Posted on 06/10/2021 5:44:42 PM PDT by nickcarraway
On what felt like one of the last normal Mondays of last March, Colin Kane, a 66-year-old driver for a Newcastle, England paving contractor called in to work and said that he was feeling too sick to come in that day. That wouldn't have raised any red flags, as Kane was known to have a serious lung condition that occasionally caused him to miss his shifts. But later that day, one of Kane's coworkers saw him at a pub and he immediately ratted Kane out to their bosses at Debmat Surfacing.
What that guy could've done was wave at Kane, tell him he hoped he was feeling better, and go back to minding his own business. Instead, Kane's boss called to check up on him, and Kane said that he'd "been in bed all day with his chest." When he returned to work, he was called into a meeting with some of the higher-ups-including the guy who'd narced on him-and was questioned about his behavior.
During that meeting, Kane was reportedly told that he "shouldn't be in the pub" if he'd called in sick and was taking antibiotics. Kane admitted that he'd been out for 45 minutes, tops, but the company still said that he would be facing disciplinary measures for his decision to, you know, not stay on the couch all day.
The Daily Mail reports that John Turner, a managing director at Debmat, sent a letter to Kane informing him that he'd been found "guilty of gross misconduct for attending the pub on numerous occasions, consuming alcohol and smoking whilst being signed off on the sick with chronic lung disease/chest infection and claiming to be at home in bed."
Several weeks later, he was fired, which Kane thought was a step too far. During a recent employment tribunal, Judge Andrea Pitt agreed, ruling that Kane had been unfairly fired by Debmat both because there was no specific rule stating that workers couldn't go to a pub or otherwise be social on a day they'd missed work, and because she didn't believe the company's investigation was fair.
"There is nothing in the disciplinary procedure prohibiting an employee from acting in this way," Judge Pitt said, according to the Metro. "[Debmat Surfacing] made a gross assumption, without evidence, that the claimant should not be at the social club because of the nature of his condition [...] There is no rule [Debmat] can point to, which says that an employee cannot socialise in whatever way they deem appropriate whilst absent from work through illness."
Judge Pitt ruled that Kane should receive financial compensation from his now-former employer for the way he was terminated; a future hearing will determine how much he's in for. We'll assume he raised a pint after that judgment-and we kind of hope his former colleague saw that, too.
Going to a pub is practically medication in the U.K.
These days if I feel at all under the weather I am ordered not to report to work. So if I go to the beach, there’s no way they can discipline me.
Calling in sick doesn't mean you're bedridden. What a jerk the co-worker is! When I was managing a network group, a couple of guys regularly called in sick, and always on a Friday or Monday to extend their weekend. I chastised them but wouldn't think of firing them. They called me a sucker for rarely calling in sick, even when I didn't feel good. After I retired, I realized they were right. I didn't get compensated for the lost sick-time accumulated due to rules (don't use it, then lose it at year-end).
Remember the good ole days when actions had consequences? Bad actions had bad consequences? *sigh*
Having been in the military, I had to be almost dead, before I call in sick or go to a doctor.
The new pussified man have different rules.
Never good idea to lie to the boss.
Aye, hair of the dog....
guilty of gross misconduct for attending the pub on ***numerous*** occasions,
Regular people go to work sick every day, and that was probably the case with this guy, too. Going out for less than an hour to have a pint, on a day when he was sick enough to stay home from work is not such a big deal. The jerk who ratted him out, sounds like a real brown noser. He probably would have ratted him out even if he had gone to the pub after work hours.
Better have a chit from the base surgeon if you miss PT!
Personally he shouldnt be out in a pub drinking if hes on antibiotics.
But hes a grownup.
And he ought to face the consequences of making his own stupid choices.
If you call in sick and then go out drinking and it gets reported to your boss, expect some negative consequences.
He can so what he wants, but he is responsible for his choices, and his choices got him fired.
Yeah i didnt know he lied.
Even more so he made his choices, then lied a out them.
Therefore he knew what he was doing was wrong.
No question he needed to be fired. If he owned up tohis wn choices there may have been some room to be lenient. If hes gonna lie about something small, hes gonna lie about something big. Never trust him ever again.
Ratting out. there are some who take their work seriously and will not tolerate those that put in less of an effort. When they end up doing someone else’s job over they feel they have the obligation to confront. Ratting out to the boss appears cowardly but no one should put out less than an honest effort. Doesn’t always happen but discretion is the smart thing to do.
No one laying on their deathbed says, “Man I wish I would’ve went to work more....”
“What a jerk the co-worker is!”
The dude who was pulling double duty while the slacker was in the pub?
I doubt if he put in more than his 40 hours.
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