Will 3 phone calls in 3 days sick be deemed as unreasonable

[centenaryman]

reading all the above thanks...

again they rang this morning,,,it aint about the concern for the person ill.
that was easily observed when the phone rang,,,,,hi...are you ok for work Saturday?....sooooo no concern for me

the post above by SierraOscarBravo....first 3 days sick......ye the last place I worked for many years ago brought that in.....it didn't,,,and I repeat didn't cut down on sick leave.
no I cant back up the argument with figures....it just made ppl who were sick for the odd few days have a week off again fact but no proof.

maybe the way to go is narrow down the periods of sick from say 4 to 3....or days from 14 down to 12.....my opinion

I like to think that when im genuinely ill (and that includes this time) theres some kind of scheme there...I do pay taxes surely that's gotta help.
I wont move on to a stage either....but heyho I wont be in a draw for a car anytime soon either. LOL

Royal mail have staffing cut to the bone....so when crap happens they have to run round altering staffing and importing posties in from other areas...that's what happens with minimal staff.

[cpsteve]

Never tell anyone to f-off. Its no big deal answering your phone or calling in to keep your manager up to date on your illness they need to cover your job.

[SierraOscarBravo]

Never tell anyone to f-off. Its no big deal answering your phone or calling in to keep your manager up to date on your illness they need to cover your job.

Exactly. I like your common sense.

[Tman]

It's not really a problem as it doesn't actually happen.

It's the old third party keyboard action again, namely "YOU tell him to eff off", which is something the poster would have no intentions of ever doing himself were he in that situation.
That said, being phoned on a daily basis is outrageous. Can't the O/P turn off the ringer or just leave the ansaphone switched on?

[cpsteve]

It's not really a problem as it doesn't actually happen.

It's the old third party keyboard action again, namely "YOU tell him to eff off", which is something the poster would have no intentions of ever doing himself were he in that situation.
That said, being phoned on a daily basis is outrageous. Can't the O/P turn off the ringer or just leave the ansaphone switched on?

Its not outrageous answering your phone is no hardship.

[aiden01]

It's not really a problem as it doesn't actually happen.

It's the old third party keyboard action again, namely "YOU tell him to eff off", which is something the poster would have no intentions of ever doing himself were he in that situation.
That said, being phoned on a daily basis is outrageous. Can't the O/P turn off the ringer or just leave the ansaphone switched on?

Its not outrageous answering your phone is no hardship.

so when your off ill for whatever reason ( maybe cancer) ( recovering from a heart attack) you will gladly like your manager to call you and ask are you available for work next day. or even if you are taking the piss a phone call everyday I would say is close as you can get to bullying you back to work..

[SierraOscarBravo]

It's not really a problem as it doesn't actually happen.

It's the old third party keyboard action again, namely "YOU tell him to eff off", which is something the poster would have no intentions of ever doing himself were he in that situation.
That said, being phoned on a daily basis is outrageous. Can't the O/P turn off the ringer or just leave the ansaphone switched on?

Its not outrageous answering your phone is no hardship.

so when your off ill for whatever reason ( maybe cancer) ( recovering from a heart attack) you will gladly like your manager to call you and ask are you available for work next day. or even if you are taking the piss a phone call everyday I would say is close as you can get to bullying you back to work..

Why be so dramatic about everything? All that is being said is there should be contact between the sick employee and the employer during a period of paid sick leave. It is NOT harrassment for an employer to phone an employee on sick leave to see how they are getting on and to establish when they anticipate returning to work. Employers have to cover the jobs of those on sick leave so they do need to know if they will or will not be in work. With serious illnesses, it is not likely that daily contact will be made but it is still important to maintain contact with your employer.

[bmccoll]

Phoning every day is a bit out, maybe after a day or two but depending on the illness. You have to remember that the line managers are also only employees and s**t tend to run downhill. If they have to staff to cover someone on sick, and that person then turns up ready for work, that means they have an extra body they didn't need and then they get their arses kicked. I also know for a fact that certain employees used sick absence as extra holidays.

[Interested-seeker]

It's not really a problem as it doesn't actually happen.

It's the old third party keyboard action again, namely "YOU tell him to eff off", which is something the poster would have no intentions of ever doing himself were he in that situation.
That said, being phoned on a daily basis is outrageous. Can't the O/P turn off the ringer or just leave the ansaphone switched on?

Its not outrageous answering your phone is no hardship.

so when your off ill for whatever reason ( maybe cancer) ( recovering from a heart attack) you will gladly like your manager to call you and ask are you available for work next day. or even if you are taking the piss a phone call everyday I would say is close as you can get to bullying you back to work..

Why be so dramatic about everything? All that is being said is there should be contact between the sick employee and the employer during a period of paid sick leave. It is NOT harrassment for an employer to phone an employee on sick leave to see how they are getting on and to establish when they anticipate returning to work. Employers have to cover the jobs of those on sick leave so they do need to know if they will or will not be in work. With serious illnesses, it is not likely that daily contact will be made but it is still important to maintain contact with your employer.

I see your point...but surely an ill employee will have a quicker recovery time if they aren't stressed about expecting daily phone calls from the managers. I understand that it is necessary for managers to affirm when staff are able to come back into work, but maybe a bit of empathy wouldn't go amiss....something like asking "how are you feeling?" first instead of going straight into "when can you come back to work?"

[worktotime]

tell them to f**k off , it doesn't matter whats wrong with you all sick is genuine and they shouldn't be ringing you everyday its harassment , you are entitled to a 7 days self cert sick note , and then if you still aren't fit to work go to docs and get a docs note . don't be pressured in going back to work if you aren't 100%. contact your rep.

It is not unreasonable for an employer to maintain contact during a period of paid sick leave. The employee needs to recover after sickness and during that period of recovery it is not at all "outrageous" or "disgusting" for both employee and employer to make daily contact to ascertain both the wellbeing of the employee and the likely date of return to work. Royal Mail like any employer does need to plan its staffing duties.

At the end of the day you simply cannot have a situation whereby any given employee can phone up sick and then say 'now don't bother phoning me or asking me to phone you....but keep on paying me sick pay for the next number of days/weeks/months etc. with no questions asked".

Yet again there is this deeply embedded culture among those who have been at Royal Mail more years than they can remember that they are 'owed' or 'deserve' to be mollycuddled and are 'entitled'.

I have sympathy for genuine sick abscence, but there are too many throughout Royal Mail who will too readily go sick because they can't be bothered to get out of bed after a long night of heavy drinking or they just can't be bothered full stop. For these people stopping sick pay for the first 3 days would soon shift their backsides into gear.

all sick is genuine and the person should be treated with respect , regardless if the dim cant manage the office with people off.

[SierraOscarBravo]

all sick is genuine and the person should be treated with respect , regardless if the dim cant manage the office with people off.

ALL sick is genuine???? So the bone idle, do the bare minimum type who phones in 'sick' because he is hung over from a heavy night of boozing should be treated with respect???? And according to you the fact that then leaves the office understaffed is the DOM's fault!

This is the kind of mentality that has corrupted Royal Mail through the years. We all know the current system is being abused by a significant minority. We need to deal with it and not see everything as some big conspiracy to 'harrass' you.

Once again, when you are on a period of paid sick leave, it is not unreasonable for an employer to maintain contact with the sick employee to establish their wellbeing and to have an indication of when they will return to work. Management cannot be expected to simply guess whether a sick employee might turn up to work tomorrow or not because a quick phone call to find out will be deemed 'harrassment' by the union militants.

No other employer would put up with this nonsense.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Personally when I am sick for only a few days then I contact the office every day as a matter of courtesy.

I also don't see Managers contacting me daily as being that intrusive, providing the approach used is supportive and done with some degree of empathy.

A Good example "Hi John, this is work, how are you today, any improvement"...... "Okay don't worry about work and I'll check in with you again on ....."

A Bad example "John, I am under pressure I need you back, are you fit"...... "bugger, oh well I'll have to sort it, we'll speak again tomorrow"


.... I have had both, and peoples nature being what it is I'd probably go back earlier for the Good example than I would for the Bad.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

all sick is genuine and the person should be treated with respect , regardless if the dim cant manage the office with people off.

ALL sick is genuine???? So the bone idle, do the bare minimum type who phones in 'sick' because he is hung over from a heavy night of boozing should be treated with respect???? And according to you the fact that then leaves the office understaffed is the DOM's fault!

This is the kind of mentality that has corrupted Royal Mail through the years. We all know the current system is being abused by a significant minority. We need to deal with it and not see everything as some big conspiracy to 'harrass' you.

Once again, when you are on a period of paid sick leave, it is not unreasonable for an employer to maintain contact with the sick employee to establish their wellbeing and to have an indication of when they will return to work. Management cannot be expected to simply guess whether a sick employee might turn up to work tomorrow or not because a quick phone call to find out will be deemed 'harrassment' by the union militants.

No other employer would put up with this nonsense.

What he is alluding to is the sickness procedure says "All absences should be treated as genuine", not that they all are of course.

Ps please try not to quote quotes of quotes it makes the threads hard to read. Personally, I just quote the pertinent points.

[Interested-seeker]

Personally when I am sick for only a few days then I contact the office every day as a matter of courtesy.

I also don't see Managers contacting me daily as being that intrusive, providing the approach used is supportive and done with some degree of empathy.

A Good example "Hi John, this is work, how are you today, any improvement"...... "Okay don't worry about work and I'll check in with you again on ....."

A Bad example "John, I am under pressure I need you back, are you fit"...... "bugger, oh well I'll have to sort it, we'll speak again tomorrow"


.... I have had both, and peoples nature being what it is I'd probably go back earlier for the Good example than I would for the Bad.

You speak good sense

[Alexei]

I called in sick a few weeks back with a sudden foot injury that occured that morning, said i will update with injury the following day. I got a message via SMS four hours later asking how my foot was, and if it was any better.

It's nice, and rather comforting knowing that the manager was looking out for my well being.