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Question about sickness and your rights
I am a 24 year-old married woman and I work for a software and data security firm.
I have recently been off sick with a heavy cold and fever. As I felt very unwell the night before I was first off sick, I informed my employer by e-mail that I would not be in the next day.
In reply, I received a very curt message saying he
"could not accept an e-mail the evening before, as this leaves no room for improvement by the morning, and is also technically a breach of your contract as you are obliged to call in on the morning you are ill."
My question is this: Am I correct in my understanding that in law, an employer is not allowed to harass an employee in this manner? Is my employer not on shakier ground than I am, sending this kind of message to me whilst ill, when I had contacted him (with a high fever) merely to give plenty of warning?
I should be grateful of any advice you may be able to offer.
Here's the answer we gave
Thank you for contacting askcab about your employment problem.
At the present time there is no law that specifies when and how you contact your company in the case of sickness.
Your actions would appear to have been more than reasonable even though they did not accord with the policies laid down by your company. Therefore, your manager was acting within the company’s policies
When it comes to harassment at work certainly the employer is not entitled to harass you but the manager could argue that they were not harassing you but were only reminding you of company policies.
Equally many companies have a sickness policy where managers will contact those who are off sick on a regular basis and will arrange for them to see an occupational health worker to ease their return to work. In addition to these actions many companies will invite those who have been off sick, even for a day, to a return to work interview.
Whilst your manager may have acted outside the spirit of the company’s sickness policy he was acting within a strict interpretation.
Disclaimer, Target Audience, Jurisdiction Last updated & checked: 24/03/2006