Amicus, one of Britain’s biggest trade unions, is offering workers tips about how to take time off work to watch World Cup football without damaging their employment prospects.
”So you want to watch the World Cup, but you are meant to be at work when it’s on: can you play away or is the risk of permanent relegation from your job too high?” Amicus said on its website.
Under the headline ”World Cup Fever,” it said a worker might be able to take a sick day because it would be difficult to prove otherwise, though it proposed workers check policies carefully and cooperate with management.
It advised workers to check their contracts and work policies to determine if they have a ”right to book the time off under flexible working, lieu time or holiday.
”Your union can also tell you of any policies that might help you,” it said.
It may even be in the interests of management to allow for time off under certain circumstances, it said.
”Having a union negotiator can really help persuade management what a good investment it could be to find ways to let people watch the World Cup, for example allowing people to watch it together at work on a big screen,” it said.
Such a solution would offer ”great team building” and would be much cheaper than an ”away day,” it said.
”Otherwise, see if your boss will just let you make up the time, or if any colleague would agree to cover your work and have you do something for them, perhaps outside of your normal hours,” it said.
It added that management approval would be required for this. It said just taking a sick day might be possible.
”It is quite difficult to prove that someone is not really sick if they have one day off; and most sick policies provide for the employee to self certificate for the first day off,” it said.
”But if you have a few days off which happen to be match days your employer may will notice a pattern to your sickness which might be used as evidence that sickness is not really the issue,” it added.
It warned of the risks of getting caught.
”Taking time off work without permission can lead to dismissal for gross misconduct,”’ it said.
In some cases, though, ”you can argue that it is simply a form of misconduct which should be viewed in the light of your work record and whether you have any other disciplinary sanctions in force at the time,” it said. – Sapa-AFP