new job interview while on sick leave

sukavi2011 · 6 October 2019 at 1:40PM

I am currently on sick leave due to work related stress This is my 2nd week. I have been intending to look for another job for months due to work restructuring and the added stress. Would using this week to go for interviews, should i get any, be a bad thing. I have read handbook and contract and i cannot see anything to say i cant. I am very rarely sick and not to the extent I need to be signed off. but I feel i cannot stay in this job any longer as the workload is increasing due to colleague resignations that are not being replaced.

Alter_ego · 6 October 2019 at 1:42PM

You really need to ask?

jonnygee2 · 6 October 2019 at 2:38PM

If you cannot stay in the job, you really need to quit, not take sick leave.

Different companies act differently, but many would take exception to this. After all if you are well enough to attend an interview - which are generally very stressful experiences - your company may well claim you were well enough to turn up to work.

I know at my company, the pattern of someone going on sick leave then getting a new job shortly after is frowned upon, but not generally acted on. There have been posters in the past who have been retrospectively disciplined or dismissed for this. So at your risk.

Either way, you can certainly expect your current employer to put on any reference that you are currently on sick leave, so that's something to prepare to deal with if references are needed.

74jax · 6 October 2019 at 2:40PM

If you are signed off with shingles how on earth can you face going for an interview. What is there's pregnant people in reception or other people vulnerable.

Having had shingles myself and my husband had it for pretty much 4 months last year, an interview is the last place I'd be going.

You have no idea how long it will last, how well you will feel in a week let alone a month.

[Deleted User] · 6 October 2019 at 5:15PM

What if the new employer, as a condition of giving you the job want you to start asap?

I think I'm up to 7 interviews in 4 months of employment so far :cool: ! (trying to better what I've got kind of thing but it's hard out there) I'm fixating on the latest application which is just my luck that the actual closing date will be after my week off (how ironic!!) and had to be quite glad I just didn't get the last job I interviewed for when made employee of the month (which really was either make no more mistakes or ..we know you want to leave) rolled in for me.

I genuinely have to keep telling myself no one would have time to take references before job offer!! but that's what it has come to when I get no interview feedback.

It might be a boost or it may make you sicker.

MalMonroe · 7 October 2019 at 8:00PM

Yes it is a bad thing! On so many levels. If your current job is so bad and you are being given extra work because of other employees leaving, the first step is to approach your manager and speak to them about the situation. Tell them it's making you ill. If you can't do that, then please do give them some decent notice and don't just quit. Especially not when you are on sick leave. And how do you think you're going to explain your work position to any prospective employer if you DO go for an interview when you're ill? Lying never works. And you won't work for long, either, if you do decide to act so dishonestly.

DCFC79 · 7 October 2019 at 9:06PM

If you have enough money to last while you look for another then consider leaving BUT be prepared to accept any job if you haven't found 1 by a set date eg when your out of money.

Blatchford · 8 October 2019 at 9:21AM

Deleted%20User wrote: »

It might be a boost or it may make you sicker.

Or it might make you wonder what on earth any of that had to do with the issue you posted.

Blatchford · 8 October 2019 at 9:28AM

sukavi2011 wrote: »

I am currently on sick leave due to work related stress This is my 2nd week. I have been intending to look for another job for months due to work restructuring and the added stress. Would using this week to go for interviews, should i get any, be a bad thing. I have read handbook and contract and i cannot see anything to say i cant. I am very rarely sick and not to the extent I need to be signed off. but I feel i cannot stay in this job any longer as the workload is increasing due to colleague resignations that are not being replaced.

There is no reason why you cannot go to interviews if signed off sick unless that sickness is contagious (i'm confused by the later reference to Shingles- which is not "stress"). However, you might want to consider how this comes across to potential employers when a substantial period of sick leave is taken because there's too much work to do. If you were an employer, how would that explanation for sickness go down with you? It's not that I don't understand that workloads increase etc., or that people aren't replacing staff as they leave. But "i'm off sick because my employer needs me to work harder" doesn't sound good. Especially not combined with "so I'm using my sick leave to come to this interview".

General_Grant · 8 October 2019 at 9:36AM

Blatchford wrote: »

There is no reason why you cannot go to interviews if signed off sick unless that sickness is contagious (i'm confused by the later reference to Shingles- which is not "stress"). However, you might want to consider how this comes across to potential employers when a substantial period of sick leave is taken because there's too much work to do. If you were an employer, how would that explanation for sickness go down with you? It's not that I don't understand that workloads increase etc., or that people aren't replacing staff as they leave. But "i'm off sick because my employer needs me to work harder" doesn't sound good. Especially not combined with "so I'm using my sick leave to come to this interview".

Sadly the original post has not been quoted in full and what is now visible was amended after the reference to shingles appears in the replies.

[I'm not a medic but think that stress is often considered to be a risk factor in a flare up of shingles.]

seven-day-weekend · 8 October 2019 at 9:46AM

Stress CAN be a factor in shingles, but I do not think someone should be going to an interview if they are off sick, especially with something like shingles.

Why not ask the other company if they can hold the interview for a week, go back to work and take a day's annual leave (if you can), or organise it for a time before or after work.

new job interview while on sick leave

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