No sick pay - unusual?

Googlewhacker

Uncertain wrote: »

What I do object to (and I think should be made illegal) is for firms to offer "discretionary" sick pay. In other words, we might pay you if your face fits! This leads to all kinds of unfairness and uncertainty. Obviously a firm can lay down terms and conditions, just like an insurance policy, but if those conditions are complied with then that should be the end of the matter.

Do you not think though that companies should be allowed to reward those members of staff that do more than just the bare minimum?

Uncertain

Googlewhacker wrote: »

Do you not think though that companies should be allowed to reward those members of staff that do more than just the bare minimum?

Yes, but not in that way. It would be a bit like an insurance company saying "we will only pay your valid car claim if you take out our house insurance"!

Googlewhacker

Uncertain wrote: »

Yes, but not in that way. It would be a bit like an insurance company saying "we will only pay your valid car claim if you take out our house insurance"!

I guess my view on it is I would rather reward someone for the good work and the extra work they do by paying them than someone that does the bear minimum not to get the sack. Hopefully the lack of sick pay would make them feel not wanted and they would move on to pastures new.

King_Nothing

I get 10 weeks of normal wage as sick pay, after that I go on to SSP.

SuzieSue

My friend works for a company that has a discretionary sick pay policy. People do not not get paid if they are off sick, but you can appeal to the MD and if you have a good attendance record you will often get paid.

elisebutt65

I work in FE. We get public sector conditions (ie Teachers) pension etc, but I only get SSP as I found out when I was felled with Swine Flu(remember that? Lol) in Nov 2010, for a fortnight. I try not to have time off because;
a) It's a pain to cover other's teaching;
b) It's not a great example to the students; and
c) it impacts on my pay

Obviously I can't come in if it's a horrible contagious lergy, but that hasn't happened since the SF episode. My boss had this disgusting flu at the end of winter term and insisted on dragging herself in, with the result that we were all I'll over Xmas!! Grrrr!

(replied in my iPhone, so apologies for weird word substitutions I may have missed)

ceridwen

elisebutt65 wrote: »

I work in FE. We get public sector conditions (ie Teachers) pension etc, but I only get SSP as I found out when I was felled with Swine Flu(remember that? Lol) in Nov 2010, for a fortnight. I try not to have time off because;
a) It's a pain to cover other's teaching;
b) It's not a great example to the students; and
c) it impacts on my pay

Obviously I can't come in if it's a horrible contagious lergy, but that hasn't happened since the SF episode. My boss had this disgusting flu at the end of winter term and insisted on dragging herself in, with the result that we were all I'll over Xmas!! Grrrr!

(replied in my iPhone, so apologies for weird word substitutions I may have missed)

I take your point exactly.

This raises the question as to whether those employers who dont pay sick pay differentiate at all between sick leave that is personal to the employee concerned (eg recovering from an operation) on the one hand and something infectious on the other hand.

I would imagine that any employee who picked up a serious contagious illness specifically from their workplace - and knew that the reason the person concerned had still come into work was because they would lose income if they didnt - might possibly have cause to sue the employer for them having incurred that illness?

Wonders if we have any legal bods on here who could clarify whether this would be the case?

GotToChange

Should try to get a job with a major global (US-based*) coroporation:
three-six month on full pay, same again on half, BUPA cover as standard, maternity and paternity leave - not even a sideways glance when returning after Baby#1 already pregnant with No #2; can even get promoted whilst on maternity leave. Super redundancy packages too.:o


*Bearing in mind that this is not typical actually within the US.


OTOH - super-rich Golf Club (think Ryder Cup) - do not pay anything over and above statutory minimum - and then screw it up - and if you challenge their mistake, fire you (not me). Lovely place.

Emmylou_2

King_Nothing wrote: »

I get 10 weeks of normal wage as sick pay, after that I go on to SSP.

Cor, you're lucky. I work for a law firm and get 10 days before it's onto SSP.

GavB79

GotToChange wrote: »

Should try to get a job with a major global (US-based*) coroporation:
three-six month on full pay, same again on half, BUPA cover as standard, maternity and paternity leave - not even a sideways glance when returning after Baby#1 already pregnant with No #2; can even get promoted whilst on maternity leave. Super redundancy packages too.:o


*Bearing in mind that this is not typical actually within the US.

Or just work for the public sector, that's all pretty standard bar the BUPA