Employment Rights at work

garyandlynn

I have been off sick with suspected COPD for nearly 26 weeks. My boss seems to think she can dismiss me at 26 wks if they deem me unfit for work? I know of people who have been off sick for 12 months.

sangie595

garyandlynn wrote: »

I have been off sick with suspected COPD for nearly 26 weeks. My boss seems to think she can dismiss me at 26 wks if they deem me unfit for work? I know of people who have been off sick for 12 months.

It doesn't matter what a different employer does for a different person - if someone is not in work, regardless of the reason, then the employer can dismiss. They would need to do so within reasonable processes, but yes, they could have dismissed you months ago, so they certainly could now.

kuratowski

When I was in hospital a few months back - total of 3 months off work - I was thanking my lucky stars my employer would allow up to 26 weeks sickness absence and still keep my job. One of the guys in the same ward got nothing more than 2 weeks' sick pay and no job.

theoretica

In my work they are most concerned not with how long you have been off for, but how long you are likely to stay off for and whether you are likely to return.

polgara

Copd is fairly easy to diagnose so why is it still suspected after 26 weeks? Are you likely to return to work any time soon? If not, then I’d be expecting you to be going through the process to review your continuing employment.

I have lots of people who think that their entitlement to paid sick leave (in our case 6 months full, six months half for the majority of the workforce) means that they can’t be dismissed before that is exhausted.

sangie595

polgara wrote: »

Copd is fairly easy to diagnose so why is it still suspected after 26 weeks? Are you likely to return to work any time soon? If not, then I!!!8217;d be expecting you to be going through the process to review your continuing employment.

I have lots of people who think that their entitlement to paid sick leave (in our case 6 months full, six months half for the majority of the workforce) means that they can!!!8217;t be dismissed before that is exhausted.

Actually, in the situation you cite, that could be the case! There's case law that says that dismissing someone who has contractual sick pay entitlement before their entitlement runs out would be an unfair dismissal. Logically, that is sensible - if an employer can sack someone for being off sick and avoid paying contractual sick pay, that's exactly what they would do. So it's difficult to justify a fair dismissal before sick pay runs out. In the OPs case, I assume, it's SSP though, and that would make something of a difference. Technically, there is nothing to stop an employer sacking someone on day 1 of sickness. In reality, most employers play it safe and base their decisions on the likelihood of someone returning to work and / or the end of SSP payments.

Harrison86

Okay so my step son has been working in a pub kitchen for almost 3 years and with covid he has been in low hours due to the pub not been busy. The pub has also just taken another member of staff on in the kitchen and my step son has now had a message tonight off his boss saying  can you pop into work tomorrow for a chat. It looks like he is going to get laid off now this other member of staff has started in the kitchen so my question is can they employ a new member of staff and then just lay the other member of staff off ( just replace him because they have someone new) any help would be appreciated