do I have to work my notice if I'm off sick?

bellabooski

Hi everyone,
This is a question on behalf of a friend.She has been signed off work for several months with mental and physical health issues.She is currently in receipt of Statutory Sick Pay and has asked her employer if they would reduce her hours which they refuse to do. If she is able to find another job which would be less hours,less stressful and less physically demanding could she resign from her current job and not actually work her notice?
Thankyou in advance for any replies/feedback.
Kind regards
Bella

SandC

If she is off sick then her notice would effectively be worked even though she would not be physically in the office.

Why would she be able to perform another job if she is too ill to work the one she already has though?

RedSoleShoes

If she has been signed off work and claiming SSP, then she should not be working. Applying for a new job whilst she is signed off is basically saying "I'm too ill to work for you for x months but here's my resignation, I'm off to work for someone else"!!

If she can do that, she clearly should not be signed off in the first place!

Weirdlittleman

If the employer was to get wind of her applying for other jobs etc they could look at involving OH etc to dismiss her on the grounds of either incapacity or discliplinary if she is deemed to be at it.

As for the notice. She could be signed off for all of her notice but cant start the new job within it unless she wants to risk repercussions.

Any reference etc would probably be less than favourable or paint a poor picture.

bellabooski

Lily de Tilly try reading my post again. I did not say she was applying for any jobs. She has in fact been very poorly and can no longer maintain the hours required (not in an office). At least she wants to work and is not willing to sit on her backside and accept state handouts. The lady in question has just turned 60 and has worked all her life until now, so please be a bit more economical with your spiky comments.
To those of you who have replied with more useful and less judgemental comments,thankyou very much.

Emmzi

technically they could force her to work her notice but if an employee of mine came to me and said "We both know I'm not cut out fot this work, I've got a chance to do something I think I can cope with better, what say you waive my notice period and we shake hands and both move on", versus being stuck with a vacancy I couldn't fill because they were sitting in it, I'd say yes please and buy them a leaving present.

RedSoleShoes

bellabooski wrote: »

Lily de Tilly try reading my post again. I did not say she was applying for any jobs.

You said "if she can find another job" which would consist of applying!

When you are signed off sick, you are signed off because of the state of your health, not because of the job you do. If she is able to work then why not resign now and then start looking for a job that is suitable to her physical abilities.

PS. I don't make the rules, so my "spiky" comments are just fact. I am sorry if you do not like what you hear.

SandC

I have to agree with Lily, bellabooski, your post implied that she would not be resigning until she had found another job, which does mean job hunting whilst on sick leave. She may not wish to sit at home on state handouts but would be happy to receive SSP until finding another job it seems. That, after all, is the whole gist of the query in that she doesn't want to have an overlap period?

Emmzi

if it is a stress related illness however then it's acceptable to be able to search for other less stress/ depression inducing work, or less manual work, etc.. it isn't as clear cut as people are making out. It's like the old arguement that you shouldn't be seen in the pub if signed off with dpression, when in fact social contact can be very important.

OPs friend has suggested adjustments (reduced hours) which her employer has rejected.

She may be entirely capable of searching monster and typing up a cv, which incapable of a full 40 hour or whatever week, to which the employer offers no alternative.

This is from my many years experience as an HR manager, and how I would view and manage the situation.

Your mileage may vary.

Uncertain

SandC wrote: »

Why would she be able to perform another job if she is too ill to work the one she already has though?

Although this is an obvious question there can be situations where somebody is well enough for some types of work and not others.

It is not unknown for somebody with two part time jobs to be medically unfit for one but not the other.

RedSoleShoes

SandC wrote: »

I have to agree with Lily, bellabooski, your post implied that she would not be resigning until she had found another job, which does mean job hunting whilst on sick leave. She may not wish to sit at home on state handouts but would be happy to receive SSP until finding another job it seems. That, after all, is the whole gist of the query in that she doesn't want to have an overlap period?

Exactly! But it seems OP wants us to wrap our answers in cotton wool and only say what she wants to hear which is

"of course she can job hunt whilst on SSP and then when she gets a job, quickly sign off SSP and then resign from her current job but not work notice because it is inconvenient for starting her new job"

(which, according to OP,she is not applying for anyway!!)