Time off with morning sickness - unpaid but no explanation?

[joojoobean99]

I've had some time off recently (about 3 and a half weeks) with severe morning sickness, and I've just returned to work today on reduced hours. It's also payday today, but when I checked my bank I had nothing from my employer (even though I figured I'd have at least 2-3 days pay because I've been off for well under a month). So I figured I'd just check my payslip when I got to work (which should have been issued last Monday) only to find that a payslip hasn't been raised for me. I emailed my boss to ask if it was correct that I received no pay (as he wasn't in this morning for me to ask) but I've had no reply yet. Are they allowed to just not pay me without informing me? They haven't asked me if I want to claim SSP (which I obviously do, I can't live on no money!) but they knew my fit note expired yesterday and I would be off work until then so I think they could've contacted me to ask about SSP? And shouldn't they at least issue a payslip showing £0.00 even if they're not paying me just to show the deductions they've made? I'm just really annoyed to have no money paid from them and no explanation.

I know it's easiest to wait until Monday to see what my boss says then (assuming he still hasnt replied to my email), but I'm so worried about having an empty bank account when all my direct debits will be taken on Wednesday. Any advice on this would be appreciated! TIA x

If there is no contractual sick lay entitlement then yes you should have had SSP

*pay

Should they have claimed that for me automatically or is it something I need to instigate?

Don't you have to apply for SSP? I recall having to fill out a form to apply for it when I was last off sick a few years ago.

How many days a week do you work? You should have been paid SSP after the 3rd consecutive day off as long as you followed your companies sickness procedure which I assume you did seeing as you sent in a fit note. You don't have to apply, the company just have to pay it.

Sounds like someone made an error.

There is a link below with a bit more info for you, but I would also check if this will affect your entitlement to maternity pay - it's calculated on a set period of work (if that makes sense) and if your pay is lower than usual it may affect the calculations later. Have you had any sick pay prior to your pregnancy? Hope you get it sorted soon.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/rights-at-work/sick-pay/getting-sick-pay-when-youre-pregnant/

In fact if your employer thinks you are not entitled for any reason (not earning enough/due in the next 4 weeks/already had 28 weeks SSP etc) they have to give you a form explaining why.

SSP isn't something you need to 'claim', it's just what your employer should pay you.