Days off sick

ChefBungle

So what would people suggest in my situation - starting with a new employer in 2 days time and I have to take along a pre-employment health questionnaire to the induction day. The questionnaire asks how many sick days I have had in the last 2 years.

I left my previous job because I was being bullied by my boss after I raised a grievance against her (for bullying behaviour funnily enough....), I ended up having 5 weeks off sick with stress and depression before I eventually decided enough was enough and handed in my notice.

Should I declare this time off sick (I have sick notes from the dr, etc)? I would much rather my new employer didn't know the full reasons for me leaving my previous job, so if I do declare the sick days, do I have to go into detail about what they were for? With the exception of 2 days off sick for a really bad cold/headache, this is the only time I've been off sick in the last 4 years!

Any thoughts appreciated.

anamenottaken

Bobl wrote: »

When you fill out the 22 days I would add a note about the tooth extraction for 12 days - 22 days in one year seems an awful lot of sick time otherwise.

It was 22 days in FIVE years.

22 - 12 = 10
10 / 5 = 2 days a year average sick leave in a "standard" year

Person_one

Googlewhacker wrote: »

I agree with Vader and SueC and I have said any times before that a better way would be that people who reach a certain level of sickness are put on a sickness contract or something similar when starting a new job and for the first 2 years they are only allowed a maximum of say 2 x the national average of time of sick and if the exceed this then they are allowed to be dismissed without retribution.

This way the employee gets the chance to prove themself which is what most of them want and the employer is not risking a pain that is costing the company alot of money by being absent.

That's pretty brutal. What about the employee who gets hit by a car or needs chemo? They're gone because they didn't 'prove themselves'?

I really think many employers lack basic compassion and empathy when it comes to sickness. The assumption is always that it isn't genuine and that the employee always has control over the situation.

My employers have introduced a new policy where staff are penalised for time off sick, so everybody's dragging themselves in ill. Did I mention this is a hospital full of immuno-compromised patients? Great policy that one.

Googlewhacker

Person_one wrote: »

That's pretty brutal. What about the employee who gets hit by a car or needs chemo? They're gone because they didn't 'prove themselves'?

I really think many employers lack basic compassion and empathy when it comes to sickness. The assumption is always that it isn't genuine and that the employee always has control over the situation.

My employers have introduced a new policy where staff are penalised for time off sick, so everybody's dragging themselves in ill. Did I mention this is a hospital full of immuno-compromised patients? Great policy that one.

It may not be perfect but it protects both the employee and the employer.

Do you think that businesses should not protect themselves in who they employ? I think it is a fairly correct assumption to presume that the there will be a higher level of sickness from people who have already had long term sickness over people who haven't.

And lets be honest without something like what I suggested it remains hard for people who have had long term sick to get back into a job and keep it. Have you got any alternative ideas?

Compassion only goes so far and you do have to be aware of other members of staff when people are on long term sick and you do have to think about how they are coping with the extra workload etc etc. Compassion is not purely for the person off sick.

Mrs_Ryan

Im on the sick at the minute. I've been off work for a week already and the doc has signed me off for another week - I have no idea how long I'm going to be off for. Im bored to tears at home and would love to be back at work, however due to the nature of my condition it is absolutely impossible for me to do any part of my job. This was down to a car accident that was the fault of a dangerous driver and Im in a lot of pain at the moment.
We have 'meetings' at my work where if you are off for a certain amount of time you get hauled in front of HR and the hospital manager and I had one already where I was accused of staying off unnecessarily when I had a sick note signed by a hospital doctor stating I was unfit to work through a very severe chest infection :eek: I complained about this but I never heard anything strangely enough. I've now passed the 2 year stage but know I'll be subject to another grilling when I get back to work which is why I want to go back before Im fit.

I think the attitude that everyone is lying about why they were off sick is a bit much tbh - I have a solid paper trail (police, ambulance,hospital/doctors records) as to why I was off so I can prove it 100% but Im still going to get grilled - its not a deterrent, it just makes people come into work when they're unfit (and in a hospital thats not a good thing)