holidays /vacation

I will be working for the government in England and from reading the work policies, it does sound like using sick time is frowned upon. There are "trigger points" for having "a sickness monitoring meeting." These meetings occur on the 4th occasion of being absent within a 12 month period or when you have been absent for 7 or more consecutive days within a 12 month period. I don't know if this is standard for all government work, or specific to the Council I will be working for.

This is quite different from my government job here in the US in which I get approximately a day a month for sick leave.

I would like to hear from those who have a limited sick leave policy, such as the one mentioned above, in their work place and how you deal with it.  I must admit it freaks me out a bit to think that I can only get sick once every quarter!

Cheryl

It depends on where you work. At my last company, you started off with two weeks, and after five years you got four weeks vacation. Somewhere in the middle you got three weeks vacation, but I don't remember how long you had to have worked.

My company also gave parenting leave (for both moms and dads) at full pay, and then additional time off at half pay. The amount of time depend on how long you worked, but I believe you could get as much as 6 months off at full pay. They also gave you a very large amount of money if you adopted a child.

We also got 10 sick days a year and four personal days.

i worked for a top global bank

we got 15 days holiday plus 4 'personal' days to be used for dr.s appts and stuff.....actually we just used them as vacation.

My company didn't give any sick days. You had 3 weeks paid leave and it was up to you how you used it. If you took 21 days of vacation, then you'd better hope you didn't get sick! Fortunately for me, I'm generally pretty healthy, so it wasn't usually a problem. But other people did run into difficulties. If it was a long-term illness, there was some sort of RI gov't program that would pay you a portion of your salary while you were off -- I actually did use that once when I had mono. But aside from that, you were pretty much screwed.

I work for a L.A Cheryl and am very familiar with the policies you mention- they also seem to change them at will and not properly inform people where I work.  It used to be you can self-certificate up to 7 days and then you need a medical certificate. Now, it is the first 3 days. Once you do hit triggers of their determined policy, they send you to the Occupational Health Dept (supposedly an independent medical evaluation, but as the L.A pay their bills and work for them, I fail to see how this is "independent" or impartial.

I suffer from a condition that causes some swelling around my brain/spinal cord/back of eyes and I get horrific headaches from extra pressure (think bad migraines + 3), pain that is indescribable to some people and I also experience vision disturbances and so on, so I have exhausted our sickness absence policy to the max and have been put through various monitoring periods because I hit the "headache" trigger very quickly in any period (duh).  However, much to my employers disappointment there is nothing that they can do- I am covered by the DDA in this instance and I regularly satisfy OHD evaluations and mostly control this thing with medication- doesn't mean they don't stop going after me though! It's caused a great deal of stress to me over the last few years as it's ongoing, but my view is that as long as the sickness is genuine and you are properly certificated and your normal performance is above reproach, there won't be a problem.

I have had to argue that although I have time off for the above, I don't get "usual" illnesses like some people do generally speaking, like a bad back or colds & the flu  and as they agree that they cannot fault my performance, time-keeping, motivation etc, they have to act under the Capability Procedure which is another policy altogether.  In my case I have successfully argued for my sick time to be a percentage of "normal illnesses" and "my condition related illnesses" which they put at 25 days p/a- I made sure to get this in writing!

The big problem with local gov. is that unless a specific circumstance fits into their policy, they kinda lose their heads and forget to think outside of the box sometimes, you would think with the number of employees they have they would figure this problem out, but that seems Waaaaay beyond their remit!

Sheril.

One thing that I have noticed is that now that I'm searching for a job, employment agencies ask me to fill out forms regarding my medical history.   In the US, this would be an illegal invasion of privacy. You don't have to tell anyone about any physical ailments unless you are requesting special accommodation, such as wheelchair access or the use of a sign-language interpreter.

One thing that I have noticed is that now that I'm searching for a job, employment agencies ask me to fill out forms regarding my medical history.   In the US, this would be an illegal invasion of privacy. You don't have to tell anyone about any physical ailments unless you are requesting special accommodation, such as wheelchair access or the use of a sign-language interpreter.

Oh that's interesting. Here, if you fail to disclose something in your application form that later becomes an issue (eg: depression and taking anti depressants) this can be held against you later in some cases here.  I was diagnosed shortly after being taken on permanently and I know they went right back to my application form to see if I had pre-disclosed certain information.

If in doubt, disclose it is what I now say, but I was loathe to at the time, especially about something as personal as depression. I also will not discuss depression in any of the meetings I have with them as they are not qualified to make any assessments on any mental health needs or previous issues in my book.  Depression is also covered under the DDA.

I just registered with an agency and had to tell them what meds I'm on. I carry an inhaler for asthma which I never use, it's just for emergencies which I never have; my asthma is barely noticeable. In the margin of the form, I squeezed in the fact that I never need my inhaler and my asthma is very mild, because I'm afraid they might think that I'll have breathing difficulties and need to be hospitalized, like people with severe asthma.

I also wrote that I'm on birth control pills. Is that really their business?

New-Dawn, I don't understand: if you were diagnosed with depression after you were hired permanently, how could you have mentioned it on your application before you were hired?

New-Dawn, I don't understand: if you were diagnosed with depression after you were hired permanently, how could you have mentioned it on your application before you were hired?

Depression was a separate condition/an example to the condition I was diagnosed with after commencing employment- sorry, I can see how it looked that way reading it back.

My employer used to allow us to work from home is our kids were sick, but we have new management now and they are trying to stop it.  I was out most of a month between DS having a stomach bug and then pink eye.  He couldn't goto day care, and the let me work from home.  I don't know what I'm going to do next time he get sick.

I just registered with an agency and had to tell them what meds I'm on. I carry an inhaler for asthma which I never use, it's just for emergencies which I never have; my asthma is barely noticeable. In the margin of the form, I squeezed in the fact that I never need my inhaler and my asthma is very mild, because I'm afraid they might think that I'll have breathing difficulties and need to be hospitalized, like people with severe asthma.

I also wrote that I'm on birth control pills. Is that really their business?

No, contraceptive choices clearly wouldn't be anyone's business but your own.  I have heard of agencies asking about medications before for things like asthma and epilepsy, conditions that might make both of you vulnerable.

My employer used to allow us to work from home is our kids were sick, but we have new management now and they are trying to stop it.  I was out most of a month between DS having a stomach bug and then pink eye.  He couldn't goto day care, and the let me work from home.  I don't know what I'm going to do next time he get sick.

Look into any potential rights you may have under FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) -- although it might mean you have to take unpaid leave.  In the US, I thought the FMLA was a godsend!  For the last year or so I was there, I used virtually ALL of my annual paid sick days from my last job on trips to look after & check on my elderly & ailing mother -- getting her into a nursing home, checking on her, etc.  When the employer thought they ought to hassle me over taking the sick days (that I had earned anyway according to 'company policy') -- there was absolutely nothing they could do to me (displinary-wise) because I had certified all of those days as being covered under FMLA.

My employer used to allow us to work from home is our kids were sick, but we have new management now and they are trying to stop it.  I was out most of a month between DS having a stomach bug and then pink eye.  He couldn't goto day care, and the let me work from home.  I don't know what I'm going to do next time he get sick.

Now to me, this makes perfect sense so long as the job can be done at home and it doesn't impact on any service provided, after all it also falls into the flexi working policies that most employers are trying to achieve to attain good work/life balance ~ however and this is a very different territory of discussion I am getting into I know, but the problem with this is that people abuse it and spoil it for the other people.  

I think this could be overcome ~ for example, providing evidence of medical attention sought (for something like pinkeye, which I believe is conjunctivitis to us? I will be corrected if I am wrong!) but one would see the Dr for that, thus generating  a paper trail if not a certificate (ie: a bill in the USA or a receipt for prescription in the U.K) so there was proof of the problem.

I have countless examples of people off sick for whatever reason and then they have been out doing things they really shouldn't be able to do if they can't come to work.  I feel bad for the genuine parents and the parents that dont have family around to help them out.

They asked if I was taking any medication, they didn't specify what kinds of medication or what medical conditions.

Another thing that I find big-brotherish is the way you are required to give employers in the UK your bank information. I was required to give this to temp agencies I registered with. What happens if you don't have a bank account?

In the US,  you can request that your checks be deposited in your bank account, if you want, but it's not required.  You aren't required to give your employer any information about your bank. You can cash all your checks at a check-cashing place and then hide all the money under your mattress, if you want.

I have to agree with you here, people should be able to be paid by cheque if they prefer it, but as all payments in the UK are usually bacs these days it's cheaper and easier for them.

I think they also like the proof that someone is somewhat settled and stable with a bank account in their own name.

I don't agree with a general policy of asking what medications someone is on, not when it can be covered other ways with questions like " overall, are you in good health to perform x,y,z" as a general statement you can then sign and then if there are any issues in the future with health, it's down to you to fight for what you believe was an intrusion on your privacy.