Sickness from work : Tue Feb 26, 2013 3:49 pm  

Anyone help on this.

My wife had an accident at work and ended up with a fracture and a pot on, she has been on sick with it for 4 weeks and does not get the pot off for another 4 weeks. Her boss (local authority) rang her today to tell her that he is giving her a formal warning for her sick record (last sick was 3 years ago), which has really upset her.

Can they do this, especially as she did it working for them.

Her work mates had told her to claim, but she refused saying it was an accident and no-one was to blame. Loyalty eh!!

Re: Sickness from work : Tue Feb 26, 2013 3:52 pm  

rover49 wrote:

Anyone help on this.

My wife had an accident at work and ended up with a fracture and a pot on, she has been on sick with it for 4 weeks and does not get the pot off for another 4 weeks. Her boss (local authority) rang her today to tell her that he is giving her a formal warning for her sick record (last sick was 3 years ago), which has really upset her.

Can they do this, especially as she did it working for them.

Her work mates had told her to claim, but she refused saying it was an accident and no-one was to blame. Loyalty eh!!

My understanding is that a) her boss is a nice person and b) she should fight this.

Is she a member of Unison, one of few occasions where they might actually add value if she is

Re: Sickness from work : Tue Feb 26, 2013 3:52 pm  

rover49 wrote:

Anyone help on this.

My wife had an accident at work and ended up with a fracture and a pot on, she has been on sick with it for 4 weeks and does not get the pot off for another 4 weeks. Her boss (local authority) rang her today to tell her that he is giving her a formal warning for her sick record (last sick was 3 years ago), which has really upset her.

Can they do this, especially as she did it working for them.

Her work mates had told her to claim, but she refused saying it was an accident and no-one was to blame. Loyalty eh!!

If the accident was at work........

Re: Sickness from work : Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:02 pm  

Standee wrote:

My understanding is that a) her boss is a nice person and b) she should fight this.

Is she a member of Unison, one of few occasions where they might actually add value if she is

She is in Unison. She is still a bit shell shocked after the call.

My company monitor sickness and have a warning system, but not for a clear case of accident as is this case, its more for patterns of sickness behaviour that are dodgy.

Re: Sickness from work : Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:05 pm  

Dally wrote:

If the accident was at work........

Not everyone is corrupt Dally. Plenty of witnesses and immediate transfer to hospital, you read too many right wing rags.

Re: Sickness from work : Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:08 pm  

rover49 wrote:

She is in Unison. She is still a bit shell shocked after the call.

My company monitor sickness and have a warning system, but not for a clear case of accident as is this case, its more for patterns of sickness behaviour that are dodgy.

Your company probably uses the "Bradford Score" or similar, which is a calculation on duration and frequency, one lot of seven days gets a lower score than seven incidences of a single day (as 7 days straight is more likely to be a genuine illness).

Has she had a formal warning in writing, a hearing of any kind, she should look to take someone in to her return to work interview as well.

If she can't get a Union Rep to do it PM me, I know a couple of people who might be able to help, I assume we're talking either HCC or EROYC?

Re: Sickness from work : Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:11 pm  

Standee wrote:

Your company probably uses the "Bradford Score" or similar, which is a calculation on duration and frequency, one lot of seven days gets a lower score than seven incidences of a single day (as 7 days straight is more likely to be a genuine illness).

Has she had a formal warning in writing, a hearing of any kind, she should look to take someone in to her return to work interview as well.

If she can't get a Union Rep to do it PM me, I know a couple of people who might be able to help, I assume we're talking either HCC or EROYC?

He phoned her to tell her of the formal warning, nothing in writing yet. Hopefully Unison will provide the representation, if not I will PM you, thanks for the offer. Your assumption on employer is correct.

Re: Sickness from work : Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:13 pm  

rover49 wrote:

Not everyone is corrupt Dally. Plenty of witnesses and immediate transfer to hospital, you read too many right wing rags.

Surely it went in an accident book on site, at work?

Re: Sickness from work : Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:14 pm  

rover49 wrote:

He phoned her to tell her of the formal warning, nothing in writing yet. Hopefully Unison will provide the representation, if not I will PM you, thanks for the offer. Your assumption on employer is correct.

There's a few odd things here.

A formal warning can only be made in written form, her manager (we'll say "he" as an assumption) may have decided to issue a verbal warning, but he cannot do that without the HR departments backing. It sounds to me like "he" is on very dodgy ground, especially for an accident at work (was she working at height or anything)?

we'll put club allegiances aside for this one I think.....

Re: Sickness from work : Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:16 pm  

WIZEB wrote:

Surely it went in an accident book on site, at work?

Indeed, the manager in question may come to regret this action, both Councils are facing cuts and looking for redundancies, someone acting outside the HR policy is one of the easiest targets going, especially if they didn't consult HR, and if they did and HR got it wrong (as they so often do) then there might be two birds with one stone.