Will I lose my job after a 2-week illness?
Q: Dear Mrs Macaulay,
I am employed on a one-year contract at a call centre. However, during my training period I found out I was pregnant. Everything was going well until a month ago when I fell ill for a two-week period, and I am now worried about my job. Would my illness for that time cause me to lose my work?
A: Thank you for your letter. Let us go straight to the relevant issues in your letter. These are, firstly, that you were employed on a one-year contract. Secondly, you were engaged in training during the period assigned for this when you, having discovered that you were pregnant, became ill for two weeks. Thirdly, you are worried that as a result of you missing two weeks of your training because you fell ill, that this may cause you to lose your job.
Well, my dear, since you are on contract, your contractual terms should give you the answer to this question. I would expect that there would be terms in it which deal with the conditions of your training, the length of it and what is expected of each trainee. It would and should state what would be the total period of training required of employees and what could be done by them or what would be the consequences if circumstances force them to miss some sessions of the assigned training.
If the contract does have such provisions and you signed it and started working pursuant to its terms, then you would be bound by what it says you should do about missing part of your assigned period of training –which may include how you should make up the lost time, or it may designate some kind of penalty.
One would also expect that it would have a proviso that the employee would not suffer a penalty if the reason they missed part of the training was unavoidable or a reasonable one.
The contract, I would also expect, would have terms about what an employee ought to do if they are ill for three or more days. It is the general norm in law for employees to be required to send in a medical certificate/report if they are ill for three or more days.
If your contract specified this and you did send in a medical certificate/report, you would be safe. But if you did not do so, then you would be in jeopardy and you would have to produce one in order to be able to try to put forward your points why you should not be penalised for being ill. You would have to have a good and acceptable explanation why you failed to send in a medical certificate or report.
It is my view that even if the contract is silent about the need to send in a medical certificate or report when an employee is ill for three or more days, it would be difficult for an employee to explain why they were silent about their condition for a period of as long as two weeks.
You did not say whether you informed your employers at all during the two weeks that you were ill. If you did so, did they not ask or remind you to send in a medical report of some kind?
I can only answer your question by saying that whether your being sick for the period of two weeks and during training would cause you to lose your work would depend on the terms of your contract of employment. As long as it contains no illegal or immoral terms and those labour standards which apply to all workers and you read it (and I hope understood its terms), and signed it freely and without duress, you are bound by all its terms and so is your employer.
You must therefore go to your contract for the answer to your question. I do hope that I have assisted you in some part so that you know what to look for in the contract.
Good luck.
Margarette May Macaulay is an attorney-at-law, Supreme Court mediator, notary public and women’s and children’s rights advocate. Send questions via e-mail to allwoman@jamaicaobserver. com; or write to All Woman, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5.
DISCLAIMER:
The contents of this article are for informational purposes only and must not be relied upon as an alternative to legal advice from your own attorney.
