Can they do that

mirand

A female working for a national company, diagnosed with cancer May this year and started chemotherapy sessions which caused, in addition to the usual side effects i.e. hair, eye brows and lashes loss, fatigue, joints pain and mobility problem.

Took six months’ sick leave for the chemotherapy and was advised that a month after it finished that she will undergo the operation to remove the remainder of the cancer.

The company referred her to their doctor for assessment.

The doctor was clear that she is not 100 per cent fit for work but IF she has to return is to be given “light duties” and not to operate machineries at all (which was her main job ).

She returned to work on light duties as she was worried about the financial implications being a single mother.

The operation date have been confirmed next week and when trying to book another sick leave she was told that the company “ Will not pay sick leave for the same illness twice” .

Do people think this is right??? Could a company’ policy refuse to pay sick leave if the employee did not recover completely??

If so, what would the alternative be whilst she is recuperating from the surgery …… considering she doesn’t have private insurance….

This conversation took place with the local manager and a copy of the company's policy was requested along with a written confirmation that they will not pay again...

If they sack her, one way or another after 18 years..... what can be done :mad:

Thanks

Undervalued

The vast majority of company sick pay schemes are "discretionary" which, taken literally, means the employee is not actually guaranteed any sick pay at all (apart obviously from SSP).

There are still some hard and fast contractual sick pay schemes where, subject to complying with the terms and conditions, any employee has a hard and fast entitlement to X months of sick pay. However these are rare and even then there will be a limit.

Cancer is automatically a disability for employment law purposes so the employer must make "reasonable adjustments" to help her but these do not go anything like as far as many people fondly imagine.

So, she could well have exhausted all of the sick pay the company are obliged or willing to pay. Allowing light duties would probably satisfy the requirement for reasonable adjustments.

Despite her illness / disability the company could still look towards a capability dismissal if she is not able to do her job satisfactorily despite the reasonable adjustments or due to the amount of time she has been off sick.

Sorry but those are the facts.

mirand

how very disappointing.....
although i have resisted having private medical insurance for various reasons, judging by what am seeing around me.... I am genuinely rethinking my view on the subject.

agrinnall

Good luck with your treatment.

Private Medical Insurance is unlikely to make much difference when you have a serious illness, the NHS is the best place. I expect what you really meant was Income Protection which would have paid you once your employer stopped paying, but the time to take that out is when you are healthy as it won't cover you now for an existing illness.

TadleyBaggie

agrinnall wrote: »

Good luck with your treatment.

It's not the OP that has cancer, unless they were referring to themselves in the 3rd person.

Acc72

Was she paid during her 6 months sickness absence - if so, this is much more than many would receive (I know that this doesn't help her at the moment).


Does she have critical illness cover - either via work or personally ? (might be worth checking as if the company did pay her for 6 months she may have this cover and not realise it).


I had a colleague who was able to claim on the company critical illness policy (I think she got 2 years pay tax free) and they have also since returned to work.

mirand

Thank you very much for the info...
Will get her to check this ASAP. very useful info.

agrinnall

TadleyBaggie wrote: »

It's not the OP that has cancer, unless they were referring to themselves in the 3rd person.

That's how I read it, but if it's not the OP (which seems to be the case from the most recent post) then I wish whoever is referred to well.

bouicca21

Check the contract. Mine allowed for 6 months full pay followed by 6 months half pay. I already worked a lot from home so was able to negotiate full time working from home instead of taking sick leave.

TELLIT01

If the employer isn't going to pay her she will need to claim ESA. All that's required is a medical certificate from the GP and a form SSP1 from the employer explaining why there is no entitlement to Statutory Sick pay.

Undervalued

bouicca21 wrote: »

Check the contract. Mine allowed for 6 months full pay followed by 6 months half pay. I already worked a lot from home so was able to negotiate full time working from home instead of taking sick leave.

Yes, obviously it is worth checking.

Those sort of terms were once traditional for civil servants, large universities etc but are nearly a thing of the past for new entrants. We don't know where the OP's friend works but as they have been there 18 years it is possible they are entitled to something like that. However even then there may well be terms and conditions attached. The OP has mentioned not paying twice for the same illness (??), that would be a fairly unusual term but not necessarily unlawful.

The fact that they have, seemingly, received six months sick pay is as has been stated well above average.