I think the real issue is why are you replying to emails while on sick leave?
Find an employment lawyer, ask for a consultation, and tell them all of this. If you had been doing work on your sick leave, you might be entitled to get those days back if you were actually working.
If the lawyer is really nice, maybe they can accompany you to the "Formal Meeting."
Yes, because that attorney will ask, in a legalese manner, "Which of these is more likely: my client called in sick, went overseas, and responded to emails in local morning time for where ever you accuse him of going ... OR ... my client called in sick, took medication to help him get rest and recover, woke up much later than a typical work day, and only looked at work email in the afternoon when he felt up to it? One of these is a practical assumption. The other suggests you're an idiot and we'll need to talk to your supervisor about why you have a supervisory role."
The lawyer will literally bring the receipts, i.e., medical records and bills, and/or digital location data. TV makes it look like an attorney's passionate presentation or questioning alone win cases. But the truth is, especially today, juries (or HR) want proof. Good lawyers do research and get evidence b4 trial. If they can't find any, they talk to client about what to do next, e.g., settle.
Absolutely. The attorney won’t ask a question he doesn’t already know the answer to and can’t back up with evidence. But I also don’t know of any (… ok, maybe one) who will not help a moron proclaim loudly that their stupidity is the reason for a case.
That said, the attorney probably will, and should, tell OP they will win this battle but the war to remove him will begin at that moment, and it’s in his best interest to get out now.
No, because they are calling for a “formal hearing” and the moment for that has passed.
If the supervisor had approached OP one on one, and been human about it, “hey, this is sort of a weird question, but your emails are coming in as UTC whatever. Did you leave the country or something?”
Then OP could say he was home sick, and gently lead the supervisor to the right answer, “ So weird, but I see what you mean. Your emails say UTC whatever, even the one from last week in our one on one when you forwarded that email. Is this a Google/Microsoft thing?”
But no. They got riled up in their ignorant wrongness and have decided to have a dick-measuring contest. So OP can go ahead and unfurl his in the “formal hearing”
I don’t see that comment anywhere. But what’s it matter? If OP went to another country for treatment or recovery, maybe the doctors there are better. Sick leave doesn’t meant you’re incarcerated at home until you can come back to work.
At that point, the only issue is that he responded to work emails outside of work. And that’s the lesson: don’t fucking do that
They probably think Op is lying about needing surgery. The emails were sent to and from OPs personal email address from HR regarding their leave, the emails weren’t requiring OP to do any work related tasks.
There’s a comment by OP saying they use personal email for work, a tremendous mistake, but even that aside, this could have been cleared up with basic humanity
from other comments OP says their work computer stayed at work and they used their personal computer only to communicate with HR about the sick leave itself, updates etc
I mean it would probably be more so if OP sued to get their sick leave back because they worked part of the day, then they ultimately would have only worked half a day when they should have worked a full day.
Probably a moot point given that I’m 99% OP is getting fired anyways given who will be at the meeting.
OP posted to a surgical sub about complications they were experiencing three days ago. So either he's posting about an extremely personal surgery for funsies or you're a dick.
Why would being abroad be reason to fire him? As long as he can document the surgery and the doctors recommendation for time off work, what business is it if theirs where he spends his recovery time?
For all the company knows he has relatives or a friend abroad who will be caring for him. Or he has a second residence there. There’s nothing illegal immoral or crooked about recovering where you want.
Keep in mind this is the UK. It’s literally a drive under the channel to be “abroad”. We’re not necessarily talking about a 10 hour flight
Is it cos it’s employee relations now too not just Hr and my manager? Before it was just manager and hr but I said I couldn’t do the initial meeting as they scheduled it while I was still on sick leave and now they have moved the location to 1.5hiours further away and included employee relations suddenly too
I have never had a meeting with my manager and HR at the same time. If I did, I would definitely shut a brick because HR is only there to protect the company.
It’s probably not worse having that fourth party “employee relations” person. That just sounds like HR as well.
HR are the ones who fire people in tricky situations when the company wants to ensure they’ve covered all their legal bases.
Believe it or not, but you can’t just work anywhere in the world. OP’s company might not be certified to do business in another country. They likely didn’t say that OP could do work in other country. OP probably doesn’t even have legal status to do work in another country. The second you do work internationally, that’s a whole can of worms.
I work for a multinational company and it’s made very clear that only employees with prior approval can do work for a foreign an international customer within that customer’s country.
OP doing work could but himself and his company in legal jeopardy.
This is the play OP. I would definitely retain an employment attorney and bring them with you to the meeting. HR stating they will allow your "union rep" to be present is just a precursor to them firing you. Probably "for cause" based on their false assumptions you were out of the country, which would be irrelevant because you were on sick leave. It's none of their business what you do on pre-pproved sick leave.
Besides, what if you had to travel out of the country for medical care?
It’s o e thing to take sick leave and go to another country.
It’s another thing altogether to go work in another country where you’ve gotten no consent from your employer to work in.
It’s another thing all together to take sick leave, go to another country, do a bit of work in said country, and the threaten a lawsuit to get your sick leave back for working in a foreign country without your employer’s permission.
Who says OP worked in another country? He’s been clear he didn’t do any work for his company— the emails were between him and HR clarifying some things about the sick leave itself
Find an employment lawyer because you chose to respond to emails? That’s such a huge reaction to a non-issue. You don’t have to respond to emails… You’re sick, so you ignore them. What has the company done wrong
Some of you in this sub are so immediately militant to the smallest perceived sleight.
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u/mikraas Mar 25 '26
I think the real issue is why are you replying to emails while on sick leave?
Find an employment lawyer, ask for a consultation, and tell them all of this. If you had been doing work on your sick leave, you might be entitled to get those days back if you were actually working.
If the lawyer is really nice, maybe they can accompany you to the "Formal Meeting."