Sick pay and phased return to work

aggietrac

I've been off work for almost 6 months with a bad back and my doctor gave me a fit note for a phased return. I had had a phased return many years ago and was paid my full wages during it, so obviously I expected to receive full wages this time too. We were Tupe'd over to a new company from college catering a few years ago but kept on the same college contract. I have just received my wages and I'm down around £250, which has crucified me with my bills! I honestly thought I would get my normal wages as that was what happened last time after a lengthy absence, although I'm not sure exactly how long I was off. I'm pretty angry about it as I feel that they should have told me that I would be on reduced money and they didn't bother explaining things to me at all, I only found out when I looked in my bank account this month. Do I have any rights/ should they have informed me of the decrease in wages?

Undervalued

aggietrac said:

I've been off work for almost 6 months with a bad back and my doctor gave me a fit note for a phased return. I had had a phased return many years ago and was paid my full wages during it, so obviously I expected to receive full wages this time too. We were Tupe'd over to a new company from college catering a few years ago but kept on the same college contract. I have just received my wages and I'm down around £250, which has crucified me with my bills! I honestly thought I would get my normal wages as that was what happened last time after a lengthy absence, although I'm not sure exactly how long I was off. I'm pretty angry about it as I feel that they should have told me that I would be on reduced money and they didn't bother explaining things to me at all, I only found out when I looked in my bank account this month. Do I have any rights/ should they have informed me of the decrease in wages?

They almost certainly will have informed you if you read all of your employer's terms and conditions, policies etc. Any sick pay, over and above SSP is an entirely contractual matter. In most cases company sick pay these days is "discretionary" and is generally more tightly controlled than it may have been "many years ago".

That said, it would have been good practice to have kept you informed. So probably all you can do is nicely point this out and hope they look sympathetically on the matter.

74jax

Have you checked the sickness policy, I'm guessing so with being off for so long, what does it say? 
Is the anger because it says you should get 100%?

You say you couldn't manage being £250 down, but if you couldn't do a full return to work, then whether they told you or not, you'd still be £250 down.  Or did you spend the £250 believing you would then recieve it?  Could you offer to use holidays to make up the time you aren't being paid, so you do get 100%?

elsien

In my last company, people on a phased return who wanted a full wage had to use annual leave to make up the hours. 

Is that something you could consider, given that you would have been accruing statutory leave while off sick?
Although as you say, it would have been better to have discussed the options earlier rather than later. It may be that your new company wasn’t aware of the previous policy so it didn’t cross their mind as a possibility. 

custardy

It really depends on your contract.
At my work phased return is on full pay.
however sick pay goes to zero at 6 months. So they are more likely to refuse a phased return and push for full return or sit on zero pay until fit.

aggietrac

I only work term time so it's not possible to work holidays as the kitchen is closed. The company that took us over are renowned for being terrible employers and will do anything to get out of paying people. We had 46 staff when they took us over and now we have 10 and we're run ragged! I just feel that if they had let me know they wouldn't be paying my normal wages I would have tried to do a shorter phased return and just tried doing lighter duties, although I'm not sure how that would have gone. I was supposed to have an occupational health meeting but I missed the first one and despite them promising to reschedule they didn't bother. When you're on a minimum wage, which is spread out throughout the year as only work term time, £250 is an awful lot of money to lose.

turnitround

How many weeks contractual sick pay are you entitled to? Isnt it likely that this may have run out at 6 months.

Vegastare

turnitround said:

How many weeks contractual sick pay are you entitled to? Isnt it likely that this may have run out at 6 months.

This was the company policy I was with till retired.  Think it is quite standard with some firms, although think some are much worse

aggietrac

We get 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay, but for some reason I assumed that once you went back to work, even for a phased return, you were classed as being back to work and would get paid normally. I just wish they had discussed this with me, they did with my colleague (I recently found out). The only time they bother with us is when they want something!

Dakta

Im far from an expert on this but this URL covers a lot on the subject

https://www.davidsonmorris.com/phased-return-to-work/

there is a section about how it affects pay and gives some scenarios of complications depending on how the return is arranged but on the whole it seems largely a contractual matter so that should be the first reference

I was curious on the subject as paying staff full wage on a phased return is not the sort of thing I would expect a lot of smaller businesses to be able to stand.

custardy

Dakta said:

Im far from an expert on this but this URL covers a lot on the subject

https://www.davidsonmorris.com/phased-return-to-work/

there is a section about how it affects pay and gives some scenarios of complications depending on how the return is arranged but on the whole it seems largely a contractual matter so that should be the first reference

I was curious on the subject as paying staff full wage on a phased return is not the sort of thing I would expect a lot of smaller businesses to be able to stand.

The counter argument is if they get paid sick pay.
Some work is better than no work and off sick.