How long can you be off sick before you can be laid off?

usignuolo

I am team leader. She is on my team. She was employed before I joined and by a different HR manager and we are private sector and all the contracts tend to vary depending on when you joined. Mine is not specific about sick leave, I do not know what hers says. As a team we are not unsympathetic to her position but the firm is a very small one and she is on quite a generous package (they hired her at a time when they were doing well and could afford to be generous, NOT SO now as money is very tight.)


Boss says they cannot afford to employ a replacement, even a temp, while she is still on the books and they are still paying her. HR says they are in a grey area over her sick pay because she has not been diagnosed with a long term disability or indeed anything specific but is signed off sick month by month by her GP as unfit for work. She says she still does not have an official diagnosis and is hoping to return to work soon. We are all getting very bogged down meanwhile by doing her job as well as ours.

Undervalued

Well your HR department must have a copy of her contract.

First thing is to find out whether there is a hard and fast entitlement to sick pay and, if so, for how long. If it is "discretionary" then somebody senior needs to make a decision about how much to allow.

It would be perfectly reasonable to ask her to see an occupational health specialist (at the firm's expense). They will provide an expert opinion on how her health my affect her work, likely length of absence etc.

You could also seek her permission to get a report from her GP (again at the firms expense c. £200).

Obviously any doctor's first duty is to the patient, regardless of who is paying, and they are bound by professional rules.

She doesn't have to agree to either (unless her contract requires her to) but it would not help her case to refuse should she ultimately seek to claim unfair dismissal.

Andy_L

usignuolo wrote: »

I am team leader. She is on my team. ...... We are all getting very bogged down meanwhile by doing her job as well as ours.

In your position I would be telling your seniors that you team is unable to, and will soon fail to, meet its targets due to being understaffed & whilst you've done what you can within your responsibilities (eg prioritising work, overtime, temporary holiday bans etc ) no more can be done & what do they want to do about it

littleboo

Is the company doing anything to actively facilitate a return to work ? OHS referral, reduced hours, change of duties, home working, phased return ?

p00

How do you know she is undiagnosed?.
How will you feel if it becomes known she has some awful illness and you've spent your time moaning about what she's getting.

Unless you are management it really isn't any of your business what she is paid or what is wrong with her.

If you are simply one of the team then you can only complain about being over worked. Other than that mind your own business.

fabforty

While I understand that her absence has a negative impact on your team, she has been declared unfit for work by a GP - she may not have told you or other colleagues what is wrong with her, but that doesn't mean that she does not have a diagnosis. There must be symptoms of some sort, which make her unable to work.


Incidentally, when I was diagnosed with cancer (years ago), my HR department knew what was wrong with me, but my line manager and colleagues did not. Likewise, when I was going through fertility treatment and the drugs made me so sick I could barely move, I did not want anyone to know, and as far as I was concerned it was enough that they knew that I had been signed off sick by a doctor.


I would have been very upset if colleagues had been trying to find out what my sick pay arrangements were, what arrangements were being made to facilitate my return to work, OH appointments or anything else for that matter.

lisyloo

I agree with the others.
The details of her contract and illness are none of your business.
What is your business as team leader is the effect it's having on your team.
It's your job to communicate clearly to your management both the impacts on the work and the impacts on the team morale.
I do appreciate it's difficult but my advice would be to try to seperate out the two issues in your own mind.

The business may have made a mistake by giving her an overly generous package in the past but that is THEIR problem and shouldn't mean that she is treated unsympathetically.
I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be paying her if she wasn't entitled to it.

I don't know her, but most people don't want to be ill, don't want to let down their colleagues and would also be worrying about their job.