Need some advice about unauthorised absence.

Chrisp101

Sorry meant employer gave me a copy because needed original.

Manxman_in_exile

Comms69 wrote: »

Uhm... I've never heard of a photocopy being given. I've never heard of hospitals or GPs keeping an original.


Usually the details are simply put on the patient records.

I've never heard of that either. Why would the hospital need to retain the original? I used to monitor sickness for my NHS trust and managers/HR would want an original.

jonnygee2

Then two weeks later we have been told they are getting rid of 250 people dependent on skill set/absence.

Okay, I think I am starting to understand this now. I might be wrong, but it sounds like they are using your absence as part of the criteria for a redundancy procedure.

In which case they are probably counting up all absences in the last, say, two years and then using that as the selection criteria for redundancy as part of a selection matrix.

They may have used the wrong terminology when they said it was 'unauthorised', they may have meant it was 'non-exempt' from their selection criteria. In these cases they will usually categorise any absence into 'exempt' or 'non-exempt'. 'Exempt' would be if it was related to a protected characteristic, like parental leave or absence related to a disability. non-exempt would be everything else.

In this case, although it often feels unfair (and also in my opinion isn't the most intelligent selection method), it is a completely legal way to make redundancy selections. Having a sick note etc unfortunately makes no difference.

TELLIT01

As said, it's one of the criteria which companies use. I would hope they are bright enough to see the difference between a one off absence for hospital treatment and the repeat Friday/Monday chancers.


Skill set should, in my mind, be of far greater weight in the decision making process. The reality is that more often than not it's a case of whether your face fits!