Employee Signed Off, but really...?!

Opinion

Hey all, hoping someone can offer some advice, or--dare I say--opinions.

I'm a Director of a small company, a bar/club. One of my full time staff hasn't been feeling great lately. Sometime around the end of May I spoke to them about how they were and suggested they take a week off, fully paid, to have a break from it all. Member of staff in question has been working for us for 9 months and works 40 hours per week.

Middle of last month they called me up in quite a bad state and said that they needed to talk. We met, I advised them to go and see their doctor, and that was that. At the start of this month I got another call saying they needed to meet. We do so and they produced a Sick Note from their doctor, for two weeks, due to depression. I spoke to my accountant to sort out Statutory Sick Pay and that was that. I explained to the employee that if they needed anything to call me, but that while they were off sick I would not be contacting them about anything other than an emergency. I told a couple of key members of staff about the situation and that was that.

Half way through this Sick Note, the weekend of the 11th, the employee arrived at their place of work and proceeded to get absolutely hammered, completely blind drunk to the point that they were being sick in the corner of the bar, all over the carpet, which another member of staff had to clean up. I contacted her and basically told them they needed to be sensible, signed off sick with depression, alcohol is a depressant etc.

A few days later they txt me and tell me they've just been to the doctors again and they have been signed off for a further four weeks. This afternoon I have just received a txt from another one of my staff saying that he is out and about and has just seen our "sick" member of staff sitting in a park with friends, beer in hand.

So to summarise;
Employee works 40 hours per week, employed less than two years
Signed off work for two weeks with depression
Turns up at work while signed off, gets drunk, is sick everywhere
Signed off work for four weeks with depression
Is currently sitting in a park drinking beer
(I should point out that I am diagnosed with severe depression and a personality disorder, so I can understand how she feels to some extent.)

im-lost

so someone with depression isn't allowed to go out the house?

is a depressed person supposed to just mope around and do nothing, getting even more depressed?

You may find that they've been taking anti depressants, a week or so of feeling like complete !!!!, and then they start to kick in and hopefully lift your mood.

Sometimes all feeling depressed needs are a few pills and a bit of time out.

But there's not really much you can do about it, if a doctor has signed them off then they are in effect sick, despite your reservations.

If they return to work whilst sick, your insurance wont cover them for any mishaps etc

Just suck it up, im sure you're aware, its one of the things you need to deal with, when running a business.

Its great that you have other staff members that are qualified to diagnose the presence of a mental illness, have you though of branching out in to this line of work? it would be quite easy considering you have people capable of the work on the payroll already.

phill99

You already know the answer. You're just wanting a third party to confirm it.

Opinion

im-lost wrote: »

so someone with depression isn't allowed to go out the house?

is a depressed person supposed to just mope around and do nothing, getting even more depressed?

You may find that they've been taking anti depressants, a week or so of feeling like complete !!!!, and then they start to kick in and hopefully lift your mood.

Sometimes all feeling depressed needs are a few pills and a bit of time out.

But there's not really much you can do about it, if a doctor has signed them off then they are in effect sick, despite your reservations.

If they return to work whilst sick, your insurance wont cover them for any mishaps etc

Just suck it up, im sure you're aware, its one of the things you need to deal with, when running a business.

Its great that you have other staff members that are qualified to diagnose the presence of a mental illness, have you though of branching out in to this line of work? it would be quite easy considering you have people capable of the work on the payroll already.

No, I'm saying that someone diagnosed with depression you try and make changes to help themselves. One of the worst things you can do while depressed is drink alcohol (especially in your own workplace, in front of your staff, to the point of being sick and them having to clear it up.)

Where exactly did I say that anyone other than a doctor diagnosed them? I said a member of staff has just seen them sitting in a park drinking, nothing else (again, ignoring the fact that it would be a working day.

Maybe I should have made it clear in the first post; what I wanted to know was do people think that it is suitable behaviour to be signed off sick but turning up at your place of work getting drunk?

COOLTRIKERCHICK

while they are off on sat sick pay, you can no longer claim this back off your tax, so you are physically paying their SSP..


people with depression deal with things in different ways...


Just wondering if it is only depression or do you suspect any sort of drug use,
Is their job still available? are you down sizing your staff?

COOLTRIKERCHICK

just a thought, but I might be wrong here,


Even though they are on the sick, while in work they still represent your company, so can the gross mis-conduct come into play due to them being sick etc???

Opinion

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

while they are off on sat sick pay, you can no longer claim this back off your tax, so you are physically paying their SSP..


people with depression deal with things in different ways...


Just wondering if it is only depression or do you suspect any sort of drug use,
Is their job still available? are you down sizing your staff?

Yes, my accountant has advised on the SSP.

The sick note says depression, anything else would be speculation. I would like to think that drug use is probably not an issue. The job is available--it's still their job--and no, we're not downsizing, but it is causing issues with the rest of the team ("Why have I got to cover all these hours? They're obviously well enough to work if they can come in and get drunk", "Have you seen on Facebook what they have been up to?" etc)

McKneff

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

while they are off on sat sick pay, you can no longer claim this back off your tax, so you are physically paying their SSP..

As far as I am aware, the bold is incorrect. It is only the bigger companies who have to suck the SSP up.
Unless the rules have changed in the last couple of years.

nearlyrich

Less than two years service you can dismiss with no reason if you think they are playing you...

Opinion

nearlyrich wrote: »

Less than two years service you can dismiss with no reason if you think they are playing you...

Indeed. The problem is the member of staff has a heart of gold, they've just been having a tough time as of late, and they haven't really helped themselves.

Hence this thread. I wanted to hear peoples opinions, as the "being played" issue crossed my mind.

[Deleted User]

Opinion wrote: »

Indeed. The problem is the member of staff has a heart of gold, they've just been having a tough time as of late, and they haven't really helped themselves.

Hence this thread. I wanted to hear peoples opinions, as the "being played" issue crossed my mind.

I think it's you with the heart of gold OP x though I know sometimes a drink seemed to be the answer as I found out though I wasn't quite being treated for depression at the time

Can you inquire if they are receiving more help then having pills dished out?

Hope the situation can be overcome