Fired for absenteeism

scholar007

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2012/0529/1224316853767.html

Talk about achieving the impossible -

They must have torn the árse out of it entirely.

mikemac1

four-stage process: repeated warnings, letters, final warnings, but eventually it does reach the final stages

They were given every chance to get back on track


If they wanted out and didn't care why not go for redundancy when that was offered?

muppetkiller

Last September, the HSE’s Assistant National Director for Finance, Liam Minihan, said 1,100 HSE staff were out sick every day !!!!!
Sweet JEBUS !!!! No wonder the country is F%^ked

Sponge Bob

mikemac1 wrote: »

If they wanted out and didn't care why not go for redundancy when that was offered?

They got redundancy is why, the uniion sorted them out with their payments even though they were fired (or would have been had they not gone quietly with the cheque in the póca)

hondasam

If you can't be bothered to turn up for work then leave and let someone who wants a job have it.
It's time sick days were dealt with in the Civil/Public service. I know a few myself who are abusing the system and it get's on my nerves.

biko

Reminds me of the German guy that hadn't lifted a finger in 10 years.
Just went to work and sat on his arse for 8 hours every day.

Not a Galway city issue per se so moved to AH.

hondasam

Sponge Bob wrote: »

They got redundancy is why, the uniion sorted them out with their payments even though they were fired (or would have been had they not gone quietly with the cheque in the póca)

Did they? were they fired or did they resign? how can you get redundancy if you are fired?

seamus

There's one thing about just not wanting to work and claim from the state, but there exists a breed of person who wants a proper salary but doesn't want to do any work. It's definitely not confined to the public service, though the union policies in the PS often make it easier for these people to hide there because it's harder to fire them.

We had a guy working with us (private sector) who went gung-ho for the first few weeks, and then it eased off. At first it was just wandering off to remote parts of the buildings with hardware under his arms for a couple of hours to do nothing and then claiming that they were working. Then it turned into taking a 2-hour lunch (and hour sitting surfing the web and an hour eating and reading the paper), and eventually coming in 30 minutes late and leaving 30 minutes early.

When all that sitting around and doing nothing was too much hard work for him, it was a matter of a sick day here and there, "My granny has died", "I have a doctor's appointment", all the usual stuff. Then it became long-term sick leave with doctor's certs posted in from dogy doctors. After a couple of months he arrived back into the office and confessed to his colleagues that he'd actually gotten a job somewhere else but didn't like it so decided to come back to us. Turns out that was his usual routine - get a new job somewhere while sending in sick certs to the old place while he decided if he liked the new job or not.

He was eventually made redundant and was delighted with himself, whooping and cheering while everyone else was devastated.

I'd actually love to encounter him in an interview now just to see him squirm. Utter scumbag.

JONJO THE MISER

Sounds like a legend to me.

biko

biko wrote: »

Reminds me of the German guy that hadn't lifted a finger in 10 years.
Just went to work and sat on his arse for 8 hours every day.

Not a Galway city issue per se so moved to AH.

There's many a middle manager who has delegated all his work to his staff, to the point where they become invisible to the workflow.
In effect they get paid for doing nothing, just walk around with a clipboard or similar and pretend to be busy.

seamus

seamus wrote: »

There's one thing about just not wanting to work and claim from the state, but there exists a breed of person who wants a proper salary but doesn't want to do any work. It's definitely not confined to the public service, though the union policies in the PS often make it easier for these people to hide there because it's harder to fire them.

We had a guy working with us (private sector) who went gung-ho for the first few weeks, and then it eased off. At first it was just wandering off to remote parts of the buildings with hardware under his arms for a couple of hours to do nothing and then claiming that they were working. Then it turned into taking a 2-hour lunch (and hour sitting surfing the web and an hour eating and reading the paper), and eventually coming in 30 minutes late and leaving 30 minutes early.

When all that sitting around and doing nothing was too much hard work for him, it was a matter of a sick day here and there, "My granny has died", "I have a doctor's appointment", all the usual stuff. Then it became long-term sick leave with doctor's certs posted in from dogy doctors. After a couple of months he arrived back into the office and confessed to his colleagues that he'd actually gotten a job somewhere else but didn't like it so decided to come back to us. Turns out that was his usual routine - get a new job somewhere while sending in sick certs to the old place while he decided if he liked the new job or not.

He was eventually made redundant and was delighted with himself, whooping and cheering while everyone else was devastated.

I'd actually love to encounter him in an interview now just to see him squirm. Utter scumbag.

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

Sounds like a legend to me.

How does that phrase go...






Ah yes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxOEhc960Bc

snickerpuss

muppetkiller wrote: »

Last September, the HSE’s Assistant National Director for Finance, Liam Minihan, said 1,100 HSE staff were out sick every day !!!!!
Sweet JEBUS !!!! No wonder the country is F%^ked

Working with sick people does often mean you get sick. Also when you are sick yourself it may not be appropriate to come in and care for people with delicate immune systems. You're not sitting at a desk, you're caring for people.

(Disclosure: occasional HSE care assistant who gets no sick pay )

squod

Support services? Probably not directly employed by the HSE so. Probably cleaning contractors or something.

Jester252

How lazy do you have to be?

ball

I'm surprised it made the news. Someone got sacked for not doing their job. Should that not be normal?

Gingernuts31

Goes to show where there are sick pay scheme's in place, people will always be out sick and not all of them are genuine or even have sick notes from the doc if only off for 1 or 2 days. There is no sick pay scheme in place in my job or the wifes,and no one is ever out sick from my place. The wife has been out sick fair few times from work but always had a note and was genuinly sick. Work believed her cause she got sick while in work. This thing off, "I have a sore stomach I won't be in today, sorry". Sack them all to be f**ked.

antodeco

I don't know if it was just me, but I always felt guilty ringing in sick. Very rarely off sick, (maybe 3 days a year) but I always felt do horrible ringing in sick.

opinion guy

hondasam wrote: »

If you can't be bothered to turn up for work then leave and let someone who wants a job have it.
It's time sick days were dealt with in the Civil/Public service. I know a few myself who are abusing the system and it get's on my nerves.

Noone else will get these jobs there is a hiring freeze.

Now when they start firing management grades for absenteeism I will be impressed!

Littlehorny

So this is the HSE's idea of a "get tough policy", 2 people sacked this year, suffering **** i know there is alot of genuine people in the HSE but there is a alot of wasters to be cleared aswell.

humbert

What would be the most normal thing in the world for any company is national news in the HSE.


Tomorrows headline...middle management administrator pulls thumb our of arse and answers phone.

charlemont

seamus wrote: »

There's one thing about just not wanting to work and claim from the state, but there exists a breed of person who wants a proper salary but doesn't want to do any work. It's definitely not confined to the public service, though the union policies in the PS often make it easier for these people to hide there because it's harder to fire them.

We had a guy working with us (private sector) who went gung-ho for the first few weeks, and then it eased off. At first it was just wandering off to remote parts of the buildings with hardware under his arms for a couple of hours to do nothing and then claiming that they were working. Then it turned into taking a 2-hour lunch (and hour sitting surfing the web and an hour eating and reading the paper), and eventually coming in 30 minutes late and leaving 30 minutes early.

When all that sitting around and doing nothing was too much hard work for him, it was a matter of a sick day here and there, "My granny has died", "I have a doctor's appointment", all the usual stuff. Then it became long-term sick leave with doctor's certs posted in from dogy doctors. After a couple of months he arrived back into the office and confessed to his colleagues that he'd actually gotten a job somewhere else but didn't like it so decided to come back to us. Turns out that was his usual routine - get a new job somewhere while sending in sick certs to the old place while he decided if he liked the new job or not.

He was eventually made redundant and was delighted with himself, whooping and cheering while everyone else was devastated.

I'd actually love to encounter him in an interview now just to see him squirm. Utter scumbag.

That man needs his own thread were he can show us all how to perfect uselessness.

If he worked with me I'd make the lazy bastard earn his cash.

christmas2012

not something you want to be fired for

noxqs

Last time I rang in sick I had one foot in the grave (or so it felt like).

I would be disgusted to share a workplace with colleagues of such low work ethics and attitude. Its probably contagious, if no one cares and theres hardly any consequence, why even bother giving it any effort?

I'd claw my eyes out working in a place like that.

merengueca

I know several PS workers who count their sick day threshold (point at which they trigger managers attention) as part of their annual leave entitlement. These guys know the rules inside and out and make sure they take full advantage.

I took my first day off sick in 13 years working yesterday and still feel a bit guilty about it.

whatdoicare

I know a girl working in support services with the HSE who takes the absolute pi$$ when it comes to sick leave - I think in the whole time I've known her she's been out sick for maybe 75% of the year.
I remember being in a rage when I was in the city centre with her (back when I could stick listening to her) and she ran into a work colleague. The first thing she tells us is that she's out sick with her back - hasn't been to work in two months and won't be back until after the summer (this was just before Christmas) - with a big smug face on her!
She looked grand to me running around town with a load of bags! This of course leads to the girl I know and her work friend comparing illnesses and sick certs, like they were entitled to be off sick for most of the year!
I'm delighted to see this is all coming to an end!!:D

mikemac1

2,000 people in HR in the HSE

They should start firing themselves, that's a crazy amount

charlemont

Deleted User wrote: »

There's many a middle manager who has delegated all his work to his staff, to the point where they become invisible to the workflow.
In effect they get paid for doing nothing, just walk around with a clipboard or similar and pretend to be busy.

And interfere with productivity....Just to be doing something..

Bipolar Joe

Look at all the horses in this thread. They're just so high!

Raging_Ninja

I can understand nurses, doctors, etc having a higher rate of sick-leave. These people would work in hospitals etc and would be looking after people who are incredibly sick themselves. The last thing they want to do is infect somebody who is in intensive care or receiving treatment for cancer or something, whose immune systems have been destroyed and to whom a sniffle is a death sentence.

Like it or not, they are not working at a desk - most of us will gut through whatever sickness comes along. However, those environments have to be kept as close to sterile as possible in order to not kill people. You can't have sick people working if you want to ensure vulnerable patients' survival.

Where To

Bipolar Joe wrote: »

Look at all the horses in this thread. They're just so high!

Good job they're not HSE horses. They would all have vertigo.

BornToKill

seamus wrote: »

Then it became long-term sick leave with doctor's certs posted in from dogy doctors.

I normally call doggy doctors 'vets'.

BornToKill

scholar007 wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2012/0529/1224316853767.html

Talk about achieving the impossible -

They must have torn the árse out of it entirely.

A better one still?

"The Tribunal heard that on August 25, 2011 the complainant's trousers fell down in the respective office -- exposing his "bare buttocks"."

goose2005

snickerpuss wrote: »

Working with sick people does often mean you get sick. Also when you are sick yourself it may not be appropriate to come in and care for people with delicate immune systems. You're not sitting at a desk, you're caring for people.

(Disclosure: occasional HSE care assistant who gets no sick pay )

Odd, then, that actual doctors have a sick rate of less than 1% while those separated from patients by several walls are out all the time.

Victor

muppetkiller wrote: »

Last September, the HSE’s Assistant National Director for Finance, Liam Minihan, said 1,100 HSE staff were out sick every day !!!!!
Sweet JEBUS !!!! No wonder the country is F%^ked

There are 100,000 or so HSE staff. 1,100 equates to two sick days per person per year. Given that you don't want contagious staff in a hospital, 1,100 isn't too bad.

Paco Rodriguez

merengueca wrote: »

I know several PS workers who count their sick day threshold (point at which they trigger managers attention) as part of their annual leave entitlement. These guys know the rules inside and out and make sure they take full advantage.

I took my first day off sick in 13 years working yesterday and still feel a bit guilty about it.

Ah well done. A true role model. Everybody clap your hands...

the groutch

absenteeism rates of 4%+ are just ridiculous
it's obvious that they're treating sickdays like extra holidays, making sure to use them all.

I can count on one hand the number of days I've missed in 15 years, and would never "pull a sickie", I've got a little something called a conscience, something clearly missing in HSE employees.

merengueca

Paco Rodriguez wrote: »

Ah well done. A true role model. Everybody clap your hands...

Cheers, thanks. What a charmer you are...

Unrealistic

Victor wrote: »

There are 100,000 or so HSE staff. 1,100 equates to two sick days per person per year. Given that you don't want contagious staff in a hospital, 1,100 isn't too bad.

100,000 across the HSE but the 1,100 stat was for the western region only so you are comparing apples and oranges. It's actually 5000+ nationally. So, if you believe that "1,100 isn't too bad" I presume you will acknowledge that 5000+ is bad?
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/5000-hse-staff-still-call-in-sick-daily-at-cost-of-284m-a-year-3009898.html

tayto lover

the groutch wrote: »

absenteeism rates of 4%+ are just ridiculous
it's obvious that they're treating sickdays like extra holidays, making sure to use them all.

I can count on one hand the number of days I've missed in 15 years, and would never "pull a sickie", I've got a little something called a conscience, something clearly missing in HSE employees.

Don't forget the vast amount of people who never worked at all, not even one day, but still get paid by the Govt every week. They also get free Medical Cards, cheap homes and their children get free Education Grants, school books, uniforms etc.

Unrealistic

Unrealistic wrote: »

Victor wrote: »

There are 100,000 or so HSE staff. 1,100 equates to two sick days per person per year. Given that you don't want contagious staff in a hospital, 1,100 isn't too bad.

100,000 across the HSE but the 1,100 stat was for the western region only so you are comparing apples and oranges. It's actually 5000+ nationally. So, if you believe that "1,100 isn't too bad" I presume you will acknowledge that 5000+ is bad?
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/5000-hse-staff-still-call-in-sick-daily-at-cost-of-284m-a-year-3009898.html

On top of that your calculation of 1,100 equating to two sick days per year is wrong. It actually equates to four days. And the real number of 5000+ equates to eighteen sick days per employee per year. Still not 'too bad'?

woodoo

scholar007 wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2012/0529/1224316853767.html

Talk about achieving the impossible -

They must have torn the árse out of it entirely.

I'm a public servant and i am happy to see that dossers are getting sacked. There should be much more of it.

opinion guy

Raging_Ninja wrote: »

I can understand nurses, doctors, etc having a higher rate of sick-leave. These people would work in hospitals etc and would be looking after people who are incredibly sick themselves. The last thing they want to do is infect somebody who is in intensive care or receiving treatment for cancer or something, whose immune systems have been destroyed and to whom a sniffle is a death sentence.

Like it or not, they are not working at a desk - most of us will gut through whatever sickness comes along. However, those environments have to be kept as close to sterile as possible in order to not kill people. You can't have sick people working if you want to ensure vulnerable patients' survival.

Support Staff aren't nurses or doctors. They are porters, security, catering, stuff like that.
The nurses and doctors have the lowest rates of abseteeism of any employees in the country AFAIK - the doctors especially.
In fact TOO low - the nurses and doctors SHOULD be taking sick days when they are sick and they don't as there is no staff to replace them. Again more so the docs.

mikemac1

Nurses are no angels

According to the new Healthstat report, one in five general support staff at Louth County Hospital called in sick on any given day in February.

The survey found at the same hospital that 10 per cent of the 70 nurses were off sick on any day in the same month, with the overall absenteeism rates running at under 8 per cent.

In the Healthstat’s red, amber and green marking system, the hospital scored a red under absenteeism.

The survey found Louth County Hospital has the worst absenteeism rate among 32 hospitals evaluated, with rates at Cavan General Hospital and the Midland Regional Hospital at Portlaoise also in the bottom three.

Figures for the Midland Hospital show that absenteeism rates among “other patient and client care”at 14 per cent, with absenteeism among 258 nurses running at 8 per cent.

The overall absenteeism rate at Portlaoise was just under 8 per cent, with less than 2 per cent of that long term and a small amount of uncertified leave.

Figures for Cavan General Hospital show that absenteeism rates among its 316 nurses was running at 10 per cent, with 13 per cent of patient and client care staff off sick on any day.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2012/0508/1224315729332.html

8 to 10 per cent rate among nurses
Far too high

Zebra3

noxqs wrote: »

I'd claw my eyes out working in a place like that.

Would absolutely hate to work in a place like that. :eek:

Haven't had a sickday in four years. Boss actually thinks there's something wrong with me.

grizzly

seamus wrote: »

There's one thing about just not wanting to work and claim from the state, but there exists a breed of person who wants a proper salary but doesn't want to do any work. It's definitely not confined to the public service, though the union policies in the PS often make it easier for these people to hide there because it's harder to fire them.

We had a guy working with us (private sector) who went gung-ho for the first few weeks, and then it eased off. At first it was just wandering off to remote parts of the buildings with hardware under his arms for a couple of hours to do nothing and then claiming that they were working. Then it turned into taking a 2-hour lunch (and hour sitting surfing the web and an hour eating and reading the paper), and eventually coming in 30 minutes late and leaving 30 minutes early.

When all that sitting around and doing nothing was too much hard work for him, it was a matter of a sick day here and there, "My granny has died", "I have a doctor's appointment", all the usual stuff. Then it became long-term sick leave with doctor's certs posted in from dogy doctors. After a couple of months he arrived back into the office and confessed to his colleagues that he'd actually gotten a job somewhere else but didn't like it so decided to come back to us. Turns out that was his usual routine - get a new job somewhere while sending in sick certs to the old place while he decided if he liked the new job or not.

He was eventually made redundant and was delighted with himself, whooping and cheering while everyone else was devastated.

I'd actually love to encounter him in an interview now just to see him squirm. Utter scumbag.

That sounds like bad management as well though.

Doc Ruby

grizzly wrote: »

That sounds like bad management as well though.

Plus, its private sector. Who cares? My taxes aren't paying his wages. If a private sector company keeps on dead weight, someone will eventually come along and eat their lunch. And I don't need to purchase their products/services if I don't want to.

People get a lot more outraged, rightly, at public sector abuses because of both the priveleged and protected position they've managed to strongarm for themselves, and the fact that taxes taken in trust are being wasted.

flutterflye

Why are there so many martyrs against taking sick leave?
If you're sick, you take sick leave
You're not better than someone else if you haven't taken a sick day in 10 years or whatever - just means you weren't that sick in all that time, or could cope with it better than others.

mcmoustache

flutterflye wrote: »

Why are there so many martyrs against taking sick leave?
If you're sick, you take sick leave

I've been unfortunate over the past few years in that the days when I was too sick to work have coincided with holidays or weekends. If I was too sick to work or if I was coughing and spluttering mucous all over the place, I wouldn't think twice of pulling a sickie.

flutterflye wrote: »

You're not better than someone else if you haven't taken a sick day in 10 years or whatever - just means you weren't that sick in all that time, or could cope with it better than others.

Since I'm here, I may as well...
All other things being equal, healthy people are better than unhealthy people. How you can think otherwise, I have no idea.

hondasam

flutterflye wrote: »

Why are there so many martyrs against taking sick leave?
If you're sick, you take sick leave
You're not better than someone else if you haven't taken a sick day in 10 years or whatever - just means you weren't that sick in all that time, or could cope with it better than others.

Taking sick leave for every little ache and pain is ridiculous. There is no getting away from the fact civil and public servants take way too much leave.
I know people who are on leave for over a year but their jobs are still waiting for them.
Thankfully they are clamping down on it now and stopping increments if there is too much sick leave.
I appreciate if you are in hospital or sick you need to take time off but it's the same offenders all the time, they can't always be sick.

flutterflye

mcmoustache wrote: »

Since I'm here, I may as well...
All other things being equal, healthy people are better than unhealthy people. How you can think otherwise, I have no idea.

I'm going to just assume you're messing there, or that I have misinterpreted your meaning, so that I don't have to get into a debate right now!

mcmoustache

flutterflye wrote: »

I'm going to just assume you're messing there, or that I have misinterpreted your meaning, so that I don't have to get into a debate right now!

No, I wasn't messing. Healthy people are just better. If nothing else, they work more days than people who take more sick days.

They are also better for their families because they are around to help out more. They are better for their lovers because no-one wants to have sex with Snottery McSickerson. They are better at working for the tax payer because sick days cost the same as working days. They are better for their football clubs because they miss less games. They are better for their dogs because they take them for more walks. They are better for their band because they need to call off less gigs.

I could go on and on and on. Healthy people are just better. It's really simple. In fact I can't think of any way that a sick person could be better than an healthy person.