TUPE and Salary whilst on Sickness

neilsavage

The company that I worked for over 22 years has recently been bought by a global US based company and the TUPE due diligence process completed and new employment agreements signed. Since transfer, I have been hospitalised for completion of a liver transplant that will result in my incapacitation and inability to work for approx 6 months.  Under the contractual/non contractual agreement with my old company, I would receive full salary for this period prior to moving into the employer based insurance cover where I would receive 75% of my salary until I was able to return to work.  Since my transfer under TUPE I am advised that I will receive full salary for the first 8 weeks, then be paid Statutory Sickness Benefit for the next 5 weeks, then under the new employers insurance provisions receive 75% salary for the next 24 months.
This will no doubt cause significant financial loss to me over this period and I am unsure if there is anything that I can do about this, or if my new employer should be applying this significant reduction in employee benefits under a TUPE situation. 
I would appreciate and advice or info that other members could assist with. 

Undervalued

Were your previous sickness pay arrangements an absolutely hard and fast contractual entitlement or were they in any way discretionary?

It could have been an absolute entitlement but such schemes are increasingly rare. The vast majority are now worded to give the employer some degree of discretion.

Beyond that, if you are able to confirm an absolute entitlement then you may have a case but that would depend on the full details of the TUPE arrangements. You would need specialist advice, from a solicitor who can study all the paperwork, particularly as there seems to be a significant amount of money involved.

Penguin_

When we took over another company at the end of last year, we inherited a member of staff who woks on a variable timesheet basis. Unfortunately he couldn't get a P45 to us so under furlough rules he only got paid 80% of the hours he had worked for us. He manged this month to get copies of his time sheets for the 2019 tax year when he was employed by the former company & our payroll team were then able to put a back dated claim in based on the amount he received in the corresponding month last year.

nicechap

neilsavage said:

The company that I worked for over 22 years has recently been bought by a global US based company and the TUPE due diligence process completed and new employment agreements signed. Since transfer, I have been hospitalised for completion of a liver transplant that will result in my incapacitation and inability to work for approx 6 months.  Under the contractual/non contractual agreement with my old company, I would receive full salary for this period prior to moving into the employer based insurance cover where I would receive 75% of my salary until I was able to return to work.  Since my transfer under TUPE I am advised that I will receive full salary for the first 8 weeks, then be paid Statutory Sickness Benefit for the next 5 weeks, then under the new employers insurance provisions receive 75% salary for the next 24 months.
This will no doubt cause significant financial loss to me over this period and I am unsure if there is anything that I can do about this, or if my new employer should be applying this significant reduction in employee benefits under a TUPE situation. 
I would appreciate and advice or info that other members could assist with. 

What do the new employment contracts say with regards to sick pay?

neilsavage

Thanks all for the feedback. I think the point I come unstuck on is the fact that under my old employer (pre TUPE) it was regarded as discretionary and probably due to my 23 years of service.  I did think about explaining my circumstances to my new American employer and highlight the fact that it is not by choice that I cannot work, but I find that the overall ethos towards work and sickness in the US is totally different to that in the UK