Going to the races while on sick leave.

[Brendan Burgess]

But if you don't bring it up, you would not be able to bring it up later.

If you were in front of the WRC and they heard that someone had completed a park run while on sick leave, even if the law is clear, the human being hearing that would probably think that the employee was a chancer.

Brendan

 

[ryaner]

But if you don't bring it up, you would not be able to bring it up later.

If you were in front of the WRC and they heard that someone had completed a park run while on sick leave, even if the law is clear, the human being hearing that would probably think that the employee was a chancer.

Brendan

It would really really depend on WHY they were off sick. Not all sickness is physical and there are many jobs where being mentally incapacitated, even slightly, you are just better not being there. Lots of different medications can cause that effect.

 

[Deiseblue]

Different times , I broke my wrist badly whilst playing football on a Saturday and after a sojourn in A & E I duly turned up for work on the following Monday wearing a cast .
I was advised to absent myself from the office , for Health and safety reasons, until the cast came off which due to the complexity of the break took 3 months and a number of replacement casts.
Apparently the reason for being sidelined was that in the event of a fire I would find it difficult to make my out of the building whilst handicapped by my injury.
I really enjoyed that summer !

 

[Salvadore]

It would really really depend on WHY they were off sick. Not all sickness is physical and there are many jobs where being mentally incapacitated, even slightly, you are just better not being there. Lots of different medications can cause that effect.

That’s really the point. It’s the relationship between the nature of the illness and the work that can’t be done because of it that matters.

There’s nothing wrong per se in monitoring publicly-available social media to support disciplinary action but it needs to provide usable evidence.

If you’re out with say a chest infection and you’re pictured doing the Hokey Cokey outside copper’s, you don’t really have much of a defence if you get your collar felt on your return.

On the other hand, if you’re out with stress and you’re pictured in say a restaurant, it might be harder to support the accusation that someone is swinging the lead.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

If you’re out with say a chest infection

On the other hand, if you’re out with stress

But that is one of the points which has been made here - the doctor does not specify the illness on the cert. and apparently the employer is not allowed to ask.

So don't tell your employer what is wrong with you and then there will be no restrictions at all on what you can do during your sick leave.

Brendan

 

[Gordon Gekko]

There are two main aspects to this though:

1) The legal position

2) The practical position

Legally, it appears that I can’t fire someone for doing what the OP has done, although I’d question that, as in the UK case law a guy was fired on the basis of dishonesty for going to the pub while on sick leave. He won his case, but that seems to have been on the basis of the process and the documentation not being up to scratch.

The second is the ‘real world’ position. Something like this is a major black mark against the person, and is likely to cost them in terms of promotion and pay over the longer-term. Such behaviour comes across as dishonest, lazy, uncommitted, and brazen. It would depend on the broader picture, but it sounds like a recipe to manage the person out.

 

[T McGibney]

..., as in the UK case law a guy was fired on the basis of dishonesty for going to the pub while on sick leave. He won his case, but that seems to have been on the basis of the process and the documentation not being up to scratch.

In any situation where someone is sacked on a presumption of dishonesty because they went to a pub, you can take it as a given that the process was compromised as there is only a subjective and tenuous connection between going to the pub and being dishonest.

I agree with your wider point.

 

[Leo]

But if you don't bring it up, you would not be able to bring it up later.

If you were in front of the WRC and they heard that someone had completed a park run while on sick leave, even if the law is clear, the human being hearing that would probably think that the employee was a chancer.

Brendan

Exactly. you should never bring up someone not showing up to work while on medical leave at any stage. It's a clear own-goal unless you have medical evidence that they were fit to work at the time. Good luck getting a doctor to provide that after the fact based on speculation.

The WRC know they're not in a position to second guess the doctor's advice. That's not their role, and they focus on the fairness of the procedures and evidence presented. Medical certs never go into full details of the condition or the reason that someone was certified as unfit to work, and so the WRC can't assume that they were fit in the absence of conflicting medical evidence.

Perhaps exercise was recommended as part of their recuperation and recovery, and so completing a park run might be perfectly reasonable. The nature of most people's work is not directly comparable to completing a run, and so simply completing such an event isn't evidence they are fit to perform their duties to the full.

We've had a few cases over the years where we had suspicions or where people were moving from short term illness to our long-term cover, and referred staff to the company doctor for assessment. In those cases the company doctor would only ever state whether they were fit to work at time of assessment, and not retrospectively.

 

[Purple]

@twofor1, this thread seems to be about the difference between what's right and what's legal.
Legally you can go to the races while on sick leave but it's not the right thing to do and reflects badly on your character and integrity so don't be upset if you are judged accordingly if you are spotted there.