Advice needed - declaring sickness to new employer

sangie595

Moneysaver199 wrote: »

I've probably worded my earlier response poorly, however my main thought is that the OP is off due to the way they are being treated at work. They are not necessarily ill. .

I certainly hope they are ill. Because if they aren't both they and the doctor are lying, and that is a disciplinary offence for both them and any doctor. The OP is not off because of the way they are allegedly being treated at work. Doctors cannot decide how someone is being treated at work and sign them off because of it. Doctors sign people as unfit for work because they have an illness which makes them unfit for work, based on symptoms of illness that the patient tells them about or which are observed. And for no other reason.

The vast majority of employers now ask about levels of sickness. Declaring a period of sickness does not necessarily mean that they will not employ someone.

But at the same time, I am afraid it is naïve to assume that "the way someone is treated at work" is not a result of their own actions, or that people with "stress" are not faking it. I say this because being ill from stress is now the most common reason for people facing investigations, disciplinaries, or anything else that they don't like at work to be absent - because it is easy to fake. And employers know that. And in each of these scenarios, the "stress" is a result of "how they are being treated at work". None of this makes the employer in the wrong.

I am not making any judgement about this in the OP's case - simply stating a known fact. Any employer knows all of these things. It is no different from the old "bad back" - easy to fake and simply makes life impossible for those who are genuinely ill. But the fact is that the employer here is asking the OP for their sickness absence. The OP, in your version, is allowed to lie by saying that they are not really ill and that they would be at work if it wasn't for the fact that they have chosen not to go - the reason they have chosen not to go is irrelevant. If this statement is actually true, then the new employer would in fact be dead right to assume that it is being faked to avoid work. If you were an employer, would you wish to employ someone who does that?

tece

Always be transparent and honest in the job application process.
I would advise you to contact your new employer now and disclose this absence if you haven't already done so there will then be no surprises and dilemmas for them when they receive your reference from your current employer. A job offer can be rescinded at any time.