Nightmare Situation!!!

Bluestinger

Hey everyone

This is a nightmare situation that I would never have believed I would have ended up in; but if any of you have any ideas on how to help me I would be very grateful.

I fell in my bathroom 5 months ago quite badly and shattered my elbow(my mum polished the floor for my Auntie visiting - don't laugh). This led to a visit to the hospital A & E department, then an operation, so my arm is now held together with plates and wire. Because the elbow joint is complicated I may require a further operation in the future and I have lost a lot of movement regardless.

Anyway, my workplace provide 1 months full sick pay and 1 months half pay, then there has to be a 12 month period before I am entitled to further sick pay. I am now on statutory sick pay and have backdated council tax allowance, also used up my flexiible-mortgage holiday entitelment.

So even though I have loan guard to cover my mortgage and receiving financial support from my family I am now over £1000 in debtor balance with my (well known internet) bank and sliding fast (I made them aware of my situation and was told that if I do not have enough money going into my account they will close it but will give me 30 days notice - cheers).

I totally appreciate that I am solely responsible for my own finances but feel short changed by my employer who ironically deals with life and sickness cover themselves, if I have to go through another operation they won't give me any sick pay if its within 12 months of my last sick day.

I am currently looking for another job, at the very least to cover myself in the event I need to go back to hospital, I can perhaps get my 1 -2 month sick pay again and a more competitive pay as well.

I am thinking of just quitting my job and giving them no notice to start somewhere else as quickly as possible though not sure what they would do against me if I chose this action as contract states I must give 4 weeks but they are not paying me I'm on statutory sick pay.

Any ideas?????

Astaroth

If you quit your job your payment protection would almost certainly stop.

Failure to give notice is a breach of contract which means that the company can sue you for the cost that breach has caused them... depending on what role you have this can be the cost of paying other people overtime to cover your shifts to the loss of sales you would have generated if your role cannot be covered etc. The reality is that it is very rare for a company to actually do this (though the Scottish FA are in the process of doing it as per the recent news). What generally is more concern is future references.

If you were to join another employer with a longer term sickness payment you would need to check for any pre-existing clauses - these obviously dont apply for statutory sick pay but may for anything more

Labman_2

First of all sorry to hear of your accident...sounds very painful.

I would imagine the details of the amount of sick pay your employer pays is in your contract and therefore you should have been aware of your entitlement so I don't know why you are feeling short changed. I'm unsure why your looking to change employers. Do you expect to start a new job and for your new employer to immediately pay you sick pay for the time you have off for any future operations for a pre-existing condition? If so I think you are being a bit unrealistic.

Bluestinger

Just to clarify - I realise I am solely responsible for my own finances which is why I have loan guard set up to pay for my mortgage.

And indeed I should have checked my contract for sick pay details, however, I have a good sick record, am a good employee and have been in the finance customer service business for over 10 years, I work overtime when asked and have covered for management.

I feel bitter because when I need help Im not getting it, though I realise this is not personal to me andjust a normal reaction and Im venting my anger, been through a painful process. My work also paid for drinks on a night out for the whole of the organisation as they hit targets, I dont begrudge this but it doesnt make me feel better either.

I've never heard personally of anybody having an accident and being off work for so long with the possiblility of having to go back for a future operation at a later date affecting them again, then being off for another extended period.

In all honesty does anybody look at their contract and think, well what if I have an accident, then need to have another operation a few months after, what would happen??? Even my specialist said I'd be fine as my company would be looking after me re-sick pay and I said actually no, was quite embaressing.

It feels like im in a special situation and it isnt being treated as such, I am on the mend though and hope to be back at work soon, which is why I am able to look for another job at this moment.

Labman_2

So you feel you are in a 'special situation'....what do you expect your current employer to do for you?

Littlemiss-lotsofdebt

I can fully appreciate the predicament you find yourself in, and I don't wish to be unsympathetic, but many people do not even receive pay for the odd day off sick, let alone 1 month full, 1 month half.

As for getting another job, any prospective employer will seek references from your previous employer and will ask questions regarding the amount of sick leave taken.

Do you have any annual leave? Could you take this to provide you with more money during your period of incapacity? Are you entitled to claim anything?

Bluestinger

It would have been beneficial to get the odd telephone call to ask how im doing, maybe inviting me in to perhaps discuss another means of getting round the problem, such as working in another area where the need to use my arm is not so prominent as my main job in teleservicing, perhaps training other staff, etc (with advice from doctor).

I asked if they could buy back some outstanding holidays from me but was told no, they would not even consider this as they could not afford to do it for everyone and was too complicated to put into force, although everywhere I have worked before there is a similair system in place with a limit to what can be bought back, even 5 days would make a difference to me. It felt more like won't do that can do.

They have said nothing about what is expected when I go back, its like Im going to get no time to learn of any changes of whats happened and will just put me in front of the monitor and expect me to perform with no allowance on my target, which affects any bonus that I may be working towards, so I'm feeling pressured already and I am not even back yet.

I am aware that in some places that you go on stat sick pay right away but I dont think this is fair if your on a low level income like myself where all these extra payments can be quite crippling, as I understand from my agency it was solicitors and lawyers who started this trend who no doubt have employees who get paid a lot more than people like me.

At the very least there could be a staff discount for the type of policies required for siutations like this, or at least make people more aware of the company policy.

My own supervisor didn't even know herself if I'd be covered or not if I had to be off work again so had to call personnel, neither did the person who interviewed me for another job that I went for. So I am not the only person that has been ignorant of the facts, as I said before I know that I'm responsible for my own finances and have learned from my own experiences, what I would like is some ideas on what to do for the best now that Im in this situation????

mountainofdebt

The only thing I can suggest you do is make sure that you are claiming all the benefits you should be and have a look at your budget to see where cuts can be made.

Bluestinger

Labman wrote:

So you feel you are in a 'special situation'....what do you expect your current employer to do for you?

Well, if "special situation" means that I lose conciousness in A & E, go through an operation on my arm, told I will not have full movement and then may have to undergo a further operation if the first one was not succesful, whereby the top of my radiohead bone will be sawed off so I can regain movement and take another 5 or 6 months to fully recover, then yeah, I'm feeling thats pretty much the right description for me and anybody else who is as unfortunate or worse to go through this.

Please do not make me sound like I'm wallowing in self pity, guys I really need help here, I realise this is mostly my own making but I came on here to get ideas where I can professionaly move on not to be told what I already know!!!

jonesMUFCforever

I am not being funny here but have you thought of suing your mum?
Seriously all house insurance policies (she has a policy yes?) will have public liability cover. Even though you sue your mum you will really be making a claim against the insurance company.
You may need one of those no win no fee solicitors to take up your case.

Astaroth

No, it would be your mother your suing, it is just the insurance company that pays.

So your mother is the one that receives the court summons telling her how negligent she is and how much pain and suffering she has caused you because she is such so terrible.

You are perfectly entitled to do it but I have seen marriages ended because of it... letters etc that are involved are not friendly