HR Response

[DorisNight]

Hi. Sounds odd but I'd really appreciate if someone could let me know if HR have a legal requirement to respond to an employee who is off sick and requesting HR related assistance. Thanks very much.

I don't think they have a legal requirement to respond to anyone but there should be something in your employer's policy that covers this. What type of help do you need from them?

Thanks for coming back to me. Its for a letter confirming insurance sick pay has been stopped and no payments are being made pending a review which has been in progress since December, without the letter we cannot make a claim for any benefits - this has been requested since January and with no money coming in things are very hard.

After such a long wait the HR department sent out an old letter which we already had from October but was of no use as they were fully aware and now are just ignoring requests.

We are really stuck and they do know that we have no absolutely no income, children, bills etc.

I am at a complete loss of what to do now which is why I wondered if they had a legal obligation to respond.

Thanks

If your occupational and statutory sick pay has run out they should issue a SSP1 form, which can then be used. You could ask them for the SSP1?

What was the October letter?

Have you called them?
Are you getting ssp?
What is insurance sick pay? Are you in the UK?
Are you supplying medical certificates re your absence
When are you expected to return to work
Do you have a partner, do they work?

Thank you. No forms have been received. The October letter was stating that the GIP has been canceled - it is this decision that is being reviewed. With a review outstanding we have been told that we need confirmation from the employer that no payments have been or will be paid until they have completed there review which has taken months and apparently will take many more weeks. We have complete silence now from HR they just ignore any messages. The only way we know where things are is because the insurance company are telling us albeit HR are supposed to be the contact.

Insurance pay the salary if illness occurs. The insurance company disagreed with doctors and specialists/consultants and said that there was no need for sick leave and cancelled the payments. This is the review taking place.

We have absolutely no income.

My company has similar GIP (done via insurance policy) and it can take a while for them to make decisions.

What are they reviewing if they have already decided to stop the IP?

If they have stopped the payments, confirmed this and statutory has stopped I believe they should issue a SSP1.
What are they asking for for you to be able to make a claim for benefits or similar? Have they requested more than the letter?

Have you tried approaching HR via your line manager? Your line manager should be able to escalate the request if HR are not responding.

They are reviewing as their medical officer has disagreed with the GP and consultants actually treating illness.

The review process is fine although it is a very lengthy process. I just wanted to know if HR have any legal obligation to respond to a request or if as they are doing can just ignore it.

Dependent on the insurer and condition it can be viewed you are capable of work in some capacity, this where disagreements between GP and CMO are common