To expect to be paid for sick leave?

[CountessVonHamburger]

Started a new job in April, bit of a mistake as it wasn’t what I was led to believe and I could see it was a pretty toxic environment from the first morning when my colleague collected me from reception and stopped on the stairs to tell me all about it and that she hated it there 😕

There were arguments over who was going to train me (in my earshot) and I was basically expected to get on with work I had absolutely no training for. Manager was not based at the office and would take weeks to respond to queries. It was an utter shitshow of the like I’d never experienced before.

Anyway I had an illness so I was signed off for a few weeks. I decided I couldn’t go back and was then signed off for a month due to stress. I gave my notice to my manager so termination date would be the date my fit note expired.

Manager responded that I only needed to give a week’s notice as I was still in my probationary period and she said she’d put my leaving date as 1st September which was only 4 days later.

I queried this as contract states a month’s notice required for employees even during probationary period. HR confirmed this and manager apologised.

I was not sent a payslip this month (accrued holiday owed as well) or paid anything so again queried this with manager. No response but money was paid into my account the next day. I rang payroll as it was a much lower amount that I was expecting to find that my manager had left my termination date as the 1st September!

I should have paid full pay. Manager has not responded to further emails querying this. I actually need the money as well.

AIBU to think this is wrong?

Have a look at your contract. Some employers only pay statutory sick pay, some pay full pay, some pay full for x weeks or months then lower the payment thereafter
( ssp only lasts/pays out for 28 weeks. )

You could contact HR again as your manager isn’t responding, or try direct to payroll if you have contact details.

You were probably on statutory sick pay during your probation period.

Yeah, I mean I have only worked for a handful of employers who pay full sick pay, so I don't automatically expect it.

You’ve only been there for five months and have had two long term periods of sickness in that very short amount of time. What exactly are they supposed to be paying you for?

How long did you actually work for?

Get in touch with HR. They are already aware, so get them to sort it out.

You may only get statutory sick pay while on probation. It will depend on your contract. More generous sick leave policies are discretionary, employer's choice, which is fine so long as there's no discrimination in the way the rules are applied.

Of course you can't get signed off for what sounds like 2 months in your probationary period and then expect to be paid.

You will have received SSP as you haven’t worked there long enough to qualify for their company sick pay.

You should get your full wage for your notice period, regardless of whether you've been getting SSP while you were sick. Many employers aren't aware of this

Contract states full pay while sick for a period which was covered. I wouldn’t be querying it otherwise!

Even during probation? That's very unusual. Most places only pay SSP.

Do you need to have worked a minimum amount of time with the company to be eligible for full sick pay? And if you are eligible, does your contract say this is still payable during a notice period?

It's very unlikely that a company would pay full sick pay after you only working there for a short period of time. You would normally have to have worked there for a while first. What does your payslip say? Does it indicate SSP?

Manager is clearly rubbish. You already know she doesn’t reply and gets HR stuff wrong.

go direct to HR and payroll dept and get them to sort it out

Double check this, if you’re still in your probationary period I would be almost certain you would not be entitled to this. Most companies who offer enhanced sick/maternity/paternity pay, say you have to be out of probationary period/been there for 12 months+ before that kicks in.

Some contracts while giving sick pay on probation usually have a qualifying period for the amount of company sick pay you are entitled to. In my old job in the first year you received a month’s full sick pay which dropped down to a month’s half pay (topped up by Statutory Sick Pay as you cannot earn more off sick than you can if you are working). If you continued to be off sick after the company’s sick pay ran out you would continue to be paid Statutory Sick Pay until that entitlement ran out - 28 weeks from 4th day of illness I think. You still however had to work a qualifying period of 3 moths to receive this entitlement. If you hadn’t worked there long enough then you just received Statutory Sick Pay. You could not work a month then go off sick and expect to be paid one month’s sick pay etc for the next month. The company sick pay entitlement increased annually to a maximum of 6 months full pay & 6 months half pay in the 6th year of employment - however this was not a blanket 6 months, every single day or week of sickness was included in this time period I.e you were sick for a week, that’s 7 day, you were off sick 1 day a little while later - that 8 days taken off the 6 month allowance. You mention what the contract states about notice period but you haven’t said what it says about sick pay - have you actually checked this? I’m not sure if the accrual of holiday pay is a statutory entitlement while off sick but if you had built up leave before you went off sick then you need to check with the HR team if you will be paid for this. Also check when your company’s leave year started and ended. It could be while you were off sick one leave year ended and another begun, a really good manager would have warned you of this or acted as a go between with HR to agree leave from one leave year could be carried over to the next or get you payment for this, but if nothing was done you may find you have lost some of your leave entitlement. My company made us take our leave before we left, give a month’s notice and take the leave before the notice period started. If someone wanted to leave and had a fit note then the leave would begin when the fit note ended and the termination date would be the last day of the holiday period. I would contact the HR or the Payroll Team for clarity on all points.

Only in limited circumstances. It isn’t a blanket law. And in OPs case she has more than statutory minimum notice in her contract so this may not apply.

It depends on whether the EDT was brought forward (ie did the employer serve counter notice which takes precedent?)

I think any company who was prepared to pay nearly 2 months full sick pay to an employee on probation who'd only put in a few months work; would be up shit creek very quickly.

Yes, exactly. I don't know any company that offers full sick pay to anyone during their probationary period.

No counter notice served. I had actually asked for an adjustment to be made before my return to work after the first two weeks off (reasonable due to existing disability which worsened due to work environment) which they couldn’t accommodate which was why I decided not to return. I was definitely entitled to sick pay during notice period as I got a letter stating how much entitlement I had left.

The issue is manager put down the wrong contract termination date which she was informed was incorrect by HR. Manager has to send through the correct date but she is not responding.

How long have you given your manager to respond? Perhaps she's forwarded it on to HR and is waiting for them to handle it. If you're entitled to it, I'm sure you'll get it. Why not call HR on Monday instead of worrying about it now when nothing can be done?

Where is this company? I’d love to work for any company that would pay me to have a full month off for “stress” during my probationary period!

Thats rather annoying then! Technically you could sue them for wrongful dismissal at the very least, which could give you an extra 3(?) weeks’ pay.

That’s assuming that the notice and sick pay provisions are correct - and that there is no clause stating that it’s discretionary.

Actually yes you can! Employment law says that after 4 days of self certified sick leave then an employer must (as a minimum pay statutory sick pay for a legally designated period after which the employee would look to claim sickness benefits. This right starts from day one