Can you be sacked when "on the sick"?

KiKi

He can't just dismiss her - he has to follow a fair process. So ask her to dig out what she was given, it doesn't matter if it was standard - if that's their process then she should review it.

If you can post information here on what it says for long-term sickness / capability (due to illness) process we can comment on its fairness / approach etc.

KiKi

[Deleted User]

barrymung wrote: »

previous employer of mine sacked someone who was off sick with cancer!

That was what my mother's employer did even before it was found to be terminal. They basically just pushed her out the door after a couple of weeks off sick.

Takeaway_Addict

barrymung wrote: »

previous employer of mine sacked someone who was off sick with cancer!


they were off for about four weeks before finding out it was terminal and they were then sacked.


the company stated that the employee had previously had cancer a few years back whilst employed elsewhere and had not declared it (despite not being given the opportunity to declare it)


the employee died a few months later so never got the chance to argue.

beyond harsh...

amiehall

Marisco wrote: »

Thank you for your answers.

To answer your questions, she has no disabilities and she doesn't expect to be off sick for a long time. The reason it's taken as long as it has is because she had a reaction to medication that she was given.

She has been there 15 years with no time off sick before.

There is no need to draft people in, as there are two others there that can do the work, and it's not that busy a place.

What I really wanted to know is can he legally do this, for no other reason that she is off sick, and it seems that he can.

It's difficult to explain the situation without giving too much away, but he is the sort who "ducks and dives" he had to pay a former colleagues tax bill, when he threatened to take him to court over unpaid tax, he'd used the wrong coding. He doesn't pay suppliers until they cut off his supply etc etc, so we think he's using this to get rid of her and get an "apprentice" at a far cheaper rate of pay. And it is exactly the type of thing he would do too.

I'm not sure I would advertise that. Why do they employ your friend then...

tazwhoever

barrymung wrote: »

previous employer of mine sacked someone who was off sick with cancer!


they were off for about four weeks before finding out it was terminal and they were then sacked.


the company stated that the employee had previously had cancer a few years back whilst employed elsewhere and had not declared it (despite not being given the opportunity to declare it)


the employee died a few months later so never got the chance to argue.

This was very sad.

I guess there are many employers who might do this, my previous employer was good. There was an individual who had cancer and she was allowed sick leave and worked with cancer but died in her employment.

I guess these employers aren't many.

ohreally

Yes. .....

Takeaway_Addict

pelirocco wrote: »

it takes in bucket loads , we had an employee who was involved in a serious RTA ( not during course of work ) the nature of their injuries meant they would never be able to return to heir old job ( in fact probably any job ) It took over a year to end their employment with us

From when, the point of the accident or from the point of starting the procedure.

From the start of capability procedure I would expect it to be done in under 3 months.

Undervalued

jobbingmusician wrote: »

He does have to go down the proper dismissal route though. He has to be very careful to follow his own disciplinary process, which I believe has to be compliant with the ACAS one. He can't jump to sudden dismissal unless for gross misconduct, so will have to give warnings before dismissing.

No, sorry this is all rather out of date.

For the dismissal to be fair in law the employer must follow a fair procedure. The easiest way of doing this is to use the ACAS guidelines (there are no longer statutory procedures) but that is not to say some other approach wouldn't be judged to be fair by a tribunal.

If the firm has a laid down procedure then they would be ill advised not to follow it but it is very rare for such procedures to be a hard and fast contractual right. If they, exceptionally, were then failing to follow it could give rise to a claim for wrongful dismissal but that in itself is only likely to lead to an award of a few days pay at best.

In a capability dismissal such as this there is no automatic need to have issued warnings.

Marktheshark

Wrong the Employer MUST not following anything.
They are GUIDELINES.
Not law.

A savvy Employer might have already worked out if you can afford to bankroll a tribunal and even with the derisory settlement you get under the "new rules" it is cheaper than six months sick pay following the guidelines.

This is 2015 not 1990 and you either keep your head down at work or you get the sack.

FBaby

At the moment, all she knows is that he recruiting someone to do a similar job that her, nothing else. For all you know, he is recruiting them and then will sack them when she comes back, which he can do without a reason. Maybe he doesn't believe she will be back any time soon or think she is currently looking for another job herself and in the meantime, the job still needs to be done.

She needs to focus on getting better and strong enough to tackle the situation/start looking for another position rather than thinking what to do based on what is only assumptions as it stands.