OH said not to attend work due to being Covid positive. Im facing a written warning

[Scrumpy11]

ULA

Sorry on late update, I regurned to work Monday.


Monday 22nd Jan 24:

My Return to Work, ('RTW') was postponed until a seniout manager was present.

Wed 24th Jan 24:

At 2200 I attended my RTW. Senior manager said I put forward an excellent case and he can see my point. To be honest, he glansed accross my documents with evidence, dismissing them withought consideration.

My absence will not be exemp from the Attendance Managment Programme ('AMP'). I will be issues a stage 1in-line with the AMP. This will take 18 months to clear if no further absence. I am to appeal once my stage one is issued later tonight.

My absence is to be classed as unauthorised. dispite occuptional health instructing me not to attend work in-line with my companys Covid-19 procedure.

Managers are instructed to send employees home if they become aware of an employee testing posative. This is also not AMP exemp.

I have questioned the conflicting policies and the fact my absence should be classed as Authorised.

To be honest, I dont hold my breatb regarding any appeal. My company makes the rules up as it goes along.

I am also looking at bringing grievance ls against OH, HR or instructing me not to come to work, kniwing thst I would be disciplined. Further to this, im thinking of issuing a grievance against my company for the conflicting policies.

I will redact files and attach them for you to look at,when I get chance.

I appreciate any assistance you maybe able to offer.


Kind regards


Stevieb

[Scrumpy11]

It appears management is unsure of how my absence is to be recorded. They reqlised they cannot record my absence as unauthorised, so now they are looking on Authourised - sick. Surely if Authourised then I cannot be discaplined. Further to this, why dispite letters are they not looking at the conflicting policies?

I will upload documents and policies tomorrow.

[Scrumpy11]

I have just recieved this from the Union. This is tbe companys policy on Covid-19 absence. The image was taken from the peoples portal of which I do not have access.

[ULA]

That image does state very clearly that a covid absence does form part of absence management. Without having a look at any absence management policy it is hard to comment. I will wait until you upload them.

[Scrumpy11]

ULA I have emailed my companys policy to the legal begals email, for the attention of you.

I understand the the fact that covid is now amp aplicable. However, what I dont understand is how can a company have a policy in place which contradicts itself?
Am employee is not given the option to attend work one trsted possative for covid. If the employee attends work then he will be sent home. Eitherway, the employee will be discaplined in-line with the AMP.

The same guidemce states:

"Effective of 03rd May 2023, the Attendace Managment Procedure will consider covid-19 absence similar to any other respitory infection, (e.g. Flu.) As such the Attendance Managment Procedure will return to the guidance in place prior to the pandemic."
If the above is true, then why was I instructed not to come to work by OH and HR?

Further to this the company are stating that current guidlinrs for covid-19 remain in place and continue to mirrow image advive given by the NHS where applicable.
If the above statment is true, then why was I informed not to attend work? NHS guidlines advise you to stay at home. However you can go to work.

Goverment Advice:

"to work from home if you can. If you are unable to work from home, talk to your employer about options available to you."

I had no option to goto wogotoas set in within my companys policy. Therefore, my company is notmirror immaging advice given by the NHS.

I can appeal my stage one. However, I cannot challenge procedures and policys within the AMP, which I believed are flawed.


I appreciate your assistance.


Kind regards,


Stevieb

[Scrumpy11]

ULA

I am sorry on the delay in updates.

I am still awaiting for my appeal to be heard. The Union have stated that if my appeal is not heard within three months, less one day then the absence is cleared from my record as my company is out of time.

I have never heard of the above rule which the union have stated. However, I am aware thst after the three months, then I am unable to take any further action outside of the company. I believe my company is playing for time. Is there anything I csn fo?

Kind regards,


Stevieb

[ULA]

I have never heard of what your union have stated unless there is something to this effect in your company's policies and procedures. The only other timescale that I know of that is three months less a day is for a claimant to bring an employment tribunal (ET) claim.

If you feel your company is stalling for time, then firstly I would suggest that you chase them for a time to hear your appeal. In the meantime you would have to be considering what type of claim you would bring to an ET and I am not sure what that would be for?

[Scrumpy11]

I have never heard of what your union have stated unless there is something to this effect in your company's policies and procedures. The only other timescale that I know of that is three months less a day is for a claimant to bring an employment tribunal (ET) claim.

If you feel your company is stalling for time, then firstly I would suggest that you chase them for a time to hear your appeal. In the meantime you would have to be considering what type of claim you would bring to an ET and I am not sure what that would be for?

Thank you.

I chased this up with the Union who stated that they are not going to chase it with the hope that my complaint times out!

[Manxman]

Scrumpy11 - apologies if I've missed something obvious, but I'm not sure what the issue is?

For background I'm a retired NHS manager and one of my responsibilities used to be measuring and monitoring my trust's sickness absence.

I think my confusion arises because you seem - at different times - to be talking about two separate and distinct issues, but at other times you seem to refer to the two issues interchangeably.

For example, one issue seems to be whether your absence due to testing +ve for covid should be subject to your employer's Attendance Management Procedure (AMP), or whether that absence should be exempt.

The second issue seems to be whether your covid absence should be treated as "unauthorised" under the AMP - given that your employer's OH policies appear to require employees who test +ve not to attend work'

It isn't clear to me whether your concern is simply about either just the first or just the second issue, or whether you are concerned about both of them.

Regarding the first issue (and without knowing in detail your employer's policies and procedures) I would have thought that Yes, your covid absence must be subject to your employer's AMP unless there is some exemption specifically excluding it from being recorded. It is, after all, absence from or non-attendance at work. The fact that the employer's OH policies require you to be absent is irrelevant. In the NHS we frequently had to require staff to be absent on sick leave. It still counted as absence.

Regarding the second issue, I don't know how your AMP defines "unauthorised absence". On the face of it it would seem to defy common sense that absence dictated by OH policies should be treated as "unauthorised". Are you certain that, having tested +ve and after checking the covid policy**, you didn't need to take any further steps to ensure that your absence was "authorised"? Were there any additional steps that you should have taken but didn't?

It is of course also possible that the classification of your absence as "unauthorised" is simply some clerical or admin cockup, or that for technical reasons it needs to be treated as unauthorised on the system.

Anyway, good luck. I see you have the union involved so hopefully they know what they're doing. (Although like ULA I haven't a clue what they mean by your employer's disciplinary action timing out. Is it something to do with your employer's internal procedures?)


** It's not clear to me whether you actually contacted OH to ask their advice about attendance at work and they told you not to attend, or whether you simply referred to the relevant policy yourself and concluded that you should not attend. If the former, are OH meant to inform your line manager that you will be absent or do you have to do that yourself?

[Manxman]

It appears management is unsure of how my absence is to be recorded. They reqlised they cannot record my absence as unauthorised, so now they are looking on Authourised - sick. Surely if Authourised then I cannot be discaplined. Further to this, why dispite letters are they not looking at the conflicting policies?

I will upload documents and policies tomorrow.

Just to point out that if your absence is correctly re-classified as authorised, then yes, they shouldn't be able to discipline you for unauthorised absence.

But if your authorised covid absence means that your overall absence record has now reached some trigger point in your employer's AMP, it's quite possible that your absence record is now subject to some investigation or review, that might look like disciplinary action. Without knowing a ll the details it's impossible to say.

[Edit: Ah. I've just noticed your other thread. Is that an indication of overall attendance/absence problems other than the covid absence?]