Signed Off - Underpaid the month before Xmas

Hbeard

Hello everybody, I am utterly desperate here I could definitely do with a little help!

Today, I received my paycheck, and it was barely even a 1/3 of my actual wage. Its not enough to cover my mortgage repayment, let alone cover Xmas etc. This has left me in complete disarray, 5 days before iI am due to have surgery.

I have written a pretty broad account of whats led to this situation below, but the TL;DR version is;

Signed off with Hernia
Company didn't receive latest fit note
Appear to be refusing to pay me even after receiving fit note and verifying that it covers all my time off

Here's some background...

I have been signed off from my job since August with a Paraumbilical Hernia, which I suspect was caused at my workplace. I work in a Warehouse and have a pretty physical job. The Hernia was diagnosed in April. I Continued working but found myself in more and more physical pain as a result of this.

My doctor advised signing me off in June, but due to recent changes in the company I felt it was important that I was there, so I asked for light duties so that I could keep attending work. This went on for a further 2 months, during which time I was not given lighter duties. This inevitably led to my Hernia getting worse and as of August I was signed off completely.

Thats the history, so far so good. Things get trickier now.

I kept in constant contact with the company, with very little effort made on their part to set up regular meetings/contact etc. I sent them every piece of pertinent information regarding my surgery and recovery, including the letter stating the date of my surgery (taking place in 5 days time).

Regarding Fit Note's, I was not instructed on how or who these needed to be sent to so I sent them via MMS to my current line manager. My last Fit Note signs me off from the end of Oct to the start of Jan, as it covers my surgery and recovery time. He claims this was not received. No effort was made to contact me and make me aware of this until half way through November when I received a letter.

The letter essentially states that because I have not supplied a Fit Note they are marking all the days I haven't been there as absent and not paying me. This is despite contacting them on the day of receiving the note and emailing it to all the parties specified as requested and also in spite of them knowing and having proof of my operation date.

Do I have ANY options here?

Sorry for te huge post, if you made it through all that - you are a legend. I am literally losing my mind right now, I was already coming apart at the seams as Iv never had major surgery before but now I actually have no idea what to do.

Undervalued

The vast majority of company sick pay schemes are "discretionary". Assuming yours is then I am afraid anything over and above SSP is at the firm's discretion. Even if you have a hard and fast entitlement to X months company sick pay (and that is becoming quite unusual) it will still be subject to potentially strict rules about submitting sick notes on time etc. One would hope, if it has genuinely gone astray, they would show some latitude but again that is down to their discretion.

Also a company does not have to accept a doctor's recommendation on a fit note for "light duties" etc. They have total discretion in opting not to and treating you as off sick. They can say "do your full job or no job at all".

I appreciate that is not what you want to hear but it is the law.

Hbeard

From my point of view I have done everything I was instructed to do by my employer. They made very little effort to set up any kid of communication with me, even when I tried to suggest it,

The sick note has not gone astray, it was sent via MMS to my manager who apparently never received it, nor informed me that he had never received it. I still have the physical copy and this was sent to the Occupational Health, Head of HR and my manager on the day I received the aforementioned letter. They also have the letter confirming my surgery date, which would also confirm my inability to work or so I thought.

Regarding light duties, ultimately that is what happened, which is what led my doctor to just signing me off completely.

What I cannot understand is why they would happily pay me for the whole time, and then right before my surgery is due to commence, UNDER pay me and blow everything. At this rate, il have to cancel the surgery so I can pick up work somewhere else to make the Mortgage payments happen, I dont even know if I can do that?

duchy

Have you contacted your mortgage company to ask for a payment holiday ?

Hbeard

Shared ownership mortgage, so therefore payment holiday unavailable.

The others wont be able to cover me either, I know thats the most obvious solution but, it being Xmas, everyone is already stretched super thin.

Bogalot

Can you work out what you had been paid, is it your entitlement to the end of October? Are you entitled to occupational sick pay or just SSP, if the former how long does this run for?

It reads to me that the missing sick note means you missed the cut off for this month's pay. The fact that they didn't notify you of this is not relevant, responsibility for submitting sick notes (and making sure you use the correct procedure) remains with yourself. If this is the case, you could ask if they are able to do another pay run before next month, or offer an advance. The answer may be no, in which case you'll receive a larger pay packet next month.

Speak to your mortgage company about either a holiday or a reduced payment. If it's your first time asking it shouldn't be difficult to come to an arrangement.

Whatever happens, don't cancel your operation. Your health is the most important thing, everything else will fall into place eventually.

Bogalot

Hbeard wrote: »

Shared ownership mortgage, so therefore payment holiday unavailable.

The others wont be able to cover me either, I know thats the most obvious solution but, it being Xmas, everyone is already stretched super thin.

Even with a shared ownership mortgage they should be able to offer some sort of reduced payment as a short term measure. If they still won't budge, lodge a complaint and remind them of the FCA code requiring them to treat customers fairly.

Also speak to whoever you pay your rent to. If it's a council or housing association I would be inclined to make a payment arrangement with them and focus on your mortgage. They'll be far less aggressive in terms of arrears. (Although this should only ever be a short term measure.)

sangie595

Hbeard wrote: »

From my point of view I have done everything I was instructed to do by my employer. They made very little effort to set up any kid of communication with me, even when I tried to suggest it,

The sick note has not gone astray, it was sent via MMS to my manager who apparently never received it, nor informed me that he had never received it. I still have the physical copy and this was sent to the Occupational Health, Head of HR and my manager on the day I received the aforementioned letter. They also have the letter confirming my surgery date, which would also confirm my inability to work or so I thought.

Regarding light duties, ultimately that is what happened, which is what led my doctor to just signing me off completely.

What I cannot understand is why they would happily pay me for the whole time, and then right before my surgery is due to commence, UNDER pay me and blow everything. At this rate, il have to cancel the surgery so I can pick up work somewhere else to make the Mortgage payments happen, I dont even know if I can do that?

It is very unusual for an employer to accept a digital copy of a fit note by MMS. But the problem is that even if they do, it is not the employers responsibility to chase something they haven't received. It is yours to make sure that they receive it.

It would be inadvisable to cancel the surgery and work somewhere else. That leaves it open to the assumption that you have been lying about how serious your condition is. You either need the surgery, or you do not. You clearly do, so canceling and working somewhere else, unless you plan to resign and get another job, would be a bad idea.

Takeaway_Addict

Hbeard wrote: »

From my point of view I have done everything I was instructed to do by my employer. They made very little effort to set up any kid of communication with me, even when I tried to suggest it,

The sick note has not gone astray, it was sent via MMS to my manager who apparently never received it, nor informed me that he had never received it. I still have the physical copy and this was sent to the Occupational Health, Head of HR and my manager on the day I received the aforementioned letter. They also have the letter confirming my surgery date, which would also confirm my inability to work or so I thought.

Regarding light duties, ultimately that is what happened, which is what led my doctor to just signing me off completely.

What I cannot understand is why they would happily pay me for the whole time, and then right before my surgery is due to commence, UNDER pay me and blow everything. At this rate, il have to cancel the surgery so I can pick up work somewhere else to make the Mortgage payments happen, I dont even know if I can do that?

Was he expecting to recieve one because if not how would he know to tell you he hasn't recieved it?

Undervalued

Hbeard wrote: »

From my point of view I have done everything I was instructed to do by my employer. They made very little effort to set up any kid of communication with me, even when I tried to suggest it,

The sick note has not gone astray, it was sent via MMS to my manager who apparently never received it, nor informed me that he had never received it. I still have the physical copy and this was sent to the Occupational Health, Head of HR and my manager on the day I received the aforementioned letter. They also have the letter confirming my surgery date, which would also confirm my inability to work or so I thought.

Regarding light duties, ultimately that is what happened, which is what led my doctor to just signing me off completely.

What I cannot understand is why they would happily pay me for the whole time, and then right before my surgery is due to commence, UNDER pay me and blow everything. At this rate, il have to cancel the surgery so I can pick up work somewhere else to make the Mortgage payments happen, I dont even know if I can do that?

Much as I sympathise I come back to the point about discretionary sick pay. What does your contract say? Most likely, as I said before, it will be in some way at their discretion. If it is not and you have a hard a fast contractual entitlement to sick pay for X months then you are in a far stronger position. If that is the case then their only way of not paying is if they can somehow argue you have not complied with the terms and conditions.

Obviously you may be fit enough to do, say, an office job but your employer is not legally obliged to accommodate this. Equally you would be in breach of contract working elsewhere whilst still employed. If you find such a job and resign your current position then that is another matter.

Check your terms and conditions carefully then see if you have to appeal to their good nature or have any rights to fall back on.

polgara

As has been said it is very unusual to accept a digital copy of a sick note (as it may have been altered). Did you speak to anyone to tell them that you had another sick note?

Technically if they haven't received a sick note then you could be classed as AWOL and potentially put on to nil pay...however it is bad form not to make contact with a member of staff to let them know this (amazing how fast a sick note is generally produced when they have that conversation).