Fair? Given a Written Warning and Pay Withheld for Stay in Neonatal Intensive Care (NICU)

Undervalued

Cobbler_tone said:

I must be the only one who works for a good, large, professional firm. One I’ve been at for 30 years. I also have a keen interest and tons of experience in employee/industrial relations.
As with most things it depends on the full story but….

- The OP has used annual leave, demonstrating a willingness to exhaust his options.

- Emergency dependent care is a legal right. The employer doesn’t have to pay for it but most would.

- The OP talks about his own absence for stress. If certified and reported correctly he would get up to 6 months company sick pay with us and face no action when returning…subject to other previous occasions of absence. Following a very difficult time or a close bereavement it is pretty common for an individual to become poorly and be signed off.

- ‘HR’ wouldn’t carry out our disciplinary procedures. That would be down to management. In my book managers should manage their people. 

- Doesn’t matter if an illness seems ‘dodgy’, if it is certified by a GP, specialist or occ health then a line manager or HR isn’t qualified to challenge, regardless if it followed a request for leave.

The order I would manage someone:
1. Emergency leave, maximum couple of days whilst arrangements are made.
2. Potential of adjusted hours on a time limited basis, recorded via flexible working request.
3. Short notice holiday requests.
4. Unpaid leave

By the time you reach 4. the person has often been signed off.

I personally think it would extremely harsh to receive a warning for the story outlined in isolation but suspect there may be more to it than meets the eye.

P.S. I have dismissed around a dozen people in my time using a fair and robust absence management policy and suspended many more from the company sick pay scheme, which is the biggest motivation to get someone back to work!

Indeed. However they could ask for a occupational health consultant's assessment. Most well drafted company sick pay policies require employees to agree to this, certainly for extended absence (and extended often isn't anything like as long as many imagine). 

Also whilst Emergency dependent care is a legal right, as mentioned in an earlier post, visiting a seriously ill dependent in hospital isn't the employee providing emergency dependent care. Whilst many "decent" employers will allow it, at least to some extent, that is discretionary and / or compassionate leave to which, amazingly, there is no legal right.

It is an incredibly difficult situation but one that largely relies on how far the employer's goodwill extends rather than legal rights.

Cobbler_tone

Undervalued said:

Cobbler_tone said:

I must be the only one who works for a good, large, professional firm. One I’ve been at for 30 years. I also have a keen interest and tons of experience in employee/industrial relations.
As with most things it depends on the full story but….

- The OP has used annual leave, demonstrating a willingness to exhaust his options.

- Emergency dependent care is a legal right. The employer doesn’t have to pay for it but most would.

- The OP talks about his own absence for stress. If certified and reported correctly he would get up to 6 months company sick pay with us and face no action when returning…subject to other previous occasions of absence. Following a very difficult time or a close bereavement it is pretty common for an individual to become poorly and be signed off.

- ‘HR’ wouldn’t carry out our disciplinary procedures. That would be down to management. In my book managers should manage their people. 

- Doesn’t matter if an illness seems ‘dodgy’, if it is certified by a GP, specialist or occ health then a line manager or HR isn’t qualified to challenge, regardless if it followed a request for leave.

The order I would manage someone:
1. Emergency leave, maximum couple of days whilst arrangements are made.
2. Potential of adjusted hours on a time limited basis, recorded via flexible working request.
3. Short notice holiday requests.
4. Unpaid leave

By the time you reach 4. the person has often been signed off.

I personally think it would extremely harsh to receive a warning for the story outlined in isolation but suspect there may be more to it than meets the eye.

P.S. I have dismissed around a dozen people in my time using a fair and robust absence management policy and suspended many more from the company sick pay scheme, which is the biggest motivation to get someone back to work!

Indeed. However they could ask for a occupational health consultant's assessment. Most well drafted company sick pay policies require employees to agree to this, certainly for extended absence (and extended often isn't anything like as long as many imagine). 

Also whilst Emergency dependent care is a legal right, as mentioned in an earlier post, visiting a seriously ill dependent in hospital isn't the employee providing emergency dependent care. Whilst many "decent" employers will allow it, at least to some extent, that is discretionary and / or compassionate leave to which, amazingly, there is no legal right.

It is an incredibly difficult situation but one that largely relies on how far the employer's goodwill extends rather than legal rights.

From my considerable experience, occupational health (certainly our provider) will pretty much write down what an employee tells them. They will never challenge anything mentioned even by a GP, let alone a consultant or specialist.
The only time they can be 'steered' is what we will accept as a workable return to work plan.

As for DCL, the key word in most policies is 'unforeseen'. e.g. a child breaks their leg and is rushed to hospital...that is unforeseen. Visiting an ill relative in hospital is not unforeseen. We would pay for a maximum of 1 day and then anything beyond that could be 'family sick leave' but this then counts as an absence trigger and could lead to disciplinary action dependant on absence history. 
The biggest watch out in this area is if one parent gets paid and the other doesn't. Before you know it you will be picking up all of the DCL and effectively the short notice child care.

Most good employers and employees should be able to work together in times of genuine need. Sadly it seems to be that either an employer acts unreasonably, or the employee will take as much as they can without recognising that their job is a really important part of their life. The amount of times someone has gone off sick and then think they have no responsibility to communicate with the work place beyond raising an absence.
If in doubt, read your policies!