Half pay without notice

I have been off work since January having chemo. I am entitled to 6 months full pay and 6 at half. . I was allowed to work from home as my job allows. I have been very productive. My fit note said I was fit to work with amended duties. I now have a new boss. She has said I have had my 6 months full pay which I am entitled to and should now be on half pay. It was agreed that I was not going to be recorded as sick so surely the 6 months of full pay can still be taken? I know they don't have to accept the gps recommendations, but they did. I get they can change their mind now but not retrospectively surely?
My evidence that they accepted that I was not to be recorded as sick was when HR messed up by accident one month and put me off sick they had it removed from my record. My original boss is still there, this is the company big boss who doesn't know me. I still have more treatment and can't afford half pay.

Comments

  • tacpot12
    tacpot12 Posts: 7,894
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    If they have given you work to do, then you are not off work sick. You might not have been in the office but you have been "at work".

    You need HR to tell your manager that the sick pay arrangements start when you are too sick to work. Ask HR to do this immediately as you need to stop your manager asking HR to make any changes to your pay.
    The comments I post are my personal opinion. While I try to check everything is correct before posting, I can and do make mistakes, so always try to check official information sources before relying on my posts.
  • sangie595
    sangie595 Posts: 6,092 Forumite
    During that six months, have you been working your full hours? Because if not, your pay should have been adjusted. It wouldn't have been because you have six months full pay as a term. So if you haven't worked full hours every day/ week, then your manager is somewhere probably correct. It depends on your specific terms and how they work. But you cannot work part time and still receive full pay unless, at some point in all that, you are considered "sick". That is probably what she is referring to.

    But this all depends on the terms. Assuming, as I am, that you didn't work full time, because you'd be a modern miracle if you can do chemo and work full time too!

    I hope there chemo has gone well?
  • FBaby
    FBaby Posts: 18,367
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    This is a mess as it seems no clear process has been followed. Either there should have been agreement that you were working, but with some adjustments (working from home/reduced hours/reduced workload) and this should have been put in writing. Or you should have been off sick.

    You need to get in contact with HR for clarity and if they agree with you, ask them to explain all this to your new boss. He might want to review the arrangement. If HR don't agree with you, then you'll have to raise a grievance.
  • sangie595
    sangie595 Posts: 6,092 Forumite
    I do agree that it is a mess - and it is actually seeming to be the old managers fault and not the new one. I have every sympathy with the OP, because I wouldn't wish this treatment on my worst enemy - but the arrangement the old manager has entered into appears to be highly irregular, and I'm surprised that HR went for it. And to be fair, they may not have done. Not in the way the OP thinks anyway.

    Assuming the OP is working part time from home, then the usual sort of arrangements would be something like a formal reduction in hours - so you should get paid normally for those hours. Then the "sick time" is paid which makes the salary up to full pay. But I have never heard of an arrangement where it isn't counted as sick time at all. Not for payment purposes. It would set an awful precedent if it were, because it would mean that anyone working part of their time whilst off sick could, theoretically, never be off sick at all. And that doesn't make any sense.

    As you say - it should have been done in writing and HR should have been involved from the outset and set down the decisions in relation to their existing policies. Simply deciding to "do something different" was a very bad idea. Adjustments to working arrangements should always be formalised.
  • Kynthia
    Kynthia Posts: 5,665
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    Some employers would agree to reduced workload without reducing pay during something like this so if they have been getting you to work then you haven't been off sick. If your new manager wants you to go sick now you should begin the 6 months full pay. Get your old manager and HR to confirm this with your new boss. Try to keep it polite and conciliatory at first as it sounds like you have a good employer who has been supporting you so far. This may just be a misunderstanding.
    Don't listen to me, I'm no expert!
  • Kynthia wrote: »
    Some employers would agree to reduced workload without reducing pay during something like this so if they have been getting you to work then you haven't been off sick. If your new manager wants you to go sick now you should begin the 6 months full pay. Get your old manager and HR to confirm this with your new boss. Try to keep it polite and conciliatory at first as it sounds like you have a good employer who has been supporting you so far. This may just be a misunderstanding.
    So good employer and you want to try and sting them for 6 months full sick pay?

    It should be a compromise based as has been put on how much actual work the OP has done from home.
    Don't trust a forum for advice. Get proper paid advice. Any advice given should always be checked
  • sangie595
    sangie595 Posts: 6,092 Forumite
    So good employer and you want to try and sting them for 6 months full sick pay?

    It should be a compromise based as has been put on how much actual work the OP has done from home.
    Agreed. I probably work for one of the best employers in the country, and they'd never agree to this. The standard response would be what I have described above - they would make up the wage to full pay, and would consider extending the period of full pay in recognition of the hours worked, but it would never stretch to an entire year of full pay and then a further six months of half pay. If I recall correctly, a colleague got nine months full pay on such an arrangement. But at that point they were unable to return to work at all and knew they couldn't, so took retirement.
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