So I work as a part of a family business. It’s grown faster than we could keep up with over the last 6 months.
Up to now it’s been a good job, everyone’s had a mutual understanding of each other, everyone was treated equally, flexible etc., but it’s changed since this growth.
Over the weekend I fell over onto my ankle quite badly , by Sunday it was pretty obvious I wasn’t gonna be able to make it into work on the Monday. But it’s no big, it’s an admin job and I have a laptop with the system on so I can basically do the job from anywhere. I offered to work from home as other than my ankle I was fine, and got a bit of a begrudging “ok”
Informed HR guy, to which the first comment was “oh, were you drunk? If so it was self inflicted” first of all…it doesn’t matter if I’m drunk or sober. If I’m hurt I’m hurt? Tf?
So come Tuesday (yesterday) ankle wasn’t getting any better and everyone put the fear of god into me that it was broken, so was recommended I go to the hospital, I gave in and went to the hospital, work kept in the loop the whole time, was there a couple hours. Even IN hospital I was answering calls and emails from my phone, and carried on working when I got home
The hospital informed me I’d significantly damaged ligaments and soft tissue , advised 2 weeks of rest (no driving, sports, or long walking) and light physio exercises. For context I work in rural countryside an hours drive away, public transport isn’t really an option
I then got a weird email this morning asking me “what I should be put down as” (basically wanted me to say off sick) and then got a text message asking me to call and discuss my unavailability this week.
I called them instantly and basically immediately questioned the use of the word “unavailable”. I explained to them that me working from home doesn’t affect my ability to do my job, yes I’m injured, yes I had to go the hospital, but I’ve still been working, and available.
And so HR guy tells me they’ve made the decision to not pay me for the day I went to the hospital because there’s “no way I could have been working in the hospital” despite them pressuring me to go so they had a better idea of how long I would be out the office for. They said this in the name of “being fair across everybody” despite me literally being witness to the fact that’s a bare faced lie MANY times
It was never mentioned in my contract that this would be the case, and they always emphasise how “flexible” they are and how the beauty of the job is that you can do it from anywhere. They literally had this stupid bullshit seminar not long ago about us being open about if there’s anything going on (mental / physical illness) so they can always be there for us and support us the best they can.
I’m furious. My family member also works there and ended up having a huge row over the whole thing (straw on the camels back though, lots of tense stuff, very toxic work environment) and has quit over it. Luckily I settled a new role but waiting for all the relevant checks to go through etc.
Not sure if this is a rant or asking for advice on the whole thing, do I try and dispute this or take the L and learn the lesson not to trust a family members “word” that they will look after us