Sickness Absence- Bradford Factor

[CTID1982]

My employer uses the Bradford Factor score to manage short term sickness absence, which triggers repeat short term absence. They explicitly rule out and disability related absences so any crohn's flares would not be counted in the scoring and would not trigger and absence review, warning etc. All well and good.

The problem I have is that I have been taking azathioprine now for over 12 months and it is doing a good job of managing the condition (was in hospital three times in the previous 12 months before I started on the aza) However as it does supress the immune system, I have found I have been picking up bugs and infections more easily and for some of these they have been too bad to attend work. In total I've had 14 days off in the last 12 months, spread across 4 different episodes. Of course it is impossible to say whether or not I would have picked up those same bugs if I wasn't taking the aza but it does seem to be at least a contributing factor.

My manager is very supportive, she doesn't have a problem with my absence (beyond concern for my welfare) or my work contribution, I work hard when feeling well, often well in excess of my contracted hours without any overtime or TOIL and have also been picking up issues even when off sick on my blackberry where possible to minimise impact on team (she doesn't encourage this, just wants me to look after my health but I don't like to let anyone down)

However HR rule by bradford factor trigger points and are refusing to recognise the absences as being part of my condition. The annoying thing is, if I stopped the medication then I would be likely to flare and have a lot more time off but I wouldn't be penalised for that in the same way in which I am for trying to manage that condition.

Has anyone else had any similar experiences? Any advice?

 

[SarahD]

I don't have any experience with this, but wondered if you could speak to occupational health or get a letter from your consultant to pass onto HR to explain that azathioprine makes you more susceptible to bugs and that taking the medication is helping to control your Crohns so that you don't require time off for that. It's not only the frequency of catching bugs but also the duration and intensity, being on an immunosuppresant makes it much harder for you to fight things off. I wish people were more understanding, it's not like we want to take medication that lowers our immune system!

 

[MissCadenza]

Do what I do, which is go in to work even if I'm really sick, then you'll get sent home because you're too ill to work and you'll probably get a lecture along the lines of 'if you were sick then why did you come in in the first place?'

This has worked well for me. All but one of my absences since I got crohn's back in July has been when I've been sent home for being too sick to work. For some reason being sent home is more acceptable than taking days off sick. So try that. Or alternatively see if you can work from home - then you won't have any sick days at all, you can just say 'I'm working from home'. It's an option, and one I wish I had but I'm too low in the chain to get that luxury.

 

[CTID1982]

Thanks. I have sorted an OH referral today so hopefully that helps. I am very lucky to have such a supportive manager, the problem is HR stubbornly following a flawed procedure. Confident it wouldn't stand up to any formal challenge at a dismissal hearing but would rather it didn't get to that stage!