My employer is withholding my sick pay due to"self inflicted sickness"

[Newtothis95]

I have been working for my company for over 3 years and within the last 5/6 months I've been stressed out due to university,work single mother of a two year old it's hard work! But I'm a quiet and strong person so I don't open up much. However 2 weeks ago I seemed advice from a friend at work who is of a higher position then me and asked how do I get sick leave from work as I'm stressed with my son and uni and work balancing it all, she advised to go to the doctor but doubted I'd get paid as our employers are strict so I took her advice saw my doctor and explained my feelings he then signed me off a sup form for 4 weeks due to stress. I gave this to a manager and she said it get paid and she'll see me when I'm back. Now today I received a call from my deputy manager explaining the my sick pay has been with eld bearing in mind today is Monday my payday is Friday and I have been off work 2weeks+. He then phoned back and said my pay has been withheld due to my employ me to hand book stating there aloud to do this ifor my sickness is "self inflicted" I asked how this was he said prior to your conversation with another member of staff mentioning about says you have during this time this is your fault I argued my point which was this is one of my stressed work and my son and my housing are the othersame of many. The phone call was rounded up by him repeating he is just telling me that my pay has been withheld and that I can have a follow up when I'm back may 13th. I need my pay this Friday I have bills,rent and childcare to pay for etc. Surely this can't be legal or right? Any help????

I think the main problem here is the conversation you had with your team leader who you confided in 'as a friend'. They will have repeated to your boss about your planned intention to go to doctor and get signed-off sick and trying to find out about procedures before doing so.

It may have given the impression that you were not 'properly ill' and you also don't how much personal information or what spin this so called friend/colleague has shared with your boss.

my family and friends were telling me to take them to the employment tribunal and all sorts due to them now stressing me even more 4 days before payday telling me I'm not going to be paid

I think ACAS would be of more use than your family and friends in that case. And I think you should be more careful about what you say to your colleagues.

I think you've been quite foolish to talk to your friend as though she wasn't also your team leader. Be very careful doing that going forward. She has an obligation to inform them if she believes you're fabricating an illness to get your uni work done.

I can imagine saying something like the following to a friend: I'm just so stressed out at the moment, what with the kids and work and uni. It's all too much. And I've got assignments that I'm never going to get in on time at this rate. Something's got to give. I'd take holiday days but I don't have any left and I can't take unpaid leave because of the bills. I'm not coping though and really need some time off. Do you reckon I'll get sick pay?

The above is obviously perfectly acceptable to a friend but could easily be interpreted badly by a team leader.

At this point, I'd send an email asking for clarification on what you'll be paid. Don't push it though as they could very well be waiting until you're back in to start disciplinary proceedings. It wouldn't be normal procedure to tell you this while you're signed off but he's obliged to tell you if you're not getting full sick pay because of it. The delay could well have been die to meetings to decide what to do.

I think people advising you to take them to an employment tribunal are getting a bit hysterical. You are a very long way from that. You first need to establish what you are getting paid while you are off ill, either by querying it with the company now or waiting until Friday to see what you get paid. The most important thing now is to get yourself into a better frame of mind for managing your very busy life, whether that be cutting down on hours worked, deferring some uni stuff or whatever. Then decide whether you feel you have a good case for fighting for the company sick pay.

Have you told work that you are also taking time off of uni? I think if you are ill and have been signed off and are not doing anything because you are too ill to then that's a completely different thing that it sounded like at the beginning of the thread.

I think emailing the facts, including that you are signed off of both work and uni, and sending a copy of your certificate is a good idea.

Sorry meant to add and asking them to clarify in writing what, if anything, you will be getting paid, and if nothing then the reasons why so you can seek advice.