Line Manager Hostile About Absence - Advice Needed

Hi there. Looking for advice about my line manager’s attitude toward me when I’m absent from work.

Last year I had a few months off work due to sickness. When I returned I heard second hand from a colleague that my line manager had been complaining that I had not been following procedure whilst absent and making their life difficult. I asked my line manager if I had done anything wrong and they told me I hadn’t, so I put it down to a misunderstanding.

This week I’ve had a virus (unrelated to last year’s absence). When I realised I was too ill to go in, I called in the day before so shift cover could be organised. I was then asked to give 24 hour notice if I was going to miss a second day, which I did. They didn’t ask me to give extended notice for any other days. In these days I didn’t speak to my line manager, but the request to contact early was hers via the manager manning the sickline.

Today is my third day sick off work. I called in five hours before my scheduled start time and my line manager got angry with me! They said I should have called in yesterday as they have to cover my hours now. I apologised and said I wasn’t told I needed to call in early if I was missing today. My line manager then told me I had been scheduled to work in an area that’s difficult to cover and me calling in sick so late has caused a problem. I apologised again but there was no change in attitude from my manager.

To the best of my knowledge I have followed procedure correctly. Our schedules are set by my line manager a week in advance and there are always problems.

Am I overreacting by feeling upset by this. I anticipate that all I’m going to do is be upset and say nothing about it when I return to work, but I wanted to sound it out here. Any advice would be great. Thanks.