Work colleague told me is going to go off sick

Westbridgfordguy_2

I've been working with a new colleague at our company for 9 months, we normally spend time during breaks chit chatting about work related matters.

During one of these chats over the past 3 months my colleague shared that he had 5 more days holiday in his previous company and as he had already ran out of holidays for this year he wasn't going to go another 4 months without another holiday so intended to have a week off sick in January to realise another 5 days holiday. Both of us are at a level where we are paid for sick absence. My colleague repeated this statement to me at least on 3 separate occasions.

Come this week and this person has a mystery bout of vomiting and hasn't been to work all week so far. My boss whom is also his manager passed a jokey comment to me to message my colleague and tell him to man up and get back to work which was meant I suppose to be funny; given the information I had from him I did not find this amusing.

I'm posting this as I do not know how to proceed with this situation, I or the company cannot prove the genuineness of his illness so is it even worth raising it. I haven't had a sick day since I started with the company so am aggrieved to think that someone is getting more holidays than myself in effect and being dishonest and cheating the company.

This is also tempered by the fact the same person has told me that for the past two Monday and Tuesdays when they have been on holiday they have in fact been working for their previous company on trial in a larger role than that of when they left and if it works out they will not give notice and just not turn back up to work one day with my company. Again I cannot prove this and again not sure whether it is even worth mentioning to my company.

Any thoughts would be gratefully received.

z1a

Nowt to do with you, ignore it.

gettingtheresometime

Don’t get involved. Yes it’s gualling when you know someone is pulling a fast one but at the end of the day, if your present employer finds out then do you want to get involved in a potential disciplinary? If they get the new role they’ll be off & no longer an issue but if they don’t, and continue to pull sickies, presumably the company’s sickness policy will kick in & deal with the issue

TBagpuss

Its up to you.There is no reason why you cannot tell your employer if you feel they should know.

If your employer chooses to go down a formal, disciplinary route then they could ask you to give a statement so your colleague would know that it was you who reported the issue.

You don't have to have proof - if you chose to say something, you can say to your boss ;
"This is a bit awkward, but [co-worker] has said to be on several occasions over the past few months that they get less holiday here than they did at their previous job and planned to take time off sick to make up for that. I didn't take it seriously when they said it, but they did talk about taking a week off in January so I now I think they may have been serious."

i would only mention the other job if the two organisations are competitors.

That said, it isn't your responsibility but if you feel that your manager should not, there is no reason why you can't tell them.

Living_Bate

i agree with z1a and gettingthere

if it really bothers you take it up with the colleague

i know a lot people who like to take annual sick leave

ohreally

It’s not your party, keep your head down and mouth shut.

gardner1

Mind your own business it's nothing to do with you.......it might be genuine just because he said he'd take extra days doesn't mean he has

gardner1

And if you did grass him up to the boss........who do you think would be number 1 suspect when he gets back

bugslet

I'd be tempted to say nothing.

But I do rest my case for not offering anything over SSP

sarahsays

If you were a truly honest person as you make out, you would have told your colleague that you were sorry but that you would have to tell on them if they did this. To go behind their back and tell seems dishonest and cowardly. Telling on your colleague won't get you any extra annual leave, so why use this to justify what you are thinking of doing. I think if you do this, your manager will ultimately lose respect for you and not trust you with any confidential material - deep down, no one likes a tittle-tattle. You may also find, as is often the case, that those who are most loyal to a company are those who are dropped on a whim when it suits the company.

redpete

All this talk of its nothing to do with you and you shouldn't "grass him up" would be nonsense if his absence means you have to do extra work, or the company loses out. The lost income / additional cost comes from somewhere, your future pay rise, bonuses, investment (or maybe owner's profit). And just because other people take "annual sick leave" doesn't mean that it is acceptable.