Hospital appointments/Sick leave

Sugar_Coated_Owl

Firstly if I have posted this in the wrong section I apologize for the mistake.

Last year I think it was around July/August time I was signed-off from work by my GP for 2 weeks. On returning to work I've had to attend numerous hospital appointments. It used to be every week, then every other week e.t.c Now on my last payslip I was deducted £60 from my wages because I have now used up all my sick leave from attending the hospital appointments. I can't afford to lose this money each month and yet I do still have to go to the hospital. I really don't know what to do. I have always thought that employees were entitled to attend hospital appointments and still get paid but I'm so

Can anyone advise me on the legalities of this situation and/or what I should do.

Jo.

Bun

I can't help I'm afraid, but it may be useful to post this in the Marriage and Families or Job seeking/work type parts of the forum. Everybody is very helpful there (as they are here) but you may get some more quick advice.

Gingham_Ribbon

You really need to ask for this to be moved to the health board on the families section of the board. One of the board guides for this board will be able to do it for you.

Are they not prepared to allow you to make up your hours through the week? It's important that you keep attending your appointments. Your boss should have explained what's going on to you. Do you have a union?

hjb123

Do you work full time? If not then they will argue that you could have appointments outside of work time, do you take the whole day for appointments?

However how do you want the time you take for hospital appointments classes?
1. Holiday - this would use up some of your holiday entitlement
2. Sick pay - in the end you are away from work for health reasons
3. Neither you expect the employer to pay you for working when you arent!

Savvy_Sue

There is a similar but not identical thread already on the Health board. What I said there was that one place I used to work didn't have hospital appts recorded as sick leave, it was just 'other' leave, so you didn't lose money. So I'd advise reading your contract, and maybe looking at the acas website. I can see where hjb is coming from but at this other place of work yes you WERE still paid even though not at work.

BTW if you have flexitime then it may be worth negotiating an extension to this. One colleague had appointments every Friday morning and worked her hours over 4.5 days to cover this, which was an exception to flexitime but meant the work got done!

Sugar_Coated_Owl

Yes I work full time. Mon-Sat all day. I only ever take the morning off.

Well I don't know what it should be classed as but it just seems a little unfair now that I've used up all my sick leave that I now have to have the money deducted from my wages.

If I've used up all my sick leave my only other alternative would be to take the time as holiday. However, this means I would end up just working and having no actual holiday.

Maybe this is just the way it is, just seems a little unfair IMO.

Also of course if I am genuinely sick I won't be able to afford to take the day off and not get paid.

My manager said that the company are probably well within their rights to deduct money as I have used up all my sick entitlement and also she added that most people don't attend hospital appointments every week. I know this but I can't help having to go, if I didn't go it would have made the situation a whole lot worse and the Doctor would have found out and things would have fallen apart.

Sorry for moaning.

Jo.

Savvy_Sue

It'll be a case of looking at your contract and checking that the rules re sick pay have been properly applied. If it's a large company then I would say it was worth phoning the HR dept. If they have, it would also be worth asking how they work out your sick pay entitlement: have they been deducting a full day when it should only have been a half day, for example? And then, is it possible to make up your hours by taking a shorter lunch break, for example? Final question for them is when your sick leave entitlement 'starts again', as it were. I've worked in places where it was a 'rolling calculation', so one of my colleagues had a lot of sick leave in a short space of time and was warned she would be on half pay if she had any more. BUT after a year from the first period of sick leave she was 'entitled' to a bit more paid sick leave - I know that's not the right way to look at it, but that's the simplest way of describing it!

I was also off sick for almost 3 months last year, and agreed a phased return to work so that I worked some days and was still on 'sick' pay for the rest of the week. I kept a week's sick leave 'in hand', IYSWIM, by getting myself back full-time before I'd used ALL my sick pay entitlement. I'm jolly glad of it on the days when I wake up with a sick headache! Sometimes I've taken the day as TOIL (Time Off In Lieu), but once or twice it's been another sick day. Good news is that in a few months I won't have to 'count' my sickies so carefully as the Op will be over a year ago and I'll have a fresh 'entitlement'.

Again, please don't anyone flame me for using the word 'entitlement'! No way do I consider myself 'entitled' to take extra days, no way do I just take extra days when I feel like it, but if I am sick, I am under the terms of my contract entitled to be paid!

Savvy_Sue

Oh, another thought: if the reason for your hospital appointments is a disability, then your employer is sailing very close to the wind wrt the Disability Discrimination Act! I think they have to make 'reasonable adjustments' to enable you to keep working. Might be worth dropping that into conversation with HR dept!

Fleago

Hi Jo,

I think that unless your contract specifically allows for paid time off for hospital appointments then your employer is well within their rights. Even if it did, it would probably only allow for reasonable time off and your employers would have a view on what was reasonable.

I understand that you're upset and worried about losing pay and feel that it's unfair, but, unfortunately, many, many people find themselves suffering financially when their health is such that it causes an impact on work. Many peoples' employers don't even pay any occupational sick pay, so any time they are off sick they suffer financially for it.

Your best bet, as others have suggested, is to try and negotiate making up the hours or use holiday entitlement. I know that you said you'd end up with no holidays, but if you are only taking half a day once a fortnight or less, that would only be at most 5 days annual leave over a period of a minimum of twenty weeks - surely you'd be left with some holidays even using them at that rate?

Sorry if this is not what you want to hear, but I hope maybe it will help you in some way

Fleago

Fleago

Savvy_Sue wrote:

Oh, another thought: if the reason for your hospital appointments is a disability, then your employer is sailing very close to the wind wrt the Disability Discrimination Act! I think they have to make 'reasonable adjustments' to enable you to keep working. Might be worth dropping that into conversation with HR dept!

I don't think they are Savvy Sue, even if the OP has a disability. The DDA allows for reasonable time off for hospital appointments for those disabled under the Act, but it doesn't mean that the time off has to be paid.

Fleago

Sugar_Coated_Owl

Thank you for all your supportive replies.

I have a team member handbook somewhere which I would have thought mentions sick pay entitlement so I will find that and read through it. I will also speak with the HR department and see what they have to say. I've no idea when sick pay entitlement starts again so it would definately be worth asking.

I guess I should be fortunate for the time off that I have been paid for.

I think you're right Fleago, if I were to take the appointments as holiday time I would still be left with a fair amount of holiday remaining.

Thank you, you're replies are very much appreciated.