Thread: Sons disciplinary for being sick

Hi, hope someone can help,
my teenage son works in a cash and carry and last sunday was injured during a football match.he went to A/E , they advised him to not go to work and after a visit to the hospital last friday he was given a medical certificate for 2 weeks and told not to go back to work as the nature of his job would aggravate his recovery.[He has a broken arm, in a sling]

my son went into work to tell his manager who persuaded him to stay and help out as they were short staffed!
after a few hours sons arm was painful so he told his boss and he left work.
son has been told he will have a disciplinary when he returns to work and he has to ring on monday to inform his boss if he can go to work!

I am furious with the way son has been treated as this is not the first time he will have had a disciplinary for being sick,he had one before when he had a certificate for tonsillitus.

my son did go to work last week and did reception duties but was told by the doctor it made his arm worse as his right arm is injured[ he is right handed]my son is afraid of his boss and worried about losing his job as if he has 3 disciplinarys he will be sacked.....

what i would like to know is can his boss legally do this,can someone have a disciplinary when they have a certificate?
is there anything we can do legally,as my son is suffering from stress with the worry of this.I consider that he is being threatned and intimidated by his manager.

any advice gratefully received
thank you

NCVO - About askNCVO - Resources, information and advice, helpdesk genuineness (or otherwise) of the sickness doesn't come into it. It's the number of absence events and their individual lengths that drives this. Under your employment contract, you are offering to work for your employer and you get something in exchange (a salary package). If an individual keeps being unavailable for work - for whatever reason - the employer may use the disciplinary process to investigate your absence and set a plan with you to improve it. A period of monitoring then occurs. if the individual fails to hit the plan, the disciplinery process then may be escalated. Eventually the individual can be (fairly) dismissed on the grounds of capability. In other words the individual is not capable of delivering to the employment contract.
Individual circumstances mean that each case must be taken on its own merits - but an employer must unsure a fair process, and set a reasonable plan.
If you are genuinely ill, then you cannot work. But that doesn't change the fact that it is impacting your capability to do your work.Hope it works out for your son.The link explains things.Keep posting.

Sorry sent wrong link-back in mo.

Trades Union Congress - know your rights - you're not alone

Thanks Tawny Owl
I shall have a look at the links you gave, I understand what you are saying but it still seems unfair and my son has been put under pressure to return to work against the consultants advice which is making him stressed.
He would much rather be at work earning money rather than receiving sick pay but thats the situation he is in at the moment AND has the worry of a disciplinary when he returns

may ask for more advice nearer the disciplinary
thanks

I agree with what you are saying.If it was my son i would feel exactly the same.Back in the 1970s when i was a lad- didnt seem such pressure about,broken arm-ok come back when youre ok.Times have changed.I was looking around and was really surprised to see how many firms have the policy of holding disciplinarys even with sick notes after several days.Different fast, cold, rigid every minute counts times now.Firms are working with just enough staff to cope-one down instant stress.Goodluck will keep watch on your thread.

Thanks for your comments tawnyowl,you are absolutely right about the way employers treat staff now.at my sons workplace
Only the other day the manager held a meeting and told the staff that if they dont work harder [they already give 100%] then he has a drawer full of completed application forms ready for new employees to take their jobs!l
It certainly does not promote a good working environment,no one is happy working there but its a job......

Son has to ring his boss every day with updates in the hope he will decide to return before the certificate expires.

Will keep posting with any updates.
milly

Originally Posted by milly5

the manager held a meeting and told the staff that if they dont work harder [they already give 100%] then he has a drawer full of completed application forms ready for new employees to take their jobs!l
It certainly does not promote a good working environment,no one is happy working there but its a job......

That sounds like a threat and threats are illegal in the workplace! In adiition that sort of threat coudl lead to constructive dismissal in which case the company would have to fork out compensation. It certainly does not sound like a nice place to work.

Hi Milly5-Sounds to me that this manager hasnt much training or experience.Sounds like possibly a young inexperienced manager.Probably im wrong. But thats really 2 things hes done now.1-Putting pressure on your son after returning from A@E-causing pain and 2-Threatening staff really and causing stress by the application form treatment-nice that one as youve witnesss.Feel someone maybe applying for his job soon if he carries on.Write down and keep a record of these incidents ,they may come in usefull later.I have got a feeling this manager isnt liked.Milly5 tell me is this cash and carry a one shop thing or part of a national chain of shops.Could get very interesting.Tawnyowl.

From what i understand, if your son has a sicknote for a period of time, he can't just go back to work before the sicknote runs out as he won't be covered by insurance. If he wants to go back early he has to get the doctor to 'sign him back on'.

IMO a manager such as him wouldn't get much co-operation where i work. My firm has certain morals and ethics which they must adher to, i know this doesn't help your son but some firms still try to do the right thing.

Thanks for your input surfer01,tawnyowl and itstheone,
the manager is fairly young,not sure what experience he has and hes definitly not liked.
I could name lots of comments he has made which could be construed as threatning,I will write everything down.
I dont really want to say any more about where my son works
will keep posting.
milly

Hi Milly i understand and respect your privacy i wasnt prying for the name of the shop just wondering if it was only a single shop in one town or part of a chain of shops Nationwide .Also how long has your son worked there.Thanks Tawnyowl.