Can your manager deny your sick leave?

The news of employee deaths related to work stress or after being denied a sick leave has ignited a debate on workplace culture. The condition started off after a 26-year-old woman Anna Sebastian Perayil committed suicide due to overwork.

This case invited outrage by the common public similar to all the other ones happening around the world. The question of whether a human resource manager can cancel an employee’s grant of his/her sick leave makes us think of the factors involved here.

Managers Reasons for Denying Sick Leaves

A manager can deny sick leave in certain situations, but it depends on factors like company policies and special circumstances of the leave request. Some common reasons are as follows,

• Lack  of Documentation: If the company’s policies require employees to provide a medical certificate or doctor’s note after a certain number of sick days, and the employee fails to do so, then the manager can deny sick leaves. 

• No available sick leaves: If an employee has exhausted their allocated paid sick leave, the manager may not approve additional sick leaves.
  

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• Abuse or Pattern of Sick Leaves: If the manager suspects that sick leaves are being abused or frequent requests before holidays and weekends, the approval may not be given.

• Essential Workload: Sometimes, if the employee’s presence is critical to the ongoing work process, he or she may be not given the leaves even if its pending or due as the work has to be completed and they are a key factor for the work.

• Company Policies and Law: Some countries or  regions of the world have laws that require employees to be given sick leaves, and denying it might violate the labour laws. In many regions, employees are entitled to certain days of sick leaves annually. In certain professions like defence, sports and information technology also, granting leaves are essential for employee wellbeing and their productivity.