Sickness rules,are they fair?

[frogger]

I've just been off sick.Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,(Thursday was my day off),and Friday.Went back to work Saturday.
At my Back to Work meeting,my D.O.M said that even though Thursday was my day off,it counts as sick,so has recorded the abscence as 5 days sick.
Is this right,and is it fair? I argued that if it was 5 days sick,then i should be getting 5 days sick pay,and as i worked Saturday,then that should be overtime.Or,at the very least,if i was sick on my day off,and they are counting it as sickness,then i should be entitled to that day off as holiday,otherwise it means that the week off was technically a 6 day week! Can anyone tell me where i stand on this matter? my union rep cant understand what i'm talking about,so any advice would be appreciated.

[michael61]

you had 5 day,s off sick so it will be classed as 5 day,s cannot see what your gripe is.

[ebbzie]

If you were sick from say Friday to tuesday you wouldnt expect to get a day back for the sunday would you?

[Pat Ostman]

If you were sick from say Friday to tuesday you wouldnt expect to get a day back for the sunday would you?

Yes actually I would. Royal Mail count sick days as days lost to the buisness. How can a Sunday be classed as a financial loss for RM? Friday to Monday should be counted as three days not four.

Yes I know they do include it, they don't for holidays though funnily enough. A weeks holiday is five days, A week sick is seven.

[fishtank]

I've noticed in the new attendance procedure guidance it states.

***Absence is counted as continuous from the first day of absence until the employee returns to work and includes weekends and non-working days

Does this now mean that even if the sick absence doesn't straddle a day off and say you were sick on the friday,saturday but phoned on saturday to say you would be back monday...sunday would still count?
What happens if you are on the week off scheme and you're sick on the saturday before your week off?
Is it one day or eight?

[POSTMAN]

You mean there is something in an agreement/procedure that is open to interpretation!

[PostieSP1]

I've called in sick on my Day off before which i was going to work,i had no comeback from that!From what you're saying i should have:p

[fishtank]

You mean there is something in an agreement/procedure that is open to interpretation!

Have emailed some people.

[Lincox]

Just explain to me how any union negotiator, who I would say is paid by us the members, could possibly even contemplate agreeing to such a f.cking farce as this.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Just to add to mix and add a bit of balance - my last employer warned me in writing when I went sick for 2 occasions and 5 days over 2 years even though I was not paid for any of them. (they paid after the 3rd full day)

The Royal Mail system is not perfect by any means and is far too open to interpretation by unscrupulous managers, but at least we get paid when we are off after 1 year, and if your careful you at least know where you are.

However, for long term sick then the Royal Mail sickness procedure is a bullies charter and IMHO that hasn't changed even with this new agreement.

[britwrit]

Just to add to mix and add a bit of balance - my last employer warned me in writing when I went sick for 2 occasions and 5 days over 2 years even though I was not paid for any of them. (they paid after the 3rd full day)

The Royal Mail system is not perfect by any means and is far too open to interpretation by unscrupulous managers, but at least we get paid when we are off after 1 year, and if your careful you at least know where you are.

However, for long term sick then the Royal Mail sickness procedure is a bullies charter and IMHO that hasn't changed even with this new agreement.

This. Especially with the long-term sick. You can go sick for a whole week - on average - year after year and no hint of a warning. But go down with something serious and you zoom through the stages in no time at all.

[Poorly]

I don't think we want to go down the route of not including non-working days in the procedure, as the standards would probably be changed to 10 days for a stage 1 not 14. I don't see how it would work especially for part-timers. If someone worked 1 day a week then they could potentially have 13 weeks off without triggering a stage 1. Does that seem fair?

[fishtank]

If someone worked 1 day a week then they could potentially have 13 weeks off without triggering a stage 1. Does that seem fair?

No that isn't true.
The trigger is 14 days or 4 separate absences.

The counter argument would be if someone only worked a saturday and was ill on two saturdays in a row they should be classed as having 20 days sick absence and be issued with a stage warning despite only being off 2 days.

[Lincox]

I agree Fish. Perhaps there should be a different method for calculating part time absenteeism. I don't know how, but it does seem that there are too many differences between full time and part time hours.

[michael61]

I've noticed in the new attendance procedure guidance it states.

***Absence is counted as continuous from the first day of absence until the employee returns to work and includes weekends and non-working days

Does this now mean that even if the sick absence doesn't straddle a day off and say you were sick on the friday,saturday but phoned on saturday to say you would be back monday...sunday would still count?
What happens if you are on the week off scheme and you're sick on the saturday before your week off?
Is it one day or eight?

any updates on this fishtank thanks.