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Students working part-time summer jobs are advised to think about fellow workers before pulling "sickies" to spend time in the sun.

Employment law firm Peninsula has said that though it might sound trivial, phoning in sick to spend a day in the sun is "fraudulent sickness".

Peter Done, the firm's managing director, said: "It really doesn't matter whether you're off for a day or a week it's still non genuine and unfair to your fellow workers and your employer.

"If one employee goes off sick then it gives a bad impression and even encourages other employees to do the same."

He continued that bosses need to treat employee absence seriously in order to "deter" staff from taking "sickie days" and should implement "strict" return to work interviews to act as a deterrent to find out why the worker was off sick.

"Do remember that some illness may be genuine so you must not go and accuse everyone of faking illness without good reason," he added.

He concluded that in order to prevent staff absence, bosses could introduce new incentives such as "free ice cream, picnics or even an early finish" if targets are met.

Office environments should also be made comfortable with the "provision of air conditioning and water machines" in order to keep morale high.

The law firm polled 500 workers recently finding that most were tempted to fake an illness to avoid having to go to work.

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