Work related rant... the "mysteriously ill" coworker.

lookingglass

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I have to get this off my chest or I'm going to scream. I work with a girl who is mysteriously ill every single Friday. In fact, since the year has started she's only worked 2 FULL FRIDAYS!

Now, this week I've busted my hump and pulled some OT to get everything caught up. My boss told me I could leave early yesterday. Guess what, she didn't come in!


I had made plans to have a "date" with DH, but it was ruined. I've totally had it.

Thanks for reading this. If you have any advice what so ever post it here.
 

addiebee

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OK - how does this person get away with this? Only ill on Friday? Whaddup with that?
 

ryn

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That must be so annoying. I'd talk to her about it, nicely. Maybe she doesn't realise her slacking is giving trouble to others.
 
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lookingglass

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Originally Posted by AddieBee

OK - how does this person get away with this? Only ill on Friday? Whaddup with that?
She's not only ill on Friday, she really only works 20 some hours a week and is full time. The thing is that if she only wants to work 20 hours a week we have that option. She can be part-time and still have a job. I have no idea how she's gotten away with it for so long.

Originally Posted by Ryn

That must be so annoying. I'd talk to her about it, nicely. Maybe she doesn't realise her slacking is giving trouble to others.
I think she's starting to realize it. The people who work with her directly are getting really angry.
 

EnzoLeya

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I would have left work and told the boss she needed to take care of it. It's not your responsibility to fill in for your worthless co-worker. Your boss HAS to see what is going on. She should be fired.
 
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lookingglass

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Originally Posted by EnzoLeya

I would have left work and told the boss she needed to take care of it. It's not your responsibility to fill in for your worthless co-worker. Your boss HAS to see what is going on. She should be fired.
I would have gotten in really hot water for that. There are only a small amount of people that do my job in my company and at least two of us have to be here until a specific time.

There was an instance where DH was throwing up, and I had to take him to the doctor. She wasn't in, and they were stuck with out the second person all night.
 

katachtig

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Does the company have a sick policy? Maybe it is time to talk to the boss about her taking advantage of it. She has a duty as an employee to show up for the hours she is scheduled for. I think she owes him an explanation about why she is so "sick" all of the time.
 

krazy kat2

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That is ridiculous. I am wiped out by my days off, but I still go to work every day. She needs to start bringing in doctor's excuses.
We have so many people lay out on Saturdays, we now have a policy if you don't come in Monday a.m. with a medical excuse, you are fired.
 

lunasmom

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You know, it's people like that who make everyone else suffer.

I take it that she doesn't have a pre-condition either that would cause her to have weekly appointments? She just calls in and *cough* *cough* I'm sick...

I would definitely bring this up with her manager. State that you've been noticing a pattern and you are getting sick of it (no pun intended). Don't bring up your other coworkers without having them in the same room. Some people complain, but they don't want to complain to the right people.

I don't think that legally they can fire you for calling in sick (unless they do have a sick leave policy in the corporate handbook), but her boss might wind up getting sneaky by asking for doctors notes.

Surprisingly though, people forge those left and right...
 

misty8723

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I don't have any advice, just sympathy.

I have a coworker who calls in sick frequently. It's not every Friday, but when she does call in, she's usually out for a least a week, sometimes two. Sometimes she calls because she "didn't sleep well" the previous night. Sometimes it's a mysterious "stomach virus." I am the one who gets to do her work when she's out, so I'm not a happy camper.
 
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lookingglass

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Originally Posted by katachtig

Does the company have a sick policy? Maybe it is time to talk to the boss about her taking advantage of it. She has a duty as an employee to show up for the hours she is scheduled for. I think she owes him an explanation about why she is so "sick" all of the time.
Part of the problem is that we have a lax sick time policy, but most of us don't take advantage of it because we have to be here.

Originally Posted by krazy kat2

That is ridiculous. I am wiped out by my days off, but I still go to work every day. She needs to start bringing in doctor's excuses.
We have so many people lay out on Saturdays, we now have a policy if you don't come in Monday a.m. with a medical excuse, you are fired.
I think we may have to bring in HR to do that.

Originally Posted by lunasmom

You know, it's people like that who make everyone else suffer.

I take it that she doesn't have a pre-condition either that would cause her to have weekly appointments? She just calls in and *cough* *cough* I'm sick...

I would definitely bring this up with her manager. State that you've been noticing a pattern and you are getting sick of it (no pun intended). Don't bring up your other coworkers without having them in the same room. Some people complain, but they don't want to complain to the right people.

I don't think that legally they can fire you for calling in sick (unless they do have a sick leave policy in the corporate handbook), but her boss might wind up getting sneaky by asking for doctors notes.

Surprisingly though, people forge those left and right...
We are an "at will" state, so she can be fired for any reason. The deal is I don't really want her fired, I just want her to be honest about the hours she's willing to work.
Originally Posted by Misty8723

I don't have any advice, just sympathy.

I have a coworker who calls in sick frequently. It's not every Friday, but when she does call in, she's usually out for a least a week, sometimes two. Sometimes she calls because she "didn't sleep well" the previous night. Sometimes it's a mysterious "stomach virus." I am the one who gets to do her work when she's out, so I'm not a happy camper.
Thanks... at least I know I'm not alone.
 

gemlady

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Sounds like the cheerleader in my high school algebra who was almost always sick on Fridays when we would have our weekly test. Yet she would be well enough to cheer at the game that night....
 
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lookingglass

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Originally Posted by gemlady

Sounds like the cheerleader in my high school algebra who was almost always sick on Fridays when we would have our weekly test. Yet she would be well enough to cheer at the game that night....
Yep... just like her.
 

sharky

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ARE you sure she actually does NOT have a legit allment?? I now work my own hours so my illnesses dont get in the way ....
 

jane_vernon

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Why does your boss allow her to get away with this?

Its not fair to you or any of the other employees.

If your boss isn't going to do anything, then personally I would confront her about it - Whats the harm? Its not like she comes to work anyway so if she gets annoyed with you, it shouldn't really matter


I definately sympathise - I can't stand people who are completely lax with their work ethic.
 

addiebee

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Is she really pretty? Is your boss male? The reason I say that is not that they're up to no good, but pretty (and manipulative) women seem to get their way.

I was working as a broadcast journalist in Rochester NY many years ago. We had a colleague who was the spittin' image of Vanna White. Our male bosses would, um, "salute" when she went by.

She routinely would call in sick 2-3 days out of every month because her "woman time". Hey, I always had terrible periods and came to work anyway, b/c in a man's world, that is not an excuse. (I finally, at age 48, had to have a hysterectomy to deal with it.)

The bosses would make all kinds of excuses for her and the staff had to pitch in to cover her shift. But when I would occasionally get ill and call in, the next day, I got ALL KINDS of grief and insinuation about it. I don't mean good natured grief, I mean suggestions that I was not really ill, taking a day off for no good reason. Now, keep in mind, I worked 60 hours a week and every crazy concievable schedule. I was a hard worker and did a really good job. This sooooo ticked me off.

There was such an UNBELIEVABLE double standard in that place!

I've seen it elsewhere,too, where the boss has a "pet" employee and that person gets preferential treatment, managers look the other way, etc.
 

natalie_ca

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Why isn't the employer doing something about this? Surely if you noticed her absence on Friday's they do too? Perhaps you should mention it to them?

I used to work in a law firm and the girl in accounts who was also the office manager was usually absent on Fridays or Mondays...without fail. If she wasn't sick, she was in a car accident, or had to go out of town or had some family emergency.

At the hospital there are a couple of nursing assistants that you can bank on to call in sick every single Sunday that they are scheduled to work.
 

catkiki

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Where I work they have a strict policy for sick leave.... We are allowed 4 days in a 6 month rolling period. If you go over 32 hrs, you are put on a verbal step, next instance is a written step 2, then a step 3.. after that, you are terminated. We used to have 5 days every Jan 1 and July 1 but people would use all 5 days in the first month, so they changed it.

If you have a major illness that takes you out for more than the 4 days, they have fmloa.

IMO, she should be fired.
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by Mom of 4

Texas is an at will state. You still have to have documentation of the issues and what was done to correct them.
i got fired once for illness. i had documentation that proved i was ill... they said that i had a pattern [i didn't] but they could still fire me for excessive absenteeism, regardless of the fact i could prove illness. [i think they only said that about the pattern thing to make themselves feel better.] regardless, i was given severance & collected unemployment until i found another job.
the employers may feel they're spending less by simply not addressing the issue.
 
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