Sick pay

victoriaolivia

Hi I wondered if anyone knew if employers could pick and choose who they pay if they are off sick. I was under the impression everyone had to either use a holiday or had the wage docked at my place and turns out that's not the case. All admin staff get it docked but surveyors get it paid.
Thanks
Victoria

stripeyfox

not sure if "pick or choose" is the correct term but in my experience, yes different employees can have different terms. What is in your contract is relevant here and that may be different from your colleagues. A place where I worked paid sick pay to "office" staff but not to shopfloor - this was agreed in their conditions when they started.

EDIT - to clarify by "sick pay" in this case I mean the employer paid normal salary when staff were off stick, but shopfloor would only get SSP

victoriaolivia

Hi I just mean like a day off ill we get wages cut. It was just said in the interview "we dont pay people when they are off sick" so I assumed that was everyone but I was chatting with one of the girls and she said one of the directors is getting miffed at x for having so much time off and leaving the office to collect their kid so much from nursery when ill etc and I said well x wont get paid for it anyways and she said oh yeah we do but you dont.

spadoosh

victoriaolivia wrote: »

Hi I just mean like a day off ill we get wages cut. It was just said in the interview "we dont pay people when they are off sick" so I assumed that was everyone but I was chatting with one of the girls and she said one of the directors is getting miffed at x for having so much time off and leaving the office to collect their kid so much from nursery when ill etc and I said well x wont get paid for it anyways and she said oh yeah we do but you dont.

It sounds like you have different contracts.

You will get paid SSP after 4 continuous days of absence. This is compulsory.

It sounds like the surveyors have a contractual sick policy written in which you do not. Check your contract and see what it says about sickness to confirm you situation. Youre unlikely to be shown someone elses without them directly showing it to you for confidentiality reasons. It doesnt really matter what their contract states though, you are bound by the contract that you have.

stripeyfox

unfortunately different "levels" of benefits is part and parcel of most workplaces (in my experience). It may not always be fair but the company doesn't have to treat everybody the same providing they are meeting their legal obligations.

comeandgo

At one of my places of work, the professionals got sick pay as part of their employment contracts, lower grade staff only got SSP.

victoriaolivia

It's such a small company so was shocked when I found out. Kinda just feels like a kick in the teeth like they think us admin staff would take the !!!! with sick days but not others. Just annoyed me that Ive had to use holidays for surgery I needed for recovery and had to come back sooner as I couldn't afford it unpaid. Ah well. Thanks for peoples replies.

chrisbur

spadoosh wrote: »

You will get paid SSP after 4 continuous days of absence. This is compulsory.

Just to clarify regarding SSP.
You need to have four days of sickness when no work has been done to qualify for SSP. These days do not have to be working days, all days of the week count for this rule. Once you have qualified for SSP you will usually receive payment stating on the third day of absence from work but this may be earlier if your PIW links with a previous PIW.
This means that even if you know SSP is not going to be paid eg your four days are made up of two days you would work and a weekend you do not work you would be advised to declare your sickness so that it is recorded by your employer as if you go off again within 8 weeks (provided a PIW is formed ie four days sick/no work done) your SSP payments will start earlier.

TELLIT01

spadoosh wrote: »

You will get paid SSP after 4 continuous days of absence. This is compulsory.

That's not necessarily the case. Entitlement to SSP is dependant on earnings in the weeks prior to illness. Many part time workers, for example, don't qualify for SSP.

HRquestions

Can someone clarify. Our contracts state 'in any 12 month period'. Does that mean the same as 'rolling 12 month'. We have an employee who has been off since January this year but was also off last year from November 17 until July 18 with occasional absence from july until November 18. We offer 3 months full pay and 3 month half pay therefore if we classed it as 'rolling 12 month' then this person would not be entitled to 3 months half pay would they or wouldn't they? Just need some clarify on this please

TELLIT01

HRquestions wrote: »

Can someone clarify. Our contracts state 'in any 12 month period'. Does that mean the same as 'rolling 12 month'. We have an employee who has been off since January this year but was also off last year from November 17 until July 18 with occasional absence from july until November 18. We offer 3 months full pay and 3 month half pay therefore if we classed it as 'rolling 12 month' then this person would not be entitled to 3 months half pay would they or wouldn't they? Just need some clarify on this please

Logically 'any 12 month period' and 'rolling 12 month' would be the same thing, but the only people who can say with any certainty how it works at your employer is the employer. You need to contact HR / senior management for the answer.
In the example given, the period from March 18 to July 18 would be in the 'any 12 month period' as would the occasional absences since.