Employment Law

[sukkie]

This is for all the employment law fundi's out there,
I received a notice today that I must attend a first formal absence review meeting at the end of the month. I had only four days off in 2006 but 7 off in 2007. 4 of the seven was actually booked off by the docter due to a back injury caused by an accident at work due to my employers negligence.When I complained about a specific item they did nothing, hence the accident. It is obvious that these four days 3 months ago, increased my total of days off and triggered the review. Are they allowed to include these days as without them, I have only been off 3 days the entire year, which is nominal really. I am worried that this formal review will sit on my file and prevent me getting jobs elsewhere in the near future. look forward to your replies.

[buildersmate]

Did you advise your employer that your back injury was caused by an accident at work?

[sukkie]

Hi Builder,
Yes I did, I even filled in an accident report and when I returned to work, I had to fill in an absence form as per policy in which I stated that the four days were caused by an accident.

[thugulike]

The review has probably been triggered by your injury at work. You should ask for a copy of their absence policy and make sure they are following it. This may just be good practice on your employers part and nothing sinister at all.

[antiguru]

The fact that they don�t want to see you until the end of the month suggests this is just a routine meeting triggered by a number or pattern of absences. These meeting are usually not designed to be ***********, just exploratory. Use the meeting to explain each absence and see how it goes. Don�t panic. This might just be your employer following best practice!

[buildersmate]

Yup, sounds like it to me. Especially if 4 of the 7 days are tied up by what should be classed as an accident at work.