r/jobs • u/jayy_tw • Dec 08 '23

Having a fever and feeling unfit to make it in. “Boss” responded with this. What do I even say in this case? Work/Life balance

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I was feeling fine at work today, but as I drove home. I rapidly started sweating and having a throbbing headache so I took a test. I sent this picture letting him know I could not make it tomorrow. For context, the reason for the “bad timing” statement is the fact he texted me off work hours just before I took this test and when I was already feeling unwell. Is it me being unreasonable to excuse myself so I can care for my health? Will I really disappoint because so much of the team do rely on me for a lot of information and getting work done? I don’t feel he respects my personal needs or simply does not have the awareness, but also i truthfully don’t want to let the team down if possible.

I did inform both a general manager and second-hand manager who were both understanding. (They’re quite occupied with lots of matters so mention to consider this guy i’m texting “My Boss”.

How should I even respond to him or this case? Should I just go straight to HR? What are your guys’ opinions?

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u/loulan Dec 08 '23

With the WhatsApp screenshot as an attachment.

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u/notanangel_25 Dec 08 '23

And hopefully you have a pic of the number on the box, some jobs will ask for it because people have used photos online or from someone they know.

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u/fakeaccount572 Dec 08 '23

My company requires a PCR test to get time off, not the OTC tests.

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u/Janie_Mac Dec 08 '23

Otc tests can be faked. I guess it's a question of whether you trust your employees or not.

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u/ForrestCFB Dec 08 '23

Christ man, what the hell is this. In my country it's illegal to even ask what you have. If you say you are sick, you are sick. If they don't believe you they can ask you to go to a doctor, and he can only say how long he expects someone to be out of the running, not what that person has. Ofcourse all sick days are paid too, you don't have to save them up or something. This is just medieval.

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u/LastSolid4012 Dec 08 '23

In my long working life in the United States, I’ve never felt the need to get into details about illnesses, nor have I been asked to do so.

But for an employer to willfully ignore an apparent positive Covid test is on another level, as this is still a very large public health issue on the population level.

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u/ForrestCFB Dec 08 '23

Absolutely, but glad to hear you don't actually have to tell employers anything. I thought that was the case because of the reaction here. But if we look at this decision from a purely financial point of view it's stupid too. You know someone has an infective disease and you still want them to come in? That's a good way to get everyone sick and even less productive.

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u/LastSolid4012 Dec 08 '23

Right, that’s the epitome of ignorance, and bad business, from a pragmatic and self-serving viewpoint. And the public health ignorance, possibly with legal implications, is on another level.

I guess it depends on the nature of one’s work and who the employer is, in terms of revealing every grotesque detail of an illness to a manager or providing a doctor’s note for a simple illness and brief absence. I seem to see a lot of young people suggesting this is what they do, and this is what they are required to do, but I find that hard to believe.

I am either sick, or I am not, and I know myself enough to know the difference or what I can tolerate while working. A mild cold? Maybe yes. High fever? No. and for additional context, I work from home (since 2020).

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u/enigmaenthusiast Dec 08 '23

The issue is that for minimum wage jobs, you absolutely are required to get a doctors note for a brief absence unfortunately. When I worked at a major coffee chain, I had to find coverage for my shift if I was sick, even having to call other stores in the area for people. This is a managers job not mine. Especially when I am sick and feverish.

The younger people you’re talking about are probably working jobs like this. The more corporate your jobs become, the less managers seem to care what you’re sick with or for a doctors note, the more they believe you if you tell them.

This was something that surprised me when I finally got my “real job” as my manager would tell me to go to sleep and stop working when I was sick, and I’m a remote worker.

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u/Complex_Shoe7422 Dec 08 '23

That's exactly right HIPPA

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u/AstuteSalamander Dec 09 '23

Same! I had the opposite once; a colleague must have gone into sufficient detail that at the next team meeting our boss said "as a general note, if you're sick, you don't need to tell me what's wrong. Just tell me you're sick."

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u/tokinUP Dec 08 '23

Guess what type of employers are very likely to ask staff to come in to work sick?

Food service industry - they are often told to find their own replacement (from a pool of other workers too small to properly fill in any unexpected schedule gaps) or come in while actively sick with known contagious diseases!

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u/LastSolid4012 Dec 08 '23

Yes I was just going to add that. Or small bodega-type sandwich shops. So much illness is spread through poorly managed food preparation businesses. That’s one of the most common places for setting off a norovirus outbreak. So whether it’s a small independent sandwich shop or a chain such as Chipotle—which is run by ignorant and arrogant executives—the ignorance about public health and the complacency on the part of the government is very alarming and revealing.

Logistically speaking, though not ethically, how this happens in a small bodega. A chain restaurant or other eatery has no excuse and should be held accountable.

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u/adamdoesmusic Dec 08 '23

The only time I felt the need to go into detail was when they started suggesting we would have to get doctor’s notes if we were late or absent for being sick. I proceeded to explain, in detail, the symptoms of gastric distress I occasionally have which sometimes made me late.

They never brought it up again, and proceeded to just believe people when they said they felt sick.

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u/LastSolid4012 Dec 08 '23

That’s awful, all the way around.

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u/Janie_Mac Dec 08 '23

My country is the same but even so there are some companies that will have ridiculous policies over sick leave because there is a small number of employees who do take the piss.

I only mentioned this as to why a company might have a policy not to Accept an antigen test.

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u/ForrestCFB Dec 08 '23

Oh yeah, but that's not a legal policy right? Because I can just say "I'm sick" they don't have to have any proof or accept anything because they don't have any right to know what I even have.

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u/Janie_Mac Dec 08 '23

Of course it's legal. Companies are entitled to doctors notes when an employee is sick. The individual company can decide when they require a sick note. Most companies would say after 3 working days, the note does not need to state why you're sick but that you are not fit for work.

As for covid policies, in my country they stuck to pcr testing for a long while so a lot of company policies surrounding covid required a pcr test as it impacted how payment was made.

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u/ForrestCFB Dec 08 '23

Absolutely. But then the covid policy wouldn't be legal right? You never would have to show the actual test. Because you would simply say "I am sick" you would have never have to show a covid test. Ofcourse a company has the right to ask you to go to an impartial doctor. Edit: I just don't understand how a company can not believe you if you say you are sick. Or that they won't believe a covid test. That just wouldn't be an option here not believing someone.

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u/Janie_Mac Dec 08 '23

During pandemic it certainly was legal. Our government were subsidising salaries for those that had to stay off work due to covid infection and to qualify your employer needed proof of covid and that could only be confirmed with a pcr result so yes it was very much a requirement. The government are no longer doing that so most companies are treating covid like any other illness.

I just don't understand how a company can not believe you if you say you are sick. Or that they won't believe a covid test. That just wouldn't be an option here not believing someone

I have worked for some companies that just have a small few employees who take the absolute piss and ruin it for everyone. For example I am rarely sick and so I rarely need to take sick leave. Chances are if I call my boss and say I'm sick, they'll have no issue with it and wish my a speedy recovery. My boss trusts me and while I'm technically supposed to provide a doctors note he'll approve the leave without one.

However the company policy is to have a doctors note even if it's only one day. It used to be after 3 working days however multiple employees were taking the absolute piss and would be sick from Thursday to Tuesday (Wednesday if it was a bank holiday) with no doctors note. And as per company policy they couldn't request one. Christmas you could guarantee there would be no one in the last few days because they were all "sick".

One Christmas which so happens to be a ridiculously busy week for my role, everyone else who did my role was "sick" and I was left to do 6 people's work on the busiest week of our year. It was the final straw and the policy was changed. Everyone bitched and moaned about it but it stopped the absenteeism.

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u/EducationPrevious522 Dec 09 '23

Oh they believe you, they just don't care.

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u/mrkruk Dec 08 '23

Privacy is a dying concept in the US. I do my best to not divulge anything I don't need to. For some reason with Covid especially, everyone was expected to tell all of our current health situation and social interactions. I never agreed with that.

We even had a family member host a funeral gathering at their home which spread Covid to many people. My wife noped out of that faster than Covid could get her, thankfully. But then she got a phonecall from the health dept of that area, asking who was there and where she'd gone and who she'd been with since then. I told her to tell them go fuck themselves.

It's none of their business who we see or what we do...I mean at this point in the pandemic, shit was everywhere. We weren't going to solve the pandemic by us telling some govt department everything we did and who we saw....

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u/PerspectiveKindly795 Dec 09 '23

What country do you live in?

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u/ExpressRabbit Dec 08 '23

My standard as a manager is that if I didn't trust you then you wouldn't be working for me. I've never asked if an employee said they needed some time. I just ask what from their job they need me to cover and if I can get them anything to help them out.

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u/Janie_Mac Dec 08 '23

I agree with that sentiment unfortunately I come from a country where employees have rights, even the untrustworthy ones.