Off sick with stress and deression

V3lv3t85

I am currently signed off with stress and depression and I am currently signed off until 11th of july.
I will be on holiday for 2 weeks from the 16th july but cant face going back to work for the 5 days between my current sick note and my holiday.
Will my doctor issue a note for the 5 days.
This way i should be entitled to full holiday pay for my holiday rather then being signed off for this period and recieving sick pay.

elsien

I don't think anyone except your doctor could answer that question.

V3lv3t85

What i mean to ask is
Is a doctor able to issue a sick not for juat 5 days

vegasvisitor

They are able to, but whether they will is another matter. They may feel you won't be fit for work after your holiday either, so unless you were going back to work at the end of a sick line you have know way of knowing. It doesn't sound predictable enough for them to know, and they may not want to work around your finances rather than your health.

Torry_Quine

Some employers don't let you go straight from sick leave to annual leave. If yours does then make sure you tell them when you are no longer ill but going on holiday or you may be counted as being off work I'll without a fit note.

Detroit

Your doctor should issue a sick note for as long as they feel you need to be off sick.

In my workplace, if you are sick while you are on annual leave, the days you are sick can be counted as sick leave rather than annual leave, enabling you to take the days as annual leave at another time, if that makes sense.

I'm not entirely sure whether this is a contractual rather than statutory right though, so don't know if it would apply to you.
Perhaps someone else knows this.

ohreally

Its likely you won't be on holiday you will be on sick leave. In these circumstances you could put it to your employer that taking the holiday while signed off sick will be beneficial as it will aid recovery thus speeding up your return to work.

Is the illness work related?

daytona0

depends on what the phrase, "cant face going back to work for the 5 days between my current sick note and my holiday." means...


If it means that you are still ill then you should speak to the doctor and get the appropriate time off/fit note for that.

If it means that you just can't be bothered and want to extend your holiday by 5 days then I am much much less sympathetic, and would recommend that you just go in as planned (face it, you have to go back sometime...)

I post that without prejudice.


One thing to consider is the impact it may have on your holiday. Is there any possibility that they may just cancel your holiday and class it as part of your sickness? Could affect holiday payments?

sangie595

As others have said - even if your GP is willing to do this, it is not that simple.

If you go straight from sick leave to holiday without any break, then regardless of what your contract may say, the employer is entitled to (a) consider your holiday a continuation of sick leave, or (b) even worse, question your sick leave entirely. People tend to forget that the payment of sick pay, even SSP is not an automatic entitlement. If the employer considers that you are swinging the lead, technically they have the right to refuse sick pay entirely. Very few would actually do so, especially if the payment is SSP only - but the fact remains that they can.

And in reality, it is one or the other. If you are too sick to go to work for those five days, then you are too sick. But that will not have changed the day you go on holiday - you will still be too sick to go to work. And if you are not too sick to go to work, then go to work your should - you will gain absolutely nothing by continuing to avoid returning to work for no other reason than you do not want to be there. You have to go back sometime - going back for just five days sounds like the most sensible thing anyway, as you have got over the hurdle but know that you only have to make it for five days!

If you continue to put it off, when you get back from holiday you will still be dreading going back, except that now it will have spoiled your holiday with you worrying about it. And if you sign off before your holiday and sign back as unfit after it - well, your employer will really start querying whether you are really ill.

Why are you dreading going back to work?

motorguy

V3lv3t85 wrote: »

I am currently signed off with stress and depression and I am currently signed off until 11th of july.
I will be on holiday for 2 weeks from the 16th july but cant face going back to work for the 5 days between my current sick note and my holiday.
Will my doctor issue a note for the 5 days.
This way i should be entitled to full holiday pay for my holiday rather then being signed off for this period and recieving sick pay.

Looking at it from the illness perspective, assuming the doctor has giving you antidepressants these take 2 weeks to start to work, then probably another 2 to be fully effective. I would have though you'd have no issue getting a sick line for another 2 weeks after these 2 at least.

Also, depression is a long term illness so once the meds kick in, think about how you are going to deal with the illness so that you can continue to function on a daily basis. There are loads of self help forums and self help books out there.

Tiddlywinks

If you stay off sick until after your holiday do you really think you'll be ready to return to work straight away?

If not then you need to understand that you can't have annual leave immediately sandwiched between two bouts of sick leave... The whole absence, as it's for the same condition, will be treated as a block... so SSP all through the absence.