who had repeatedly taken odd days here and there - I would be very concerned about. In my opinion, that kind of absence is impossible to plan for and completely screws the day to day running of the department / organisation.