being off sick

[lam143]

I work for a charity, and the senior practitioner has been off on long term sick, she is socialising and going out on trips with a social group which meets at our offices and is made up of our service users, is this acceptablr?. Also she was employed in a role she could not do and took on a temporary role as well until march 2011, our CEO is keeping this vacancy open for her to return to is this acceptable?

[mike11111]

I am afraid that I so not understand the words "senior practitioner" and "service users" in the context of a charity.

[lam143]

A Senior Practitioner is like head socialworker, and service users are people who use the service some people call them clients

[lam143]

Ha no I am not in line for job, 16 months of her working here tells me she cannot do the job, she refuses to speak to the team, she has to be computer literate and she is not, she has been out of this type of work for over 20 years and is not up to date with current practices, and legislation, is she not crossing professional boundaries, CEO will not tell us what she is off sick with.

[woofgang]

what she is off sick with is confidential. If your ceo considers that her behaviour is acceptable during a period of sickness then that's that. As for the rest of your comments, if the gaps in her performance mean that you have to do work that she should be doing and you can PROVE this then there might be something that you can do but you are in a difficult situation and anything that you do might backfire.

[pink-kittens]

Well, she can be sacked when off sick as long as proper protocol has been followed
How long has she been off?

[roxie_09]

if she is off with depression or associated illness, these sort of activities are often advised. so taking part in these activites shouldnt stop her being off sick, as long as a doctors note still redeems her as being ill

[ojread2]

Anyone with an ounce of morality would not continue to attend functions that mean she will mix with people she works with - ludicrous that she does IMO. However, that does not mean she can't

http://www.direct.gov...ssabsence/DG_10027238

One reason you can be dismissed is here http://www.nidirect.g...-can-be-dismissed.htm
"you haven't been able to keep up with technological changes to your job ( eg introduction of computerised systems)"

Is it acceptable for the CEO to keep her job open? IMO, no, not if she can't do it and is off sick because she cant do it

[lam143]

she has been off sick 8 months, the job that is being kept open for her is a different job from what she was contracted for,

[boxtops]

That could well be the case, if the employer has taken medical/occupational health reports about her, and they say that she is (for whatever reason) unfit to return to the original job - they may have recommended that she returns to different duties. That is quite acceptable. Who's doing her proper job while she's away, then? - if this person is coming back to a different role, then surely that senior job still needs to be filled?