How do you manage malingerer?

A malingerer is a person who pretends to be sick or incapable of performing a task to escape from work and responsibility. The noun is malingering.

In some workplaces, malingering is a serious matter; in other places, it goes unnoticed and is considered trivial.

In the UK, at Gill v SAS Ground Services UK Ltd, an employee did not report to work on 1-week sick leave. During that week, a colleague (who seems to have a beef with her) found pictures on her Facebook partaking in fashion week in London. He reported her to HR, and she was eventually dismissed on misconduct grounds.

Malingering is lying, and being absent from work based on a lie is gross misconduct, and gross misconduct should be disciplined up to dismissal.

Line managers and HR should understand why employees would do malingering to manage malingerers.

1.     Disengagement: This results from many reasons, such as:

a.      Boredom: The responsibility and the tasks are below the employees’ capabilities.

b.       Challenging tasks: The capabilities are below the required competence.

c.      Divergence of ethical values between the employee and the workplace

2.     Reward: Unsatisfactory rewards turn some employees into disgruntled ones. Disgruntlement eventually leads to rogue and disengaged employees.

3.     Lack of supervision and monitoring  

How do firms manage malingering?

1.     For noticeable frequent sick leave, HR asks for more evidence of the condition through Medical Commission reports in some countries.

2.     For frequent sick leave with patterns, reduce the pay per day for sick leave.

3.     When reporting to work after the sick leave, the line manager or HR meets with the employee to genuinely understand the case and identify whether the sick leaves were genuine or an escape from a problem at work or a problem at home. For the latter, the employee may need understanding and support.

4.     Apply disciplinary measures for sick leave with patterns, such as those that coincide with one day before Christmas or one day before or after the weekend, and when unsubstantiated.

5.     A policy, procedure, and disciplinary system are applied across the firm.