Quick question about sick leave?

[tittytittyhanghang]

For a friend who has been signed off work, pretty much indefinitely. She does a labourious job which she is no longer fit to do due a tumour on the spine, and was advised by her consultant not carry on doing this type of work. Was given a fit to work note by her doc, specifying that she could do light duties but nothing more.

Her employers have stated that their is no light duties to accomodate her so she is just off work on sick leave. She does not earn enough to get sick pay. She is not getting any sick benefits from government neither, possibly due to the fact that her partner is working i think?

Question is can her work keep her on sick leave indefinitely, or do they have to pay her off if they cannot provide a suitable job for her?

Her gp is happy to continually sign her off on monthly basis at the moment, I think.

If she is not fit to do her job indefinitely and her job can't be adjusted, then as long as her employer make reasonable efforts to find her something suitable they don't have to keep her employed on sick leave, they can dismiss her for capability reasons. They don't have to "pay her off" either, only notice/holiday pay she is owed.

i think the problem is that if she leaves her job voluntarily, she wont be entitled to any benefits. As it is at the moment, she's not getting any (sick) benefits neither. Her employer have told her that they won't pay her off/let her go even though there is no work for her (its not costing them anything atm as they are not paying her any sick pay). Are they legally obliged to dismiss her if they cannot provide any work for her?

No, they are not obliged to dismiss her, but is she absolutely sure that in circumstances where she has no option but to leave her job as she is physically incapable of doing it, she won't be entitled to any benefits?

If she's asked them to pay her off, that might be why they are saying they won't dismiss her - because they think it will cost them money.

I think so, she wont get jobseekers as she's not available to look for work. Or more that the only job she has every done is cleaning, and now she is only able to carry out light cleaning duties and not on a full time basis. She is in her late 50s and has never done anything else and not qualified for anything else. She definitely wont get dla. Im not sure about ESA, she probably hasn't made enough NIC to get contribution based ESA and her partner is in employment (albeit he is off sick after an operation and is hoping to get back to work in the next 6 months) so probably wont qualify for income based ESA neither. She did go to the local jobcentre, but said she was treated like a pariah and she is not keen to go back. I think their advice to her was that she would have to get an office job or a job on the telephone (bearing in mind she has experience of neither and don't think she would be capable of doing these anyway!) and she was pretty much entitled to nowt!

Atm they are living off her partners sick pay which has just gone down to half pay and they are really struggling, and he has a minimum set period before he is allowed back to work, which is at least another 6 months away.

Can't she look into working somewhere like a call centre? I know she has no experience of it but they are pretty much always hiring staff, and I know a few people who have been taken on with no experience.

Her employer doesn't have to fire her, and they certainly don't have to pay her off in any way. Has she looked into DLA and if she would be eligible for that? How much was she earning per week before stopping working; how much will her DH earn this year; and has she been paying NI contributions?

Without wanting to put her down, no i dont think she'd be much use in a call centre, she doesn't have the right telephone manner. Its difficult to explain other than to say she is that academically she is not very bright (she left school aged 15 with no qualification and has basic reading/writing skills. She can barely turn on a pc). That sounds so mean so i have to write down that she has raised a large family and run a house efficiently for years so isn't useless but i really dont think she'd manage in a formal setting. In her current job she worked on her own with no contact with the public. She was working 24 hours but her hours were cut to 14 hours a few years ago (on NMW) . Her partner earns about £19k a year but is currently on sick pay untill he is deemed fit to return to work after a bypass and i think he is on half pay at the moment. She is just really worried at the moment as her partner is on half pay, and once he is able to return to work, things will probably not be so bleak. But she seems determined that she is not leaving her work (she thinks she wont be entitled to anything). She won't be entitled to dla in any case.

If her partner is on half pay and will be for a significant period of time then she will potentially be eligible for income based JSA, I'd suggest that she speaks to the job centre or CAB to check - possibly also take her husband along if possible so he can clarify his situation to them.

She really needs to have a think about what work she can do, it sounds like she may have given reasons / excuses why all jobs aren't suitable when she went to the job centre - not saying they weren't genuine reasons but she may have to step out of her comfort zone a bit, maybe do an adult learning course to make herself more marketable so she could apply for office based rather than manual jobs. Most colleges offer these free of charge.

I'm assuming her husband doesn't have an income protection insurance he's forgotten about or anything? The CAB can also help them look at their income and expenditure and try to cut their outgoings down as far as possible, if they have any debts they can look at temporarily reducing payment to them etc (although this will damage their credit rating, sometimes needs must).