discrimination/unfair??

[missanon]

Hi

If my co. employee handbook, states that sick pay is at a manager's discretion, can I still claim discrimination if one manager treats his staff vastly differently to that of another?

I have been at my co for 11 years and have recently had a back operation. I was told after 10 and a half weeks that after 12 weeks I would be paid SSP so have had to return to work even though I am not fully recovered and need further surgery.

However, there is a man who works on the same floor as me but for a different manager who, for the last 2/3 yrs has only managed to work about 30/50 days per year. He has also been at the company for a long time (slightly longer than me).

As part of my job, I report commission for some staff to our payroll dept and therefore have access to a lot of sensitive information. I am able to see that this man has not been receiving SSP for any of the time he has been absent.

Is this discrimination or just tough luck? (By the way, I have been back two weeks now and he hasn't been in yet!!)

I would appreciate any advice as to how I should deal with this, if at all.

Thanks

[old_andrew2007]

Hi

I too would feel aggrieved, and it does look as if there is discrimination here, I am not sure how you might proceed as the information you have accessed could be described as confidential.
Hopefully there will be someone viewing your thread with knowledge of the type of situation you are in

[Rooster-UK]

Hi missanon.
I can't answer your questions but I know another moderator who probably can.
She's not on-line at the moment, but I'll leave a message for her to have a look at your thread.

Regards, Rooster.

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, sorry for the delay in replying to you - I have been in meetings for most of the day.

I think you firstly need to ask your manager (or your HR manager) for a meeting to clarify the sick pay scheme criteria. If they are paying someone else under the scheme for longer than they are paying you then you need to know why.

Some sick pay schemes are based on length of service, but this could be argued given the Age Discrimination Act - i.e. you would have to be over a certain age to have 20 years service with a company.

Whatever, you just need to know why you are being paid differently. If you don't get a satisfactory explanation, then you would need to lodge a formal grievance.

Please keep us updated on how you proceed.

Kind Regards

Ell-enn

[missanon]

Hi


Thanks for your replies.

I don't know if the guy is completing sick forms and if HR are even aware of his absence!! He hasn't done 20 yrs either, prob only a couple more than me max.

If I ask my manager/HR dept to clarify sick pay they will just quote the handbook to me.

My question is really - is this just morally wrong or do I have a legal leg to stand on?