THOUSANDS of women and increasing numbers of men take time out to have cosmetic surgery. Breast implants, nose jobs, tummy tucks and face lifts are no longer the preserve of the rich and famous as cosmetic surgeons compete for our money with promises of a "new you".
But what about the time you take off work to have surgery? Is it sick leave or should it be counted as holiday entitlement? It's an area that can cause friction between employee and employer.
Unlike employees who are forced to take time off work for surgery due to medical reasons, and for whom sickness absence is a natural and unfortunate result, it is questionable whether employees who take time off for cosmetic surgery should be entitled to take their absence as sick leave or be asked to use holidays.
Bank clerk, Danielle Bryan, 21, of Eccles, approached her employer with some trepidation to ask for paid time off for a nose job. She says: "I thought they might sack me when I asked, but I had been bullied so severely as a youngster because of my nose and was constantly in tears about it that I felt I had to try.
Entitlement
"My employers were really good and allowed me to take three days off as compassionate leave and the rest from my holiday entitlement. I had a total of two weeks off work.
"I do think employees should be entitled to some paid sick leave in cases like mine, but not if it's purely out of vanity."
Fiona Hamor, a partner in the employment department of Manchester law firm Pannone LLP, says: "I can see the force of an employer's argument that an employee should use their holiday entitlement.
"An employer may well feel that cosmetic surgery is a lifestyle choice and that if an employee chooses to have a non- essential procedure, then the time spent in the operating theatre and in recovery should be taken as holiday, in the same way that employees who choose to take foreign holidays, or do some DIY, would be expected to use holiday entitlement. However the position may not be quite that simple"
An employee's contract may entitle them to contractual sick pay when they are unfit for work - whatever the reason. Even if sick pay is discretionary, a policy that says employees must use holidays for cosmetic surgery- related absence may amount to sex discrimination. The law says a workplace rule or policy which disadvantages a larger proportion of women than men may be indirect sex discrimination.
More women than men
The British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAPRAS) reports 89 per cent of the cosmetic procedures carried out by its members in 2005 were for female patients.
Fiona comments: "While this trend continues, women could argue they are disadvantaged by a policy requiring them to take holidays for cosmetic surgery and although an employer has a defence if it can justify its policy because of the needs of the business, in practice this may be difficult to establish."
While a female employee may be able to use discrimination law to challenge her employer, a male employee undergoing cosmetic surgery does not have this option. It is unlikely an employee could use disability discrimination law to challenge his employer as the effects of surgery are unlikely to amount to a disability. Even if an individual's ability to do day-to-day activities is affected, this is only likely to be in the short-term.
Where sex change is involved, employers should be careful not to breach the special requirements imposed by sex discrimination laws, which make it unlawful to treat someone who is absent because of such surgery less favourably than someone who is absent due to some other cause.
It may also be the case that someone having cosmetic surgery for psychological reasons, especially if it is performed under the NHS, will be able to take time off as sick leave entitlement.
Pragmatic approach
An employer would be wise to use a pragmatic approach when the issue of cosmetic surgery arises, considering the sickness record of the employee and how much time off an operation requires.
In an ideal world, employer and employee would reach a compromise, whereby the employee takes some holiday and some sick leave to accommodate the procedure.
There could, after all, be benefits to an employer in having an employee with improved confidence following cosmetic surgery.
Should people be allowed to take paid leave to recover from cosmetic surgery? Have your say.
Tweet
Comments
Login or Register to comment
How on earth is sick leave even mentioned in this article? If you're not sick or injured, take it from your holiday entitlement like those of us who want time for other activities. Or should I start claiming sick leave for when I get my hair cut?
Wow, does this mean that the next time I want a manicure, I can take the time off as sick leave?
I wish some people would grow up - and quickly!
Surely men are just as entitled to have cosmetic surgery as women. If so, how on earth can this be discriminatory to women as the solicitor suggests. Incidents such as this and some of the recent sexual discrimination claims will but back womens opportunities in the workplace years. You would have to be very na??ve to believe that a prospective employer is not going to secretly consider these possibilities when deciding between equally qualified male and female candidates.
My hair takes about twice as long as everyone else's to style in the morning. I wonder if my employer woul dmind me coming in a bit late each day.
Isn't the women featured in the article exactly the type of case that would cause employers to ive sick leave? Plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery are not the same thing. I had plastic surgery to rebuild my wrist after a tumour was discovered in it. Should I have had to take this as annual leave? Surely a women who has been bullied all her life for the size of her nose - and probably missed all sorts of opportunities as a result - should be entitled to take sick leave for this? If she worked for a truly sympathetic employer she would have done. It's a bit different for something that is purely cosmetic but this women's case isn't that.
Katy, just because she got teased as a child doesn't mean it isn't cosmetic. You can take that argument to extremes and say people should be allowed time off to go to the gym, because they were teased for being fat as a kid. Obviously, reconstructive surgery after illness or an accident is a totally different situation and deserves sick leave, it should be regarded as part of the recovery from the original illness.
I think its a joke- irrelevant of any kind of bullying history etc at the end of the day its a purely cosmetic procedure and its a shame that vain people like this are able to take advantage of the system.
You have to look at each case individually, this woman could have had problems in the past but why has it taken her so long to get the problem sorted she could have had it done years ago, but people who have cosmetic surgery just so they look better should take the time off there holiday. Scrap sick pay and most of the lazy people who take a day off here and there would go to work its only because they know they will get paid that they go sick.
Looks don't matter, it's what's inside that counts.
Snigger.
No employee should automatically have sick pay for cosmetic surgery just because they 'say' they need it as they were bullied etc. If this is the case then surely a more responsible employer would offer support e.g counselling and only give sick pay if the employee is 'unfit' for work and they are satisfied that the reason is not purely vanity (which most are). Giving automatic sick pay for such procedures would leave this open to abuse from employees and cost employers a mint
if the majority of you would take time to actually READ the article the young lady featuerd had only 3 days as compassionate leave granted by her employer and she took the rest as holiday, and she does not agree that you should be granted sick leave for cosmetic surgery but use holidays!!!! thank you very much!!