No Sick Pay, just SSP - normal, or a red flag for a Grad Scheme job?

[TooHot2022]

DS has just got his contract for his first job after graduating. It's on the grad scheme of a well-known name company (US-owned, if that's relevant). Salary c. £45k

I was surprised to see this clause regarding sick pay:

"If you qualify, you will receive Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) during absence. In our absolute discretion, we may choose to make additional payments to you (inclusive of SSP) during a period of sickness."

I've been out of the workplace for a while now, but I always had contracts stating a number of paid sick days (e.g.20) when you would be paid at your full salary rate before it defaulted to SSP.

Is this the new normal, or something to worry about/ ask questions?

Grateful for thoughts/ experience/ advice.

Thanks for the replies and advice - really helpful!

He was given a ‘mentor’ contact so decided to ask about this and they’ve come back and confirmed that they’ve never just been paid SSP and they think it’s to deter people taking advantage of sick days.

It’s a media/tech company btw, not law or finance, and he’s going into software engineering.

I think at the company's discretion is also legally very questionable. How do you ensure people are treated fairly and there is no unconscious bias?

I agree @Mariposa80
And who decides which illnesses are "worthy" and which are not?
Does the employee who has 4 months off for cancer treatment get paid but not the one recovering from a heart attack?
Is the person in hospital with s brain haemorrhage more worthy than the one in hospital with bipolar disorder?

Or is Connor in IT more valued so more likely to be paid than Chloe in advertising as she's much easier to replace.

I work with people who have serious health issues. These policies put a huge amount of stress on employees in hospital for prolonged periods of time and not knowing if they'll be paid. Or when the pay will suddenly stop and they won't be able to pay their bills.

Companies should be transparent and if they want to guard against Bob taking the piss then don't pay for 1st 5 days and that way people who have a more serious illness will know they are protected and can still pay their bills, which is what must people worry about.

DP and I are software engineers. Pretty normal.
His colleagues have gotten full sick pay although contract says SSP.

@49er
I think there is separate Critical Illness cover which would cover all or most of the scenarios you mention.

I have mostly worked for big UK based corporates. My contracts have always said the same as your son’s and I have always just been paid my normal salary for being sick. It’s just a way to cover themselves from having to pay out a lot if people take the piss. We also have income protection cover which takes over if you are on long term sick leave.

But the majority of illnesses ARE less than a week. So your suggestion would be great for people with prolonged illness, but useless for everyone else. Also for people with chronic illness who have flare-ups.

Furthermore extra sick pay is a workplace perk. So companies could just restrict it to max 2 weeks anyway. Which wouldn’t help anybody with prolonged illnesses.

That’s why companies usually offer income protection/critical illness insurance, relying on that to make up for prolonged illnesses, and do ‘company discretion’ for everything else. What normally happens is if something isn’t claimable then companies step in to make it up, otherwise leave it up to the insurance that they have paid for!

Also I agree with the legal case part, but that would require exact comparables, and justification. If the company can say ‘X’ was paid because their condition wasn’t covered under insurance, ‘Y’ was so no pay.

again I don’t like it but I see way to consider every possible case without some form of discretion somewhere.

*see no way

Well if that's the case @TooHot2022 your son should be fine as he will know he'll always be able to pay his billls although critical illness policies also have a list of qualifying conditions

@TooHot2022
That seems a reasonable response from the mentor. I would make sure he’s going to get fully qualified as an engineer and not just doing a job. But it sounds ok to me. He might even get to work in the USA!!

Its not that unusual and US companies often have more limited benefits than European organisations. There is also a belief in some companies that having generous sick policies often "encourages" absences for minor health issues. I also know companies that have quite hard-line written policies but are actually quite generous with discretionary sick pay. They like to have the option of implementing the policy if they think its merited. As with all employers look on Glassdoor, try and find some exiting and prior employees and see how well they are rated. A grad scheme is likely to have had graduates from your university that are legitimate people to contact

Honestly don’t worry, my last 3 (all US) employers had same in contract. It was for the benefit of the chancers who join then go sick. Me, my team, always received full pay when sick, it was at managers discretion. The contract simply meant they didn’t have to if you took the piss.
most actually had enhanced critical illness cover too which more than made up for it should you become to I’ll to work mid/ long term.

I have worked for private sector companies for thirty years and have never seen number of days per year “sick leave” clause in a contract. My understanding is that most avoid that as employees then tend to go and view it as an allowance to be taken.

You can get income protection insurance - at that salary, it will cost under £30/month and pay out after 30 days for 2 years. Try calling a few brokers.