Should DP have been paid???

[mum2taylor]

My DP was off sick for approximately 6 weeks due to an ongoing back problem. As his sickness is covered by a sick line his employers would normally have paid him for this. He was expecting a shortfall in his salary this month but has just found out he is only to get SSP, which is a drop of around £700 in his monthly salary. When he asked his employers why this was they said it was because they paid him the last time he was off. They do say that it is at managers discretion but it just seems really unfair. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks ANTagony....he didnt want to raise this in case he rocked the boat with his employers but they have been extremely difficult with him the past while since he came back from sickleave so think he will have no choice but to go down that route. They havent followed the correct procedures with regards to the disciplinary action anyway, but he didnt want to take it this far. He was expecting to have been paid at least a percentage of his salary whilst he was off though so the situation as a whole is really getting him down...he nearly walked out at lunch time when he discovered his boss had taken out the full office for lunch and had only excluded him .

I agree with Ant. If their actions have prolonged his absence, it's not reasonable of them to only pay him SSP, and they are making themselves legally vulnerable.

mum2taylor I would advise him to consider raising a formal grievance about all of this.

Unreasonable disciplinary action
Failure to follow disciplinary procedure
Failure to provide appropriate office equipment exacerbating back condition they were aware of
Excluding from office events (lunch, anything else)]
Anything else they've done

Bunging in a grievance with everything in might make them look at this more seriously, and most importantly, if it gets to the stage where he wants to consider legal action, he would usually be required to have raised an internal grievance first, so he would have done this already.

ok flowery, I suppose the atmosphere is already bad enough for him so wont make much difference...unfortunately this will probably mean that he would (at least in the long run) have to get another job, and I dont see him getting any kind of a reference from them after all of this

It seems connected to me - sickness, disciplinary action and pay being withheld. The problem of course being that sickness pay is discretionary.

So, DH was off sick when he was informed he was being disciplined? What is the investigation about? Whether he was genuinely ill?

Seems a bit harsh to me - usually an informal chat when the employee starts back is enough. Or a referral to occupational health.

May I suggest combing through the employee handbook, specifically the part about disciplinary action.

You might also want to have a look at the ACAs Code of Practice - section under disciplinary action.

It's really bad practice though to discipline someone for being ill...

Its a really long story ilovemydog, but yes he did receive a letter asking him to attend for a disciplinary hearing whilst he was off sick...there were other issues that they tried to raise that were common practice in the office but were ruled out as his colleague/manager agreed that these were all things that everyone in the office did, texting in sick for example, as this was what he was told to do from day one...there are still people doing it now actually. He attended at a back specialist through his employers medical insurance also, and said back specialist confirmed his position by way of medical report, but his employers have still ordered a report via his GP. The actual displinary hearing took place at our home as he wasnt well enough to attend work which I have since found out (thanks to flowery and co) was not a thing the employer should have done.

hey mum2taylor been following your posts with interest.
wishing you and your dh all the best. and i know it's not common practice on "employment" to offer hugs but here they come ! keep us informed

thanks JC, much appreciated!

It sounds quite complex, and that Flowery has all the details.

The only thing I would add is that if you do wish to lodge a grievance, then the whole process has to be gone through.

For instance, it isn't enough to simply write a letter stating that your DH wishes to implement the grivance procedure and the internal procedures have to be exhausted which would probably also mean an appeal if DH didn't get the right result.

But you stated, 'not yet' as far as having union representation, and I understood that DH's company is part of a larger company? Does the larger company recognize trade unions?

Obviously DH can lodge the grievance himself, but it makes life so much easier if you have someone who is knowledgable about the company's internal policies...

at the moment ilovemydog hes going to wait and see what the results of the disciplinary action is going to be. if they choose to go through with disciplining him here then he will be going to see an employment lawyer for advice. If they dont choose to discipline him I think he is going to try and put it all behind him and hope that management do the same. The atmosphere is bad enough so it would be completely unbearable if he were to lodge a complaint against them. He would have to look for another job in that case, and the market isnt exactly good at the moment

When was the disciplinary hearing? Has the company given an indication as to when you will receive the outcome?

it was about a month ago, maybe even six weeks. They say they are waiting on his GP report before they make a decision. He sent an e-mail to HR the other day asking when he was going to be given the outcome and they said that they are still waiting on the report coming through from his GP. Is there a timescale within which they are legally supposed to give you the outcome?

I agree with Flowery's advice for DH to see the GP and find out what the GP will say - that it's all quite stressful for all concerned.

As far as the time frame for outcome of disciplinary hearing, much would depend on the company's policy.

But you need to be aware that there are finite time scales, without wishing to stress you out anymore than you are already!