Employers wont accept sick note!!

telephone_man

Hi, I hope someone can advise my sister on this issue.

She works for a Tesco Express and after a trip to the dentist she was advised that she should have several teeth out (some wisdom teeth as well). She was referred to the dental section of the hospital and the procedure was performed under GA. The doctor gave her a sick note for 3 days.

When she returned to work the manager refused the sicknote under the grounds that it was, wait for it........COSMETIC SURGERY:eek:

Since this has happened the manager totally blanks her at work and the atmosphere is driving her to quit.

What are her rights regarding the sick note & is the attitude of the manager a for of bullying?

Please help!!

dmg24

With regard to the bullying, she needs to submit a grievance against the manager.

With regard to the sick note, what does it actually say?

alwaysonthego_2

She needs to go to either CAB or ACAS who can help her further. My friend works for Tesco and they seem to be very unreasonable employers

mum2one

telephone_man wrote: »

Hi, I hope someone can advise my sister on this issue.

She works for a Tesco Express and after a trip to the dentist she was advised that she should have several teeth out (some wisdom teeth as well). She was referred to the dental section of the hospital and the procedure was performed under GA. The doctor gave her a sick note for 3 days.

When she returned to work the manager refused the sicknote under the grounds that it was, wait for it........COSMETIC SURGERY:eek:

Since this has happened the manager totally blanks her at work and the atmosphere is driving her to quit.

What are her rights regarding the sick note & is the attitude of the manager a for of bullying?

Please help!!

firstly she needs to bring a grievance against the manager, also she needs to speak to HR re sicknote. Im not sure how Tesco works re sickpay so I'll answer both.

1. Company sick pay scheme - if she is eligible for company sick pay, shes needs to make sure she has followed the correct procedure, and if they dont pay she has every right to bring a grievance.

2. Statutory sick pay - If she is only eligible for SSP, she will lose the first 3 days, as is the case of SSp.

Re - attitude of the manager, it certainly seems she is being bullied, and tesco as a company are vicariously liable for their staff -
If your sister is being singled out by this manager, that constitues bullying, she needs to log every incident, time, date, location and who was involved.

for independant advice, be worth looking on the ACAS website,

Should she quit as a result of this incident, it sounds like she has a case for unfair construstive dismissal, but she must prove that she went through all the work options first, and any case would need to be logged with a tribunal within 3 mths of leaving.

is she in a union, they could help and support her whilst this is all going through.

Good luck

telephone_man

Thanks for the advice guys.
If you are like me when you give advice you need closure lol.

So I will keep you posted.

Thanks again.

firthjm

best of luck to your sister, hope she gets it all sorted.

stazi

The NHS does not carry out cosmetic surgery. See the attached-
http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=890
For the day she was an hospital inpatient the employer cannot 'refuse' that day as a period of incapacity. If she was in hospital- she was in hospital-fact.
For a large firm like Tesco, I would imagine it would be the HR section that would have the final say- and not her line manager.
It is unlikely that the sick note would say 'cosmetic surgery' on it. In any event, I assume that her line manager is not medically qualified to offer an opinion of what treatment she did/did not have.

MoaningMyrtle

How long has she been working for Tesco?

Chas

If she only had 3 days off then she wouldn't even need a sick note - she can self certify.

Tesco do have a very strict policy on absence but the policy doesn't affect whether or not an employee is paid for time off sick.

Unless their policy has changed in the last 2 years, an employee is entitled to have a maximum of 4 weeks paid sick leave in a year which runs from 1st October to 30th September. This is paid sick leave for any reason, so if you had 10 occasions of an odd day or two off (for example) you'd still be paid providing you had followed the procedure for calling in sick, but no sick notes would be required. Likewise if you had 2 weeks off following surgery (for example) you'd be paid, but a sick note would be required. Once you've 'used up' your 4 weeks paid sick leave any further absence would be unpaid, unless you were entitled to Statutory Sick Pay.

Tesco's absence policy is entirely seperate. As I said above, the policy may have changed, but it used to be that an employee was permitted to have no more than 3% (might have been 5%, can't remember which) absence over a set period. If you exceed the percentage you are disciplined accordingly.

I worked 2 evenings a week (total of 7.5 hours a week) & hadn't had any time off sick for 18 months. I then had 2 days off sick & was told I was over the allowed % so I got a verbal warning which was to stay on my file for 8 weeks. 7.5 weeks later I got a sickness bug & rang in sick for one night. When I returned the following night I was given a written warning & told any further time off in the next 13 weeks would result in a final written warning.

I was paid in full for the time off sick but still got the warnings.

Hope this helps.