Bad sickness record, looking for new job

hamsterhands

Hi guys


I would like some advice please, from anyone who has any genuine information.


I have a pretty dire sickness record and am looking for new jobs at the moment. I have two interviews coming up this week and am really worried that once the potential employers receive a reference from my current employer, they will find out how much time I have had off, class me as unreliable and I won't get the job purely for that reason.


Do potential employers ask about sickness records, and what can current employers disclose?


Any help would be greatly appreciated; there is so much conflicting information online!


Thanks

ohreally

hamsterhands wrote: »

Do potential employers ask about sickness records, and what can current employers disclose?

Your current employer can disclose the facts of the matter if asked.

DKLS

Depends my current employer wanted a shed load of info including credit checks and security clearance, but never once asked myself or my referees about sickness record.

bargainbetty

If your new employer requests the info after you have permitted them to send a request, then your old employer is permitted to send details. Some will, some won't.

If you had a legitimate illness that required ongoing absence/treatment, but is now cured, then you can answer any questions raised about it. If you lied on your application form, or just got a lot of Mondayitiis, then you could be in trouble.

It's a very reasonable question for a new employer to ask. I certainly do.

hamsterhands

Neither of the job applications required me to mention sickness, and all of my absences have been genuine - I have a long service record with my current employer and no disciplinary procedures have ever been enforced against me despite me having a lot of time off. If asked at interview I will be upfront but I am just concerned that this will greatly affect my chances of getting a new job.

sulphate

Yes, some reference request forms ask for details of sickness absence. I have seen it count against an old colleague before, she too had an extensive sick leave history, was offered another job, handed in her notice then a week before she was due to start her new employer withdrew the conditional offer because they had found out about her sick leave.

gardengull

You don't have to tell the interviewer what was/is wrong with you, but you need to have a good answer rehearsed (either way) ready for your interview just in case it comes up.

If I was an employer, I would politely ask you whether the issue that caused the sickness was now resolved. The answer I would be looking for would be how you're either managing it, or have resolved it.

e.g. I have had surgery, which has resolved my previous health issue [regular xyz attacks resolved by abc removal].

Or, if it isn't, or can't be resolved, I am managing my health by/with …

e.g. With support from my doctor, I now follow a 123 diet designed to minimise the health problems I was previously experiencing.

Good luck.

Takeaway_Addict

If I were the employer I would decline to answer questions on your health because if you leave and go off my books then all the better as you won't be costing me money and you obviously want to leave.

Gingernutty

Many employers ask about sickness records either upfront on the application form, or, later, during the Occupational Health checks.

What the sick leave was for, how many bouts and for how long will all be assessed somehow.

You can have disabilities, chronic conditions and acute or traumatic events taken into account but if there are lots of short bouts of sick leave then you may have to explain yourself.

Good luck.

elsien

It's unlikely to come up in the interview as companies don't want to fall foul of disability discrimination legislation. However our company does use occupational health screening and we ask referees about sickness absence for the previous 3 years. We make the job offer and then check OH and references.
The reason for this is that (to give one example), a person I'd offered the job to declared on the occupational health questionnaire that they'd had no sickness and had no health problems. The referee then disclosed that they'd come to the interview while off on long term sick. The offer was then withdrawn on the grounds of dishonesty.

It does in part depend on the type and reasons for your sickness. You could have had months off for an operation and now be fine with little chance of the problem recurring, in which case the job offer would stand. However if your sickness was a longstanding recurring pattern of several days here and there at frequent intervals with no underlying health condition, then no we probably wouldn't take you on.
It's not necessarily about whether or not you're pulling sickies. You could genuinely be sick every month or two and be off a few days/a week at a time. But due to the impact of that on the business then I'm still not going to want you, in the same way that frequent absences for current employees trigger the absence/capability procedures even when we know they're telling the truth.

bluenoseam

It would also depend on the circumstances - for example my sickness record for 09/10 wasn't "good" on paper, 7 months+ off until such times as you understand that was spread over 3 incidents all closely related. However if it were numerous occasions all for 1-2 days a pop it's going to read badly, even if that was all for genuine reasons without explaination it'll look like it was "Mondayitis" or "Saturday Morning Syndrome".