Employment Reference - Information on sick days.

[ironbones]

Hi

I have decided to leave my current employer and find a new position, I have only be employed by them for just under a year. In the past year I have had no days off sick but I fractured a bone in my foot, it took 8 weeks (40 working days) for the fracture to heal. Due to the nature of my job I was unable to work until the fracture fully healed, as my work is manual and requires me to be mobile.

The accident happen at my place of work, due to a step that was not secured down properly.

MY QUESTION IS: If a reference is requested, if they ask how many days sick I have had off in the last year, will these 40 days need to be declared. Is there any difference between injury and sickness?

I would like to add the following points, just to add a little depth:

• That in my previous two jobs, which spanned 12 years, if you averaged my sick days it works out at under a day a year.
• My conduct and performance of my job, with current employer has been excellent, they have had no concerns or issues.
• At the time of the injury to my foot, my employer told me that I would not be paid for the time I was off whilst my foot healed. I challenged them over this by saying if they would not pay me then I would need seek compensation for loss of wages. As a result of this conversation I was paid for this time.
• The reason for me deciding to leave, is the injury to my foot is the straw that broke the camels back. There has been many problems regarding training, conditions, general professionalism, hours of work, days required to work and failure to pay overtime. I have got to a point where feel that I can not go with them, as I can not help them.

Thanks for reading my thread, any information or help will be appreciated.

Many Thanks.

[ULA]

Re: Employment Reference - Information on sick days.

It entirely depends on what reference questions any potential new employer asks of your current employer and what their policy is with dealing with reference requests. Number of days taken off sick in the past 12 months is a typical question asked of previous employers. Now your employer could choose to declare the 40 days without an explanation or they could confirm that it was a result of a work-place injury.

To "head this off" I would suggest a couple of courses of action firstly be honest at any interviews about the absence let your prospective new employer know that you had a work place accident which resulted in 40 days sickness however this is not typical of your sickness record history. Secondly ensure that you provide referee information for both your current and previous employer - typically the reference questions asked will be the same to both companies so your good sickness record prior to your current employment will be evident.

[ironbones]

Re: Employment Reference - Information on sick days.

Thanks