SSP and Giving Notice

Kate876

I would be most grateful for an answer dear community. I have a (very) hard-working friend who works for a fairly large organisation. For the first time ever my friend had to take 2 months off work due to an injury and was placed on SSP. Despite being ready to return to work (and has been trying to do so) the company have not been able to facilitate this due to staff shortages trained in Health and Safety etc so cannot ‘sign the person off’. Meanwhile, my friend has been ‘snapped up’ by another company who would like my friend to start asap. My friend’s contract states a month’s notice. The pay is over 2k with both places of employment a month compared to £400 SSP. Is there any way this person can leave the company without giving notice given that the relevant HR person is now on holiday as is the line manager and it is looking unlikely time will be found to ensure a return to work within the next two weeks? It does feel unfair that the person will be ‘working out notice’ on SSP when fully paid employment is available. I’ve never come across this scenario before so any advice would be welcome. Thank you. 

Undervalued

Kate876 said:

I would be most grateful for an answer dear community. I have a (very) hard-working friend who works for a fairly large organisation. For the first time ever my friend had to take 2 months off work due to an injury and was placed on SSP. Despite being ready to return to work (and has been trying to do so) the company have not been able to facilitate this due to staff shortages trained in Health and Safety etc so cannot ‘sign the person off’. Meanwhile, my friend has been ‘snapped up’ by another company who would like my friend to start asap. My friend’s contract states a month’s notice. The pay is over 2k with both places of employment a month compared to £400 SSP. Is there any way this person can leave the company without giving notice given that the relevant HR person is now on holiday as is the line manager and it is looking unlikely time will be found to ensure a return to work within the next two weeks? It does feel unfair that the person will be ‘working out notice’ on SSP when fully paid employment is available. I’ve never come across this scenario before so any advice would be welcome. Thank you. 

That is not your friend's problem. If their doctor considers them well enough to work but the employer won't allow them to do so then that is a medical suspension which should be on full pay.

Yes, obviously they can leave without notice although technically they would be in breach of contract if they do so. If that causes the firm a quantifiable financial loss they could (in theory at least) sue your friend for their losses. It doesn't happen often and doesn't seem very likely under the current circumstances but you never know....

More likely would be the difficulty of getting paid for untaken holiday etc as these situations sometime develop into "if you sue us we will sue you"! Don't expect a decent reference!

TELLIT01

The friend could try contacting their current boss and say they are handing in their notice and, as they won't permit them to return to work, will they allow them to leave immediately?