I was taken ill 7 wks ago with voice loss. Signed off from work initially for 2 wks. Unfortunately i didnt recover so my Doctor told me that I couldnt go to work. He relented and allowed me to work from home providing I didnt speak.
When I asked for a sick note I was told that either I was working from home and not counted as sick or if I was given a sick note then I wouldnt be allowed to do any work. So it was agreed with my boss that I would work from home until recovered. Now a 2nd Dr. has signed me off work to rest for 1 wk – no work! Boss today told me that company sick pay is 12 wks which they will be backdating it to 1st Feb & whch gives me a further 7 wks in which to recover before I have to go onto statatory sick pay. It seems unfair that they can backdate the sick pay and void all the work I have done and in effect take away 5 wks worth of sick pay that I might need. Can they do this?
If they paid you for working during that time, they can’t go back and say it was all sick pay now. If you didn’t work a full forty hours each week (or whatever your regular hours are), then they can use sick pay to make up the difference. If you find out they are calling the entire time sick pay, you should complain to HR so you don’t lose benefits.
January 1st, 2010 at 2:53 am
Read your company handbook and the section in your benefits regarding sick pay and how it is used. If you were working from home then it should not be counted as sick pay. But is there a provision in the plan (maybe it’s short term disability) that you have to use it consecutively or you lose it or something? It sounds like there is a reason for his backdating it. Call your H.R. person and ask them why it is being done that way, or call and ask your boss the question why.
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January 1st, 2010 at 3:34 am
If they paid you for working during that time, they can’t go back and say it was all sick pay now. If you didn’t work a full forty hours each week (or whatever your regular hours are), then they can use sick pay to make up the difference. If you find out they are calling the entire time sick pay, you should complain to HR so you don’t lose benefits.
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January 1st, 2010 at 3:49 am
Wow, I hope you get your voice back soon since your writing is confusing! If I follow what you’re saying here, the doctor put you off work but the company allowed you to work from home. When a second doc put you off work, the company retroactively put you on a leave of absence.
When you refer to "sick pay", I believe you’re actually referring to family medical leave (FMLA), which is limited to 12 weeks of unpaid time.
Here are the rules – if you are on a family medical leave for your own serious illness, you may either take that leave all at once, or on an intermittent basis (like you need to be out one day a week for chemo treatment.)
If you are working from home with the permission of the company, you are not on leave and should be receiving pay under whatever arrangement you have made with the company.
If your doctor recused you from work effective on a particular date, the company should have informed you as of that date that you should not perform any more work and that you would be placed on a leave of absence.
Retroactively placing you on a leave is not legal since the company has some obligations to inform you beforehand that you are being placed on leave.
If I’m wrong and your company provides 12 weeks of paid sick time in addition to FMLA, 1) lucky you, and 2) the company can administer its own paid sick time policies in any manner it sees fit as long as it is consistent in the application of those policies.
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January 1st, 2010 at 4:35 am
if you are looking for information about work at home jobs then visit the best work at home forum out there
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i hope this is useful
good luck
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