Employer Reclaiming Overpaid Sick Pay

fiisch

Hello,

My girlfriend is a support worker with a 45hr/week contract. I understand that she is not entitled to sick pay if the period of sickness is >5 days.

Her work place recently changed their policy on sickness in an attempt to clamp down. My girlfriend has not taken sick leave in over six months, but her employer is claiming that they have previously overpaid sick pay and have advised they are taking £115 from this month's paycheque.

She has had little notice and it just so happens to be on the run up to Christmas and a subsequent holiday we have recently booked. Judging by Google search, it appears that there are few rights to protect the employee.

I have advised her to request details of all hours worked/taken sick in 2013 and reconcile with monthly wageslips. Is there anything further she can do?

I appreciate it is a paltry amount and, if indeed she was overpaid (which I have concerns over), the employer is within their rights to reclaim. However, I have concerns that the management is bullying certain members of staff with recent actions, one of which was to attempt to serve verbal warnings to staff members who had breached new sickness rules prior to their introduction (this was quickly batted away with a sternly-worded letter threatening escalation).

The sickness policy for her employment is problematic as she can be sent home if ill if there is a risk of infecting the residents. This extends to enforcing 48 hour period before she may return to work if she has been off sick.

Any advice is much appreciated.

fiisch

Sorry - I should add she was, at the time, unaware of the overpayment (although, if they did indeed overpay her I concede this is somewhat naive).

Tiddlywinks

The deduction must not take her below National Minimum Wage:

https://www.gov.uk/understanding-your-pay/deductions-from-your-pay

fiisch

Thank you - I don't *think* it does, but I will check. As she is a support worker and gets overtime/slightly higher rates at weekends, it's tricky to work out but I will go through her payslips tonight.

The only other thing I can consider throwing at them is the dispicable lack of notice and inconsideration to the time of year, and ask they space out the deductions.

Am I right to think that sorting something amicably is by far her best option, and ultimately her employer has the right to assist on the deduction, assuming it doesn't take her below minimum wage?

(This seems criminal that there is a gap in this legislation - deducting 10% of someone's wages could cause a serious shortfall in some households).

Tiddlywinks

There is an expectation that employees check their pay statements to ensure accuracy... it is amazing how people can spot an underpayment a mile off but an overpayment just seems to pass them by.

Is this really worth the fight? Worth the aggravation this might cause? Worth the loss of a good working relationship with management?

fiisch

No - absolutely not, and completely agree it is the employee's responsibility to check they're being paid correctly.

That said, this comes after a long line of niggles and the management generally being difficult. There is no good working relationship between the management and any of the staff as far as I am aware. I find it a worrying coincidence that we've just booked a holiday which she has informed work about, and two days later they're hitting her with a deduction on a paycheque due a day later the month prior to Xmas.

Then again, the healthcare industry is suffering at the moment after a bout of bad press.

Let the job-hunting commence....

Tiddlywinks

fiisch wrote: »

Let the job-hunting commence....

Does your friend realise that you are making such plans for her?