Taking a "sicky"

[Ihavenojob]

You ask your employer for a day off, they decline. On that day you call in sick, what would you expect your employer would do?

 

[Brigadier]

We've had staff call in sick on Monday, yet have been posting, on soshul media, a handful of hours before from raves.................

These were managers, or latterly promoted to management positions.

So, to answer your question, depends entirely on your employer.


In some places, the workers are the mugs.

 

[Odds]

I called in one fine monday morning and informed them i wasn't feeling up to it *cough-cough*...and probably wouldn't be in that day.
It would've been difficult, seeing as i was in Rotterdam for a Pink Floyd concert.

 

[cwhaley]

I did this when I was 19. I was having some friends over as my parents were away. I had asked for the Saturday off but was it was a busy pub, it got declined. I pulled a sicky and at about 9pm that night got a phone call on the landline -- answered but couldn't hear anybody on the other end of the line.

Got sacked the next day. Deserved it and taught me a valuable life lesson! (don't answer the phone past a certain time..)

 

[ReganAndCarter]

You ask your employer for a day off, they decline. On that day you call in sick, what would you expect your employer would do?

One of my golden rules when when I used to work for someone else many years ago [shudder], was if I had something really important coming up, especially at short notice, that needed a specific day off (eg. job interview) - never ask the boss if you can have a day off. If he refuses because poss too many other people away, you're screwed if you then have to take it as a sickie. Just take it as a sickie and you're guaranteed the day off for what you need to do.

 

[Odds]

One of my golden rules when when I used to work for someone else many years ago [shudder], was if I had something really important coming up, especially at short notice, that needed a specific day off (eg. job interview) - never ask the boss if you can have a day off. If he refuses because poss too many other people away, you're screwed if you then have to take it as a sickie. Just take it as a sickie and you're guaranteed the day off for what you need to do.

We had three 'floating' days during the year where you could take the day off - with pay! Happy days. You had to use them wisely, though, otherwise you had to be creative with your excuses. You've a limited number of relations you can reasonably bury in a calendar year, after all.

 

[pcaouolte]

You ask your employer for a day off, they decline. On that day you call in sick, what would you expect your employer would do?

Disciplinary action, probably leading to dismissal.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

Yeah, you can normally get a feel for what a workplace is like for things like short notice days off. If they're anti this sort of thing, as others have touched on, don't ask and pull the sicky, remembering to lie low i.e. no social media posting etc.

A bit OT but I have a mate who used to work for a guy, helped him build the business from scratch i.e. at the beginning it was literally the two of them. Fast forward a few years and the business had become quite successful and employed a dozen or so people. I can categorically say my mate is very work conscious, doesn't pull sickies etc. One day he was approx. 15 mins late after being delayed in traffic after going off his normal route to pick up a work colleague (young trainee who didn't drive.)

So bear all that in mind, helped build the business, reliable employee, had gone off route to pick up a colleague.

He got pulled into the office and was given a stern talking to for being late!

Needless to say he doesn't work there any more.

 

[Brigadier]

Years ago, our firm had an incentive scheme for staff to keep coming to work (whether they achieved much / anything while there though, another issue entirely).

Shopping vouchers, if you didn't have a day off sick in the year.

Problem was though (as I pointed out), the amount of shopping vouchers was less than a day's pay (£50, if I recall).

So, it was of greater benefit to the employee to call in sick, get a day off, and still be paid.

Scheme was dropped after a while.

 

[just pumps]

You ask your employer for a day off, they decline. On that day you call in sick, what would you expect your employer would do?

Make my life hell for the next week or two.

 

[Mottie]

My mates firm brought out a policy that single days off sick would not be paid but a week off would. You can guess how that backfired on them!

 

[blup]

People need the odd day off, there are always those who work much more efficiently and for longer hours that balance things out. Known many workers who swing the lead but are untouchable because they "fit in" with senior management. And many who add huge value to the organisation but are taken for granted.

Blup

 

[RandomGrinch]

On that day you call in sick, what would you expect your employer would do?

They would recalculate my 'Bradford Factor'...

Bradford Factor - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[cwhaley]

My mates firm brought out a policy that single days off sick would not be paid but a week off would. You can guess how that backfired on them!

I had something similar in my last pre-covid job. You were allowed three periods of sickness of up to five days in total. It didn't matter if you took one or five the period would still be counted as one instance. Everybody made the most of it!

You also had the option - at Easter - of taking the Friday and Monday as leave, or the Monday and Tuesday. We used to declare the Monday and Tuesday as our chosen days, but come in on Friday to test the waters. If none of the seniors were in (and they never were!) we'd go home and then enjoy a five day weekend. I don't feel bad as I used to start nearly two hours early every day.

 

[motorbiking]

Disciplinary, probably a warning. But I've known people get fired for taking holiday after the approval was declined. A tribunal would uphold that action (and frequently do).

Employer cannot unreasonably decline holiday requests, but apart from that its for them to approve or decline.