My written Warning

[Emsiwemsi]

I recently submitted a question on my sick note, in which I got the answer that I expected. But in my disciplinary meeting it was a shock for my sick note to be not included.... In fact my Boss told me to ssshh when I mentioned it, as not to confuse you I will explain; I had a formal meeting 26/04/08 to dicuss my Unacceptable attendane record due to the following absences; 2nd January 08 - 16th Jan 08 (sicknote from my surgeon) 18th Feb (my son needed major eye surgery) 13 March (slashed all my hand open). My boss stated that I had a total of 16 absences. Then I had another disciplinary on the 8th Aug 08 due to unacceptable absences for ; 3rd June and 17th July 08 for which I recieved a verbal warning. I had no more absences until Jan 09 in which I called in sick on the 16th and returned to work until I was struck down with sickness and the runs on the 20th I returned to work on the 22nd. When I was filling in my return to work my boss stated to me that this could mean the loss of my job, I attended my disciplinary on the 6th Feb 09 and my boss was holding the meeting while another store manager was taking notes. The guy who was taking notes said to my Boss we need to see all absences within the last year, my boss looked through my file and started to tell him of the dates, I ssaid dont forget my sick note, my boss turned to me and said SSSHHH!! which by the way was not in sight of the other manager,. We adjorned as there was a disagreement between the pair of them. On returning he read aloud the days in which I had had off , which only amounts to 6. Company policy clearly states after 3 absences you may be subject to discaplinary proceedures (managers discression if pattern is forming etc) So why was my sick note not included this time. Surely If it wasnt in this one why have I got to such a far stage as a written warning, please advise getting very confused

[buildersmate]

I have no idea why your boss would wish to exclude a recent absence in the disciplinary review - even less as to why you'd choose to remind him.
Just to be clear about this, discplinary proceedings are initiated after a combination of occasions of absence, coupled with the total number of days. 6 occasions of one day each (especially if on a Monday) are often regarded in a worst light than one occasion of 6 days' duration.
Different company policies vary - provided the policy is applied consistently across all employees and does not disciminate generally accross one group (pregnent women, say).
Also sickness is one of the reasons for absence - it isn't 'special', and if absence one cannot do one's job. Therefore all absence - sickness, authorised LoA and unauthorised are typically lumped together in counting the number occasions.
Since you've had 6 occasions in the last year and the trigger point for your company was 3, you are fortunate not to have been disciplined before. Maybe your boss was being kind to you. Maybe he should have taken action before and failed to. Maybe that's why he didn't want his boss to realise that there was yet another absence to add to the stack prior to him initiating action.

[factor-fiction]

I agree with Buildersmate that including the extra absence would have made things worse for you. The fact that it was covered by a sick note isn't important- the employer is not disputing the genuineness of your absences, he's just saying the level is unacceptable so it's a capability issue.

However after reading your question several times I think the query you have is that if you received a verbal warning at a disciplinary hearing in August 08 and then as far as the company is concerned you have had no further absences (given that your boss is keeping quiet about the latest absence), why are they now holding a further disciplinary hearing and considering a written warning. Is that your question?

[Emsiwemsi]

Yes it is. Thankyou

[dot.hawkes]

I think that you are being unfairly treated, how is 6 days unreasonable if you had a sick note, which you donlt need for the first 7 days of any continuous sickness anyway? what sort of tin pit conpany are you working for that allows this sort of meeting to go ahead, who was your witness? if you didn;t have one then it was an informal meeting. Don't take this from them and ask for another meeting where you can go for a grievance, people's jobs are so precious now and these guts can't play with people's minds, they are amateurs and don't know what they are doing.
Soz Buildersmate and factor but it stinks

[buildersmate]

You misunderstand, Dot.
Having a sick note does not absolve an employee from a duty to deliver his/her side of the contract. I accept that if one is sick, one cannot work but an employees job is to deliver work for one's employer. If one is constantly away because of sickness or other absence, an employer is perfectly within its rights to consider disciplinary action which may lead to dismissal on capability grounds. You may think it stinks but that is how the law looks at it in relation to unfair dismissal.
Gone are the days (thank goodness) when employees believed they had x days holidays and y days 'sickies' to take off annually as if they were an extension to one's leave.
What does differ is the rigour by which different organisations seek to invoke the law in relation to unfair dismissal.

[yecats2885]

it doesnt matter if you have a sick note or not your employer can still go through disciplinary if it breachs your contract of amount of days sick.
i know it sucks if its a genuine illness but totaly legal

[Emsiwemsi]

It really does stink, I cant have any sick days off in the next 52 weeks, which I cant say that I will, I have 3 kids what if something happend to them, The policy is crap!!
But I do understand it and take full responsibilty for it. Thats just the way it goes!!! Thankyou for your help everyone