Part-Time employee - Sick benefits

Jurassicpark

My wife works one day per week on a Wednesday. She has been off work for the last two Wednesday's because of illness. Is this classed as two weeks off work requiring a doctors certificate, or two days off work and requires a self-certification of illness form?

Thanks,
JP

millie

When I worked 1 day a week at Asda I did not qualify for sickness pay because I did not earn enough to pay National Insurance.

liney

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/lifeevent/benefits/statutory_sick_pay.asp#caniget

She needs to earn £90 per week to claim SSP firstly. Does she?

Because she is part time, and as such everything is worked out pro-rata, ie i imagine she gets 4.something days holiday per year equating to a minimum of 4.8 weeks, i think each day will equate to her being absent from work for one week, otherwise she could use a self cert for weeks which wouldn't be right

All the info is in the link above and the JobCentre will be able to help you if the company fill in a SSP1 stating she is not entitled.

pinkshoes

I think it would be 2 weeks, as I know that if I were to be off work sick Friday, Monday and Tuesday, it would be counted as 5 days sickness.

Savvy_Sue

It's two weeks, she needs a certificate. Even if she's not going to get any sick pay, I'd still get one because it's almost certainly a requirement of the company to show you really were sick rather than skiving (I'm sure she's not!)

surreysaver

It is not the number of days you are absent from work for - it is the number of days you are sick for. She might only have been off work for two days, but it is actually eight days sickness (or longer if the illness started before the first Wednesday, or continued after the second Wednesday). The exception would be if she was ill for two separate illnesses, and had rang up work to say she was better and then went sick again.

Jurassicpark

Thanks for all your comments, my wife did go to the doctors and was prescribed anti-biotics, so she is going to get a sick-note to cover the 2 weeks.

The problem is my wife feels victimised working there because the GP Practice Manager initially said she could not go back part-time after maternity leave, the reason being 'too many of the other staff have gone part-time after maternity leave'....fortunately her Union rep had something to say about the matter!!! As soon as she went back to work on Wednesday, the practice manager slapped a sickness form on her desk and said 'eeer....fill it' and walked off. A nice, calm, supportive atmosphere, not.

Anyway, thanks for your help.
JP