Sick days

[enay73]

Hi everybody,

I have got a question to ask, I am thinking to leave the job which I have now for another company. Because I do have too many problems with them, in the last couple of months I have been off for stress due their bad treatment towards me. Now I have been for another interview and they asked me how many sick days I have got. Unfortunately I couldn't say how many I did as I am sure I will loose this opportunity. My question is., do the present employer can disclose my total of sick days to the new employer? I mean is it a legal requirement to tell them or they cannot disclose it by law?
Any ideas?

Thanks
Enay

[Ell-enn]

Hi, it's quite usual for a new employer to write for a reference to your old employer, sometimes they send it by way of a form with certain questions - sick days is likely to be one of the questions.

Kind Regards

Ell-enn

[enay73]

I am sure the new employer will ask for my sick days, but my current employer is allow or not to disclose my sick days?
thanks
enay

[vixsta14]

The employer can disclose this information if asked - which is likely as they have not been given a figure. I would suggest that you find out your total sick days yourself and give your potential new employer the exact figure, this way you are showing them that you are an honest person. If you explain why you have had the sick days and what the issue has been then at least they can see that this would not be a reoccuring issue.

If you chose not to disclose the sick days yourself and the potential employer had to request these from your current employer there is always a chance that the amount of days could go against you. Especially as you wont have provided them yourself and wouldnt have had the chance to explain.

Hope this makes sense?

In a nutshell I think honesty is the best policy.

Good luck.

[Sidewinder]

In the many references which I have been asked to provide, it is very unusual for the new employer not to ask how many days sick the employee has had (usually in the past 12 months).

If the old employer is asked for this information, they will have to provide it, for to not do so may create a claim for negligence if the new employer based their decision to employ you on misleading information and you then proved to be unreliable or cause them financial loss through repeated absence. I agree with the above, and you really need to be honest and look for an opportunity to explain why the number of absences might seem high.