Company Sick Pay withheld

[Big Nick]

I recently had to take 2 days off work due to a bad cold and sore throat. I called in sick on both days as required and when I returned my teamleader went through the 'Welcome Back' form with me. The last section for 'Payment for sick leave' had already been completed by our manager with the reason 'Pay not approved, had to pay overtime to other staff'.

 

Without immediate access to my contract I'm thinking this is wrong, that it is down to the company to pay staff and not for it to be taken from me for being ill.

 

Can anyone say if this is illegal off the bat before I get home to dig out my contract and argue the case with Human Resources?

[LilyLou]

You must check your contract as there may be a section on company sick pay that will tell you what you can expect, if there is and you are entitiled to it then the company are in breach of contract by withholding it. I'm sure others will be along to further assist you.

 

Regards

[Karrie2129]

I know that some places won't pay you for the first three days of sickness?

[elche]

Big Nick

 

It is purely a contractual matter - you need to check the wording of your company sick pay scheme.

 

Che

[minmac]

Did you get a copy of the welcome back form? If you didnt request one immediately (you may need it for proof).

 

Check you contract re the policy on sickness.

[Big Nick]

I found my contract which says what I thought, I am entitled to Company Sick Pay 'at the managers discretion'. Nothing about taking it to pay someone else overtime. Had a chat with HR about what happened and am having a talk this week with another manager regarding sick leave as this is my 4th occasion in the last 12 months (standard practice, apparently).

 

If that goes nowhere I am getting copies of that WB form and the company sick policy and filing a grievance. Certainly don't think management should withhold my sickpay without talking to me or having read the forms first.

[Big Nick]

Had official meeting with manager and HR rep who took notes, the official reason for this meeting was that this was the 4th time I've been off in the last year.

This is silly season at work, managers appear to have very little to do and this time of year is when most people start hitting their 3+ sickness absences. I counted 5 other people being investigated or disciplined this last month.

Went thru reasons for each absence as they didn't have the previous forms to hand, wonder why we bother filling them in?

 

Decision was made to award me the sick pay as the manager now believes I wasn't trying it on. Nice to know how much they care about me after all these years working there before they did.

Funny thing was the manager telling me I should have gone to them first about this and not HR, deeply suspect it would have led nowhere and that the pre-signed form should not have been done in that way. It was confirmed that the overtime budget is separate to sick pay (surprise!) and that there is no budget for SP which makes little sense as what really happens is your regular salary gets withheld.

 

Tired of working there, looking out for new job but recession not helping.

[Allwood]

Same thing happened to my partner she was off sick and on the second day off she was not given company pay, she looked her contract which said refer to staff hand book which she downloaded from the web and it says:

 

"A comprehensive sick pay scheme for absence and will normally make this payment. However, you should be aware these payments are discretionary and as such the Company retains the right not to pay Company sick pay in certain circumstances.

 

Deliberate non-cooperation may result in the Company exercising its discretion not to pay Company sick pay.

 

Company sick pay is the difference between Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) and your normal salary. An employee’s eligibility depends on their

length of service.

ALL EMPLOYEES

Service Eligibility (weeks)

Under 3 months 0 weeks

3 – 12 months Up to 4 weeks

1 – 3 years Up to 8 weeks

3 – 5 years Up to 12 weeks

Over 5 years 12 weeks + 1 week for each full year of service up to a maximum of 26 weeks

Sick pay year

The sick pay year for the Company scheme runs from 1st April to 31st March. Eligibility for sick pay cannot be carried over from one sick pay

year to the next.

 

Her employer now says that as she was within 13 weeks of her first day of absence which was w/e 4th June this defaults her automatically to C2 which is SSP at a daily rate of 15.19 per day. My partners other day off with was 20th July that falls within 13 week period. My partners cannot make sense of this whatsoever.