Sick pay problems

[RonaldMcDonald]

I am currently suffering from an ongoing illness that has required me to take some days off work.
I have discovered that my employment contract has very different provision for paid sick than my colleague's - to my detriment, although we are on very different pay grades - mine is higher.
I get a few weeks full pay - they get a number of months.
The company say that they are able to have different T&Cs for different staff levels. I dunno. It feels discriminatory.
I am prepared to be put straight and really appreciate the help.

This type of thing is normally historical. Sometimes employees who have been there longer are on different terms as the company changed its sick pay provision after they joined meaning new starters after that date are on new sick pay arrangements.

Sometimes it's the result of a TUPE transfer- if someone was initially employed elsewhere and their company was taken over or for another reason they transferred across, then they would stay on their old terms and conditions.

Sometimes it's about seniority although this is less common and is more likely to involve more favourable terms for senior management or similar.

It's only discriminatory if those who share a protected characteristic have less favourable terms, so if women get the less favourable sick pay and men get full pay for months, that would be discriminatory.

You say it feels discriminatory. Do you have any reason to believe the fact that you are (presumably) a woman is the reason, or some other protected characteristic?

Or do you just mean it feels unfair?

Different conditions for different levels can be discrimination if the roles at the level with worse conditions are typically filled by women and the roles at the level with better conditions are typically filled by men.

I worked somewhere where senior employees had a nice final-salary pension scheme but the juniors had a pretty rubbish defined-contribution scheme. Wasn't discrimination though.

However - there is no right to more salary/sick pay etc just because you are more senior. Equal pay law works on the basis of sex discrimination, NOT on the basis of "fairness"

I guess I mean unfair. Thanks for your help.
The other employees are on old typical health service type contracts and mine is different - they say because it is newer and is where the company want/need to be as it can't afford to pay months of sick leave.
Stupidly I thought perhaps everyone's terms and conditions around sick pay had to be the same within the company or it was unfair.
I know this might sound graspy but is there anything I can do?

No - I'm an employment lawyer. Its perfectly legitimate.

Ah - thanks.
The other staff members are men and I am a woman ( we are a private practice with partners plus we 4 'workers' iykwim the others are in admin type roles ) but in honesty I know that my sickness terms aren't different because I am a woman

Then you should drop it. Sorry to sound harsh but it is just the way it is.

"The other employees are on old typical health service type contracts and mine is different - they say because it is newer and is where the company want/need to be as it can't afford to pay months of sick leave."

Very common. If an employer finds it can no longer afford very generous terms the easiest way to change it is to ease put gradually by offer new terms to new staff.

Ease out not ease put!

Thanks a million.