Attendance review procedure

[podstar]

Hi just wondered if anyone can help with a situation I am currently involved with in my office.I was off for 3 weeks in October last year following the death of my father and returned in November.On return to work I expected a stage 1 to be issued but my line manager said he has knocked it back due to it being a bereavement and my previous sick record being good (no other absences in the previous 12 months).In February of this year I was off 4 days with a flu virus and on return to work I was told I would now be going on a stage 1 because I had exceeded the standards as he would now take the bereavement absence into consideration.Im not sure where I stand on this? How can he not use the bereavement absence in the 1st instance but then use it against me months later? I have not read anything in the attendance standards documentation to say this is what happens.I would surely have been better off being issued the stage in November as I would be off the procedure after 6 months (may 2017) whereas now i will now have to go another 6 months from today before I will be clear.Anybody else had any experience with this type of situation?Thanks.

[rehabron]

Hi just wondered if anyone can help with a situation I am currently involved with in my office.I was off for 3 weeks in October last year following the death of my father and returned in November.On return to work I expected a stage 1 to be issued but my line manager said he has knocked it back due to it being a bereavement and my previous sick record being good (no other absences in the previous 12 months).In February of this year I was off 4 days with a flu virus and on return to work I was told I would now be going on a stage 1 because I had exceeded the standards as he would now take the bereavement absence into consideration.Im not sure where I stand on this? How can he not use the bereavement absence in the 1st instance but then use it against me months later? I have not read anything in the attendance standards documentation to say this is what happens.I would surely have been better off being issued the stage in November as I would be off the procedure after 6 months (may 2017) whereas now i will now have to go another 6 months from today before I will be clear.Anybody else had any experience with this type of situation?Thanks.

You are in a situation that other colleagues have encountered in relation to absences that are still extant in your case the 3 weeks is October for father's bereavement and although waived at the time by your line manager has now been reintroduced in the calculation of your absence record for formal stag1 prompt purposes. This is not well advertised in the Attendance procedure and in my opinion is an underhand way of management issuing stage warnings and not in the interests of fair justice. Your case is a bit tricky as your time of 3 weeks off for a bereavement of a close relative would have given you the right of 7 days off with full pay under special leave although it still leaves 2 weeks unaccounted for but you could have taken this extension through usage of any annual leave that was available if this had been mentioned. You could have had other domestic matters to be attended to following your family bereavement that required this amount of time off.
You need to take a union rep with you at your stage 1 meeting to argue your case in relation to mitigating circumstances and natural justice as the issue of a stage 1 is not mandatory.