Teetering on the brink

EatingBeans

Day two back at work and pain free! Fingers crossed it was just a weird blip caused by trying to skim read over a thousand e-mails all at once! 😬

Still no actual work to do so instead I decided to check out the employee benefits page to see if I am missing out on anything useful. I can indeed get a free eye test and glasses voucher - so I have applied for that. I also discovered a free Will writing service so I spent the afternoon writing my Will! 🤣 It’s one of those things that has been on my to-do list for years but I’ve always had better things to be spending my money on. Free though - how could I resist! 😁

itsthelittlethings

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81947762#Comment_81947762

Unless an email says I’m going to die if you don’t reply I think we can safely say it can be ignored if you have over 1000 of them.

Trigeminal Neuralgia is supposed to be very painful. I used to have an amazing colleague who suffered with it. I perceive it as like a bad sinus infection all the time. Must be hell.

Congratulations on going back to work.

ellenvan

Glad you are feeling better whilst earning.

Definitely check out all the freebies while you can.

daisy_1571

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81947776#Comment_81947776

Yup, I used to diligently work through oldest first trying to deal with them. Just about gave myself a breakdown. Then I got wise that I'm dealing with things that the person has emailed someone else about and they've already answered. So then I used to put them in sender order, go to immediate line manager and delete all the stuff that's now rubbish as it applied to when I was off - window cleaners coming, stationery request to be in by Mon, any meeting requests for when I was off etc. Then go back to date order and look at the last week or so, everything else move into a folder called 'sick leave early 2026' then it's there if you do need to find it.

Cherryfudge

It's great to hear you are pain free! Fantastic!

And a nice set of useful freebies.

EatingBeans

I love the idea of a ‘sick leave folder’! Thanks @daisy_1571 I will defo remember that one for the future!

In all honesty I deleted large chunks based on send and/or just the e-mail titles and would probably have done a lot more had it not been for the complete lack of work I went back to. I mean in a normal job, you go back and the work you were doing is still there but in my case what I was doing was finished off and no new work was allocated to me so in effect my job is made redundant by my absence! Now I have asked to go back two days a week they are literally scratching their heads trying to come up with something for me to do and I just got told not to worry about not doing anything. They know I am going so I get a sense they are just going to run the clock down. Even the task I have been told I will do has apparently already been allocated to the teams to do between themselves. So I’m just pencilling in random catch ups with people I want to talk with before I leave and then maybe going to do a free course or something. 😁 It will be fine.

The funny thing is that the leavers scheme was run university wide and yet in our department (of about 100), only four people are going and all four have the same role as me - that’s 4 out of 11 of us! Honestly I was surprised more didn’t go and of those I’ve spoken to about it there seem to be quite a few who are already regretting their choice to stay. Two days was enough for me to realise that things have got worse in my absence not better and whilst I will miss the people and the Uni in general, I wont miss working that job. Onwards and upwards!

daisy_1571

Brilliant ! Well done keeping it all in perspective. Mr d retired during covid and didn't get to wander about saying cheerio to people so if you get any face to face time that would be lovely

Dxx

stymied

Does returning even part time reset you to full pay sick leave I.e. has it solved your money problems temporarily?

So glad to hear the new tablets are working. Why didn’t they give you them earlier!!!?!

EatingBeans

I know right?! The new tablets are definitely much better than the old ones, it is such a shame that it took so much fighting to get them.

Money-wise, I am not 100% sure what returning part time has done. In my mind what I agreed to means, yes, I should now get full pay for the last two months, but there appears to be some confusion on the other side. I was very specific in my request as I asked for a four week return to work period, working two days but on full pay (which I explicitly stated), then the next month remaining on two days a week using my annual leave to cover the rest. They said yes, but only after a few weeks of behind the scenes conversations (which I was excluded from) but I still took that as a yes to my proposal as I detailed it. When I spoke to my line manager however he seemed to think I was just part time rather than a return to work period of full pay which is ridiculous because that would mean by working two days I actually come out with less than if I stayed off sick, plus they wont then pay me for my unused annual leave! Trust me, I plan to fight it! Just because they have no work for me doesn’t mean they can stop paying me properly until the end of my contract!

The good news is I have every reason to think I will at least make it until my final lump sum payout without defaulting on anything. Not because I have suddenly found a pot of gold (sadly), but two of my credit cards are upping my credit limits automatically this month so I can (rather frustratingly!), pay for things like food and fuel on credit card instead of paying cash. Not at all ideal as it is adding to the debt rather than taking it away, but at least there will be cash in the bank to ensure the bills get paid and the immediate disaster is averted. The interest rate is astronomical but it will be first to be paid off when I get the lump sum so I think it is preferable to missed payments.

In the meantime, it is finally Spring! The sun is shining, it is getting warmer, and I can finally start growing things! I am so excited to be able to get on and do things at last! I know I am feeling better because not only did I polish my living room today (something that has been deemed non essential for a very long time), but I even got as far as climbing on a table to get the lampshade down and clean it! (Our ceilings are very high and none of us like heights so it has literally been years since this was done. 😬) Now I can stop looking at it seeing it as a depressing metaphor of my life! I celebrated by eating chocolate for breakfast. 🤣

Happy Easter Everyone! 😁🐣

daisy_1571

Hmm, Eatingbeans, sorry but not sure who might have got the wrong end of the stick.

In civil service if someone returned on what we called part time medical grounds, we generally wanted them to do the same days a week as they usually work (if they could) but less hours on each of those days, gradually increasing the hours till they got back to their normal hours by the end of 12 weeks. So, for example- Jeannie who is contracted to work 24 hours a week over 3 days, 8 hours a day, and was on half pay. If Jeannie returned 4 hours a day (instead of 8), there would be a more complicated calculation but basically she would get full pay for the 4 hours she were working and the balance of her hours is classed as still on sick leave so she would still be on half pay for those hours. (The sick hours are still classed as sick absence would still be adding up towards her going on to no pay but of course each week she would be doing an extra hour or couple of hours so hopefully wouldn't be building up too much more sick absence.)

So in my calculation you would indeed be on full pay, but only for the hours you are working iyswim. That combined with half pay for the balance of your day/week at half pay should mean you get more in your pay packet than you have been getting when fully on half pay only, but it won't be your normal pay packet. If your company does the same as we would do, of course.

You should have been accruing annual leave for the time you have been off sick though so you may find you have more annual leave to take than you think? Could you perhaps take half days each day you are due to work between now and your leaving date? Then you'd be on a full pay packet (from your date of return of course) and doing an informal fully paid form of ptmg ie you'd be on full pay for the hours you work plus, obviously, be on full pay for your half day annual leave. This may also suit your employer if they don't really have much to give you to do?

You could suggest doing that even if your annual leave wont take you fully up to your end date and keep your fingers crossed they unofficially let you go home early/clock off early towards your last week or so. Sorry can't remember if you wfh or go in. (Remember to calculate your annual leave allowance right up to your last day not just up to your return to work date)

Hope this helps if I've got the right idea of your intentions.

Dxx