Posted by Snoozy on June 8, 2003, at 12:47:23
In reply to Workplace frustrations update (long), posted by noa on June 8, 2003, at 10:11:19
Ni noa -
> After I returned, I was summoned to a meeting with the 2 supervisors. They told me they had been uncomfortable with my not having spoken with them directly during my 3 days of absence. One of the supervisors indicated that she had almost called my emergency contact (a sibling) because she had not been able to have direct voice contact with me.
I pointed out to her that since I had called in sick each day as required, there would have been no reason to contact my emergency contact. She insisted it was because of her concern, so I thanked her for her concern but pointed out that she is not my personal friend, but is my supervisor, and that contacting my relative would have gone beyond the boundaries of a supervisor-employee relationship.
>
It does sound like this supervisor has some power/control issues going on. You called in sick each of the days, and you responded to phone messages during the time you were gone. Calling your emergency contact - in my opinion, that would only be appropriate if they had not heard from you at all during this time.
> The supervisors also argued that it is customary business practice for employees to be required to be available for consultation during a sick day. To support the claim that this is usual and reasonable and commonly practiced, one supervisor said she had asked her husband and he said it was a reasonable expectation, based on how he had run his business before he retired. I did not engage in disputing whether the requirement is common business practice because I do not know. But whether her husband says it is or not didn't seem to me to be of much consequence.
>
> (As an aside, I thought her citing her husband as substantiation of whether this is expected universally seemed rather pathetic to me, and I tried to imagine her husband in a parallel situation, defending a policy decision because his wife said so).
>
I would hate to work for that guy!!!! It's totally pathetic (did she ask her parents too?) - and whatever his business did may not relate to what you do at all (apples and oranges). It sounds like she had already decided that this was customary, expected practice. Who knows - maybe he's one of those husbands that just says "yes dear" to everything without listening. "Is it normal to make sick employees talk to you every hour? Yes, dear. I'm going to tear down the curtains and set them on fire right here. Yes, dear" :)I don't have a lot of experience in dealing with this type of workplace, but I'll give my opinion anyway! :)
Yes, there may be situations where it is appropriate for an employee to consult with the office when they are home sick. A CPA in early April perhaps.
But I have a suspicion that a lot of the people who are in constant contact with their office when they're sick are doing so by choice and that it's not really necessary. "Look how important I am, the workplace can't get along without me"I think you should keep notes of these things. Not necessarily for legal action. But this supervisor is creating records with inaccuracies. If you can say "you said x on this date" it's much harder for them to argue it with you.
> Just to be sure, I checked our policy manual, and of course, there is no policy requiring a sick employee to have direct conversations with a supervisor. I have also looked at about 25 personnel policy manuals of varied types of workplaces. None have such a requirement.
>
If this were a common expectation, I'm sure you would have seen it in one of those policy manuals. If there is such an expectation, it's unwritten and needs to be spelled out clearly beforehand. I know you don't trust your supervisors on this, and I don't know if there are any "definitions" that can be applied to your work (meaning if x happens, and I'm absolutely needed, I'll call from home).Is there someone at your workplace in a position similar to yours, or under the same supervisors? If so, it might be useful to subtly get a sense of what kind of treatment they get and how it differs from yours.
> I am writing this at 4:13 am, which reflects how hard it's been for me to shut out my worries about this. I find myself waking up in the middle of the night rehearsing potential responses.
>I don't know if this helps at all, but it does apply to different situations. You know that old phrase "I'll worry about it in the morning?" For me, it turns into worrying about it at 2, 2:20, 2:50, 3:05 and on and on. This doesn't totally fix things, but I find I do better if I come to some resolution before I try to sleep. At least a vague idea of where I want to go with something. Even if I have to stay up later, it's worth it for me because I would lose even more sleep if I left it for morning.
> BTW, I think it is important to note that the supervisors have not at all challenged my 3 days of sick leave. I filled out the forms and the leave was granted. They could have, according to our policies, required certification from a doctor, which I can provide. But they did not.
>That's good. I hope that this works out ok for you. And it's always helpful to vent about bad situations with employers/work. I used to be Old Faithful lol
poster:Snoozy
thread:232354
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030604/msgs/232403.html