Difficult Situation, please help!

MrsWoolfe

Hi,

I am hoping someone here might be able to help or give me some advice as I'm really struggling with what to do here...

I work in a small tax department with 3 advisers and 2 support staff. Things have been quite tough for some time as the team director has had some major issues this year with berevements and although we've done our best to support and cover for them their attitude and behaviour has become very hard to deal with- manipulative and bullying, very Jekyl and Hyde so you never know where you stand, if a small oversite is going to lead to a tirade or if they are going to be all pally and over the top....

so the atmosphere has been bad and tense but we've coped... a month ago the whole company was asked in for a meeting where we were told that for various reasons the company may have to cease trading at the end of August...nothing definite and that they would be doing everything they could but there was a chance it would happen....

since then there have been a lot of hints from my manager that there are "things going on" so my dept might be saved/lots of vague comments/suggestions that it might be ok...all in all I'm frustrated with this I hate the hints and would rather just know one way or the other...

now at the start of the month I came down with a nasty infection, i had 3 days off and then came back in, unfortunately it just got worse and worse and I went to see the doctor- said it was a nasty throat infection ( by this point I had pretty much lost my voice) gave me some antibiotics and advised me to stay home - i explained that I'd taken 3 days off the previous week and was wary of having more time off, because of the fever I was running and the nausea etc the Dr still felt that it would be better for me to stay home- the Dr signed me off for a week and I went back the following monday to follow up as instructed- I hadn't really improved at all and ended with another week off- now I know that two weeks is a long time and appreciate that in a small team it can be hard to cover when one member isn't there but it was a genuine illness and I really couldn't have done much else...

Now, I am back at work and it's the end of the financial year for us- added to which there is a big meeting on Monday where we will find out what is happenning with the company....

two of the team on holiday this week so it leave me, the manager and my secretary...

I've just been called up to HR and the Operations director and tols that they will be monitoring me- there is great concern over my level of sickness ( to put in perspective I have had 9 days earlier in the year- linked to my recent diabetesdiagnosis and High Blood pressure problems and issues with meds) they said that they absolutely know that it is all genuine but it's put by boss under pressure and the whole team under a lot of strain...

now here is the problem- I am still owed 1.5days leave that has to be taken before end August and HR have already said they will not carry any leave over at all- BUT my manager is pressuring me not to take it (i.e. give it up) and it's not the first such issue- the most recent one was where an error had been made on one of my clients ( which I apologised personally to the client for and held my hand up- it was reviewed by all of the team and wasn't picked up) she told me I would have to offer to pay any penalties/interest personally as the company cancelled their PI for tax the previous year....when I said that I wasn't sure I would be able to afford it ( it was well over 6mths salary for me) she just gave me a look and said "well if you don't want things to go badly for you...."

I'm just not sure what to do now, I am actively looking for other work ( also an issue I have a meeting set up on Friday to register for some contract roles) and I KNOW whatever the outcome of Monday's meeting I want to move on....

Do I stand firm and take the holiday I'm owed? there is no question of being paid for it instead or carrying over or do I give in?

If you've got this far thanks for reading and sorry it's so long and and all advice appreciated!

MrsWoolfe

Mara69

Not sure that they can 'force' you to give up the day and half leave, but you've had a whopping 19 working days sick leave in a relatively short period, so you're head is well and truly above the parapet. I feel for your colleagues.

MrsWoolfe

thanks

But actually it's 13 days in relation to this infection the days before that were last winter

and I've already said I fully appreciate that it can be very difficult when you are in a small team and someone is out for a couple of weeks, it's not like I wanted to be ill/skived/just couldn't be bothered even the HR manager was clear in that there is no question of the illness not being genuine- not that much I could really do about it. I work hard and cover for others plenty of times I KNOW how difficult it is but should I be giving up my leave because I caught a nasty infection?

Sambucus_Nigra

How long have you worked there?

jobbingmusician

If it were me, I would kiss goodbye to the holiday. With a smile. If you need a holiday, presumably the new holiday year starts next month, in any case.

Or you could ask for 1.5 days of your sick leave to be transmuted into holiday, which would improve your sickness record (although the employer DOES seem to be behaving fairly and to be acknowledging that your sickness was/is genuine).

MrsWoolfe

I've worked there for just over 3 years

warwicktiger

I react in different ways to the several major issues I see, firstly sickness. My old employer used to have a formula to trigger a review of performance in the light of absence, based on a rolling calendar year, as follows:

Number of absences x number of absences x days absent.

Thus 10 one day absences would be 10 x 10 x10 = 1000
One days absence 10 times would be 1 x 1 x 10 = 10

Anything over 160 triggered a review. I assume that you have had three absences for a total of 19 days? 3 x 3 x 19 = 171.

Be sure that all your absences are genuine and preferably covered by doctors notes and explain that at any review. You should be ok with any reasonable supervisor or employer.

Holiday/Leave
You are entitled to it. Having been a line manager in my previous life it is frustrating to have a team member off sick and taking leave, but bottom line you are entitled to it and if absences are covered by doctors notes then I would say take it. Even more so if you do not feel you owe them any favours.

Lack of PI
Down to employers choice, they choose to work without insurance cover then they are taking the risk by self insuring. Assuming that you made a human error once in a while no-one can blame you for this, particuarly if the work was reviewed (checked?) by others. It is them a joint responsibility, normally any blame would be more on the checker. Human errors do occur!

Leaving
I firmly believe that you should be able to enjoy your job, and if not then change it. If you do something well you tend to enjoy it, if you enjoy it you tend to do it well. If you allow factors outside your own head to affect your performance then you are in the wrong place.

Hope this helps, just my opinion, I had to make the change six years ago because the company I worked for for 20 years had changed and I ceased to enjoy my job. Now I wish I had done it earlier! Not much difference, from a trainer in a Life Assurance company to a self employed carpet cleaner!

warwicktiger

jobbingmusician wrote: »

Or you could ask for 1.5 days of your sick leave to be transmuted into holiday, which would improve your sickness record (although the employer DOES seem to be behaving fairly and to be acknowledging that your sickness was/is genuine).

No NO and a thousand times No!!

What a precedent to set, be sick and you lose your holiday entitlement, a rogue employers charter.

Uncertain

warwicktiger wrote: »

No NO and a thousand times No!!

What a precedent to set, be sick and you lose your holiday entitlement, a rogue employers charter.

Assuming we are talking of statutory holiday then I would agree. In any case the law is clear. You cannot lose statutory holiday as a result of being sick and your holiday entitlement continues to accrue whilst you are on sick leave.

If however you get more than the statutory 28 days then it is less clear cut. The firm could, quite legally, have terms and conditions about losing some of the extra holiday in certain circumstances. It could also sometimes be politic to make the offer.

MrsWoolfe

Thanks for all the replies, that does help.

I think that I'm fairly certain that I will be leaving - as you say if I'm not enjoying it anymore it's time to go and whilst in the past I have really enjoyed this job the last 8 months have gotten worse and worse- I enjoy the technical work and would love to just be able to get on with it- what I really dislike is the atmophere and the way things have been handled over the last few months....

In terms of my sickness- it is absolutely genuine and yes I have Doctor's notes I know it's a lot of time off, but I've been open and honest with HR and they are aware of what has caused me to be ill...

I think what upset me was the "talk" my manager had with me after my meeting with HR when she asked if I still intended to have my day off- and then got angry when I said that I couldn't carry it over so yes- she then told me to think very carefully before taking it...It's hard to get accross but I think if she'd just approached it a bit differently I might not have gotten upset by it- perhaps "I know you've still got a day and a half's leave but it would really help if you could come in" rather than " you being sick has put us under pressure and I think you should not have the leave because you've been out of the office"

one thing I am a little worried about though are my references...I hope it won't be bad because of this but who knows?

thanks again for all of the replies

getmore4less

I think you manager has no clue and is flapping and panaking over their own job.

They don't know what is going on but are pretending too try to look good.

I would take the holiday and point out that it their problem to manage the place not yours to bail it out because they have failed to do their job properly while you were off sick.

When she said for you to think carefully about it, should have given her a barrage, why what are you going to do sack me that would be unfare and the threat is bullying, called hr and got her to repeat the threat in front of them

As for fining you for losses, point out that the failure is the companies proccess and procedures that management are responsible for, another management failure that you cannot be responsible for.

Point out that to try would be illegal deduction of wages and if she tried it she would b in very deep trouble.

I think the best thing the team can do is try to push back on the manager if they have issues and are taking it out on the team, as a group complain to HR.