Being punished for being sick?

LegacyUser

Hey all,

I work as a project manager. I was sick for 2 and a half weeks, today was my first day back. My boss, at the end of the day, sent me an IM asking me if I was going to be sick again, or if it was a one off episode. He then advised me that he wants me to hand over a number of my projects to colleagues (as yet unnamed) in our UK office, to concentrate on just Irish projects (we're multi-sited). He then went on to tell me how the 3 projects are way behind on work, and implied strongly that we as a company did not bid for a tender of work due to my absence.

It strongly feels to me that I'm being viewed in a complete negative light as a result of me being sick. It was a very busy time, but equally it could not be avoided.

My boss has form on this, and it does feel like he's coming down on me. He's arranged a follow up meeting tomorrow to discuss further.

Just wondering what people think. Am I being paranoid? Or is it totally unfair to ask someone about their absences and whether or not I was planning on being sick again. Any suggestions on how to deal with this?

dennyk

It's not unreasonable for your boss to want to know in a general sense if the company may need to plan for additional absences if you anticipate needing them due to an ongoing medical issue (though trying to pry into specific details would not be appropriate, of course).

Reassigning your projects could be reasonable as well. Your employer can't retaliate against you for taking sick leave, but if the projects are being reassigned for a legitimate business reason (e.g. there are more or better qualified staff on the UK team to help speed along a project that's behind, or the company is moving towards a more localized project management approach in general by having teams in each country manage their own projects), that wouldn't generally be retaliatory. If the reassignment is atypical, though, and appears to be done as some sort of punishment for you specifically due to your sick leave, that could be an issue. What is the impact on your job from this reassignment? Is it leaving you short of work to do, or hurting your chances at a bonus or promotion?

Implying that your absence resulted in the company turning down a client isn't appropriate, I would say; illnesses do happen and it's the employer's responsibility to have sufficient staff in place to carry the load during the occasional absence of any team member. Putting the blame on a staff member who was out for a legitimate illness isn't fair to them. How does your company normally handle absences for illness or annual leave? Do you typically have a backup PM on your projects who's kept up to speed and can take over for the primary PM while they're out? If not, maybe this is a practice you could suggest to your boss as a way to ensure that all projects continue to run as smoothly as possible even when people are occasionally absent. If work on a project simply ceases whenever the PM isn't around, that's a terribly inefficient system and these sorts of delays and problems are simply inevitable.

Tenigate

Illnesses happen. But project manager roles are best suited to people who don't get sick around project deadlines. It sounds like a silly thing to say, but it's true. Some people don't get sick as often as others, and some wait til after a project deadline to "crash".

_Brian

If for a minute you look at it from the company perspective, if your unplanned absent from work, your work goes undone, this has an impact and particularly in a business with a strict deadline this can have a big impact, often financial penalties occur for missed deadlines. It’s not inappropriate to remind employees of this at all.

I don’t see anything inappropriate in what your employer has done here.

I would start to question if different employees are treated differently but OP implies that this has happened before.

We all get sick from time to time, it has an impact, more in some jobs than others but that can’t be helped. But if your in a job where your absence causes delays and possible deadline misses then you can expect employers to react more seriously as a result.

While it’s inappropriate to have formal action over absence, if however as a result you miss deadlines, projects fall behind etc, this can be reason to move and employee onto a PIP - it would be over the work missed rather than the absence.

Wanderer2010

Sending that instant message saying "Are you going to get sick again?" was not only unprofessional but actually stupid. I presume you cant see the future, OP? Employers who have a problem with you being sick now and then are a big red flag to how they view you.

_Brian

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

Sending that instant message saying "Are you going to get sick again?" was not only unprofessional but actually stupid. I presume you cant see the future, OP? Employers who have a problem with you being sick now and then are a big red flag to how they view you.

Couldn’t have made a more ignorant statement and as you say unprofessional to do this via IM rather than face to face or if it’s out of the country a phone call at least.

However, if approached professionally there would be no reason an employer couldn’t enquire if there was an underlying health problem that was likely to lead to more unscheduled absence, both from the perspective of protecting the business but also to understand if the employer could help with working hours or workload etc.

Wanderer2010

_Brian wrote: »

Couldn’t have made a more ignorant statement and as you say unprofessional to do this via IM rather than face to face or if it’s out of the country a phone call at least.

However, if approached professionally there would be no reason an employer couldn’t enquire if there was an underlying health problem that was likely to lead to more unscheduled absence, both from the perspective of protecting the business but also to understand if the employer could help with working hours or workload etc.

The thing is, "help" with workloads etc is just a sound piece. In reality, if an employer says they are concerned about your health and want to help with hours, its code for "I don't think you are up to the job and you wont get any promotions here because you got sick". All but the most naïve would see it that way. God help you if you feel you cannot get sick because of a company that makes profit at all cost, over employee welfare etc.

People get sick. It happens. If you get punished for being sick, you are in the wrong job and I would advise anyone in that situation to look around for another job.

_Brian

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

The thing is, "help" with workloads etc is just a sound piece. In reality, if an employer says they are concerned about your health and want to help with hours, its code for "I don't think you are up to the job and you wont get any promotions here because you got sick". All but the most na would see it that way. God help you if you feel you cannot get sick because of a company that makes profit at all cost, over employee welfare etc.

People get sick. It happens. If you get punished for being sick, you are in the wrong job and I would advise anyone in that situation to look around for another job.

Particularly in companies that employ ranking and rating loss of contribution through absence can impact the annual outcome including missed promotions and reduced pay increases.

judeboy101

OP, save that IM, it'll be worth its weight in gold down the line. How does your company deal with maternity absences? Or sudden deaths?

irelandrover

How did the company treat other sick leave that you had? How does it treat sick leave that others had?

As a manager I'd expect someone that was off sick for 2.5 weeks to be off sick again in the future as I'd expect something that lasts that long to reoccur. If you broke a bone or something then obviously thats not a reoccuring issue. But as a manager I would be looking to protect my more important projects and not putting the project manager who is possibly going to spend long periods off sick on them.

judeboy101

irelandrover wrote: »

How did the company treat other sick leave that you had? How does it treat sick leave that others had?

As a manager I'd expect someone that was off sick for 2.5 weeks to be off sick again in the future as I'd expect something that lasts that long to reoccur. If you broke a bone or something then obviously thats not a reoccuring issue. But as a manager I would be looking to protect my more important projects and not putting the project manager who is possibly going to spend long periods off sick on them.

So excluding all women of child bearing age?

irelandrover

judeboy101 wrote: »

So excluding all women of child bearing age?

Women who have children are generally able to warn you a few months in advance that they will be off, so no.

Because then the absence can be planned for. They dont get projects that have important deadlines in the months they are off, they get projects that have important deadlines in the months they are present.

judeboy101

irelandrover wrote: »

judeboy101 wrote: »

So excluding all women of child bearing age?

Women who have children are generally able to warn you a few months in advance that they will be off, so no.

Because then the absence can be planned for. They dont get projects that have important deadlines in the months they are off, they get projects that have important deadlines in the months they are present.

Generally, but not always. So why should op be treated differently to a woman who may have unexpected complications e.g. Morning sickness, bleeds etc .

irelandrover

judeboy101 wrote: »

Generally, but not always. So why should op be treated differently to a woman who may have unexpected complications e.g. Morning sickness, bleeds etc .

The OP was off for 2,5 weeks. They were asked when they returned if it was likely they would be out sick again. That is different to not hiring someone of child bearing age. One is based on a history with a person and the other on a hypothetical situation that could happen.

If I had a woman in my company that had a very difficult pregnancy and missed a lot of time then that happens. But if she got pregnany again I would be very wary of giving her an important account for the duration of her pregnancy.

B.A._Baracus

Asking if you plan on being sick again definitely shows a lack of faith (or giving you the rub) about things. It's not a normal thing to ask.
You wouldn't know whats at play here. Your boss could have went to your team and asked what is the story with being behind. Then you got shafted by your team. Shifting the blame to you being sick and off etc. You know yourself as no-one takes the rap and far easier to shift the blame. This would explain why things were said to you. My two cents.

As for going forward? Take it on the chin now and see where things go.

doolox

I remember many years ago a close friend of mine worked for a large Irish company as a middle manager and some of his colleagues acquired various serious health problems and as a result were edged out of the company because of senior management fears of future unreliability and loss of performance in the colleagues. My friend made a move to a smaller company but a higher grade job as a result of fears that a similar thing would happen to him. Years later he also acquired a serious health problem but made a full recovery thanks to the support of his family and his company colleagues in his new company.

Bullet dodged.

Another friend of my wifes also had a similar health problem and his company backed him all the way. He made a full recovery but with some limitations in his health and diet but is well disciplined to handle the limitations. He got a promotion in his job and is doing very well and is very committed to the company because of their support for him during his illness.

Chose you employers well.