Being signed off sick and maternity leave ........

[tron]

my paid maternity is due to end in october. I've been diagnosed with PND and my dooctors said i might not be ready to go back, she said she would sign me off. I can't realy afford not to go back though. The sick pay policy at work is 'at your managers discretion' and is not garunteed(spelling???). Normally on may department they will pay you if you've had no more than 3 occasions or 10 days in the previous rolling 12 months or if there is a good medical reason. Where would I stand with this or could they force me to take the additional unpaid maternity

I am not sure if this is law but if you are off work due to pregnancy related issues then your company would have to give you sick pay.

Have just had a look at the Government guidance (see www.dti.gov.uk/files/file18061.pdf) for official DTI guidance on employment aspects of maternity leave and pay...see p 64 of the doc. Basically if you are sick at the end of OML or AML your normal contractual sick leave / pay rules apply BUT law isn't cut and dried as so much depends on individual circs. It does suggest that you talk to the ACAS helpline (08457 474747) as employers need to be careful about possible sex discrimination issues. My advice would be to talk to Acas anyway - they give independent, impartial advice on just this sort of thing. Many people don't realise that they have an employment helpline - they're not just about sorting out disputes. Good luck.

Oh my goodness. Sick pay at their discretion?!! Surely they can't do that?

PND is a good medical reason, but obviously not everyone would recognise that I guess. But with a doctor's certificate, don't they have to accept it?

I'm pretty sure they cannot force you to take unpaid AML, no. But if they have found a way to avoid paying sick pay when they don't want to generally then of course it would be the same for you.

Would you still get Statutory Sick Pay? Could you live off that?

If you really did have to take AML (and it sounds extremely unlikely that they could get away with it even if they wanted to) you should get Incapacity Benefit.

Is your boss sympathetic? Can you ask him/her what they advise or not?

Tron - sorry to hear your situation. PND is awful without the added worry of this. I know a few co's who are moving to discretionary sick pay - it is sadly becoming more the norm

I too would speak to ACAS but I think once your maternity leave ends and you should be back at work then the discretionary sick pay thing would come into force. The alternative - as you say - may be they say you can take AML but if you have a sick note then I think they'll just put you on the sick - un/paid depending on their outlook. Not sure how the law would stand if they had a sick note from you but allowed you to take AML if you get my drift.

I really hope they look favourably on you as you need time to recover without the worry.

GOOD LUCK.

If you work for a company and earn 200.00 per week, if you are off sick it is at the company discretion whether or not you get paid at that rate of 200.00 per week. They have to honour ssp which is around about 68.00 per week I think.

However, if you have had a week off with flu and been paid the full salary and you then take time off with a pregnancy related illness and they refuse to pay you full salary, you have got them by the bollox.

tron ... this must be very stressful for you on top of your PND ...
I have no knowledge of the legal side of this sort of thing but just as a thing to think about:
My doctor offered to sign me off work for my PND and I decided to give work a go for a trial period. To be totally honest, going back to work was the best thing I did at the time ... because it gave me the opportunity to get out of the house, out of my PND head, into 'old me' mode. It was actually very therapeutic and I think, eventually, helped me limp my way through my PND and out the other side.
I had frequent check ups with the doctor to see how I was going - he was always ready to sign me off if necessary but work helped me through.

(Much later, when DS was 2, I jacked in work to emigrate to NZ and become a SAHM but by then I was 98% better)

Just thought you may like a different angle ...

{smile]

Thanks for all this - last time I was off sick was last October (the dreaded so called morning sickness) and they paid me, they also paid me when I broke my foot and when I was in hospital to have a polyp removed. I rang people services (what my co HR, the CEO is an American!!!) and the woman told me it wouldn't go down as normal sick like the odd day would and that she'd have to speak to my department manager regarding payment. I'm still waiting to hear back from them so I'm not holding out much hope for payment as the department manager has no kids of her own and only ever thinks about the departmental budget!!! I might try ringing ACAS when I get a chance in the week and see what they say. Statutory would be btter than nothing, does anyone know what I'd have to do to get that or would it come through from work as maternity pay does?
Also if I went on sick pay and then decided not to go back, could they make me pay it all back??

PS I only work part time at the present which is about £190 p/w, so I'm short of that £200 pw you mentioned UCM

UCM...its not pregnancy related though is it? its a post partum condition...im not sure if falls under the same guidance?

I think if you pushed it, you could have it classed as pregnancy related as it is really. PND is a condition that can only be diagnosed through pregnancy IYSWIM. You need a good rep.

Also as a woman can only suffer with this, you can bung in a claim under sexual discrimination as well for good measure as a man cannot get it and it falls under equal opportunites that you mustn't cause any woman detriment through pregnancy related issues. Would need to look this up in more depth

There is a little link of interest here . I am trying to find out more about this at the momeent.

This may be of help here

Thanks UCM that is really helpful, people services rang to day to see how I was doing. Said to give them a ring if I needed anything!!! Suggested nearer my return time I go in and see my manager. I'll ask one of my friends to get me a copy of the sickness policy because apparently it's different from the odd sick day here and there!!