taking a sickie to go to an interview

[sdmseltd]

is it illegal to take a sickie and go for a interview?

[andy hughes]

Legally if you are taking sick leave when you are not ill, you are defrauding your employer, or the state, by being paid salary or benefit to which you are not entitled. That's the law - as to whether it is ever enforcable is another matter. Just make sure you don't get caught!

[IggyB]

if i'm remembering my employment law 101 correctly, i think it's illegal for your company to not let you have the time off to go to an interview if you ask them.

[sdmseltd]

he told another employee of his plan to phone sick. word got back so we knew what he was doing. he didnt phone until the morning of the interview and pretended to be sick

[sft42]

Every company should have a list of diciplinary procedures and regulation setting out what the penalties for these sorts of actions are.......taking a sickie for any reason is an offence, if it can be proved (the word of another employee might not be good enough - it could be argued that the employee may stand to gain for his possible sacking or bears a grudge against the first employee off ill)....the burden of proof in these types of cases though is much less than criminal cases and only reasonable doubt can be enough to put the nail in the coffin.

I would say it depends on the managements view of this action....is it serious miconduct warranting a final written warning or gross misconduct worthy of a summary dismissal?

[PaulB]

Yes, sft and IggyB are correct.
Firstly, it is classed as Fraud and instant dismissal and secondly, it is illegal for your employer to not allow you time off to attend an interview.
Weird huh?

[PaulB]

To follow on, my Ex (an extremely honest person) got sacked for Gross Misconduct and Fraud by clocking in then talking to the security guard at the clock machine for 5 minutes one morning! They said that she should have taken less time to get to the building and start work from the clocking in machine LOL

[Rhort]

Watch yourself there; back in 2000, I was working for a company where one of the guys on my team told the team leader he had a doctor's appointment when he had a job interview, and the guy that was interviewing him 'phoned for a reference whilst Alan was in the interview and happened to mention in the conversation that he was sitting in the interview room right at that moment(!). Luckily for him, our boss had a real sense of humour about it, and he got the job in the end, so he never really had to deal with any fallout. Would you be so lucky?

[coggles]

The problem with asking your boss for time off to go for an interview, is that they then know you want to leave the present company. This can then cause problems. It is a difficult situation, although it shouldn't be.