Wages when on doctor imposed reduced hours

[lilygirl81]

I'm just wondering if anyone has any knowledge on this.

I'm having a lot of issues in my pregnancy, and it's been suggested that I either stop work or work reduced hours. I'm only 26 weeks, so not in danger of my maternity leave being started early as yet.

I just spoke to my HR department and they were not able to tell me if my salary would be cut if my hours reduced. They just said to let them know what the doctor decides and they would review it.

In general, if a doctor gives you a fit note stating you can only work X hours, should you still get your full pay or can your employer dock your wages for the hours you are not working?

My preference is to keep working, but I would receive full salary for another 3 months if I was completed signed off, so it would seem silly to come to work part time and receive less money than if I was off completely.

If you have a fit note that says you can only work 24 hours and your standard week is 37 hours, you should be on 13 hours sick pay per week, I think. It wouldn't work like that if you only get SSP because to qualify for SSP it has to be full absence.

Thanks for the response, that's what I was hoping would be the case.

They don't have to pay you for hours you don't work, but in circumstances where you would be on full pay if you were off sick, it doesn't make much sense to reduce your pay when you come back to work, so a sensible employer would agree to keep paying you at full pay for a defined amount of time.