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.
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.
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.
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!