Pay discrimination.

[explorer121]

Good morning,
whilst working in a small company of less than 25 employees we have previously been paid for isolation during Covid-19 situations as well as during periods of illness where we have been absent from work.
Holding a manager’s position I have been informed that during recent absenteeism from work due to isolation re Covid-19 certain employees will only be entitled to SSP.
I wanted to check if this can be correct as the company has previously paid employees in this situation.
Working from home is not an option due to the nature of the business.
Any help much appreciated. Thank you.

[echat11]

ULA Can you please take a look and advise, many thanks.

[ULA]

What does the company's sick pay policy or any contractual clause state about being paid more than SSP i.e. company sick pay.

Is this discretionary?

If so then the company can decide not to pay people for being off sick other than any SSP, however it needs to be carefully that they apply their discretion consistently to avoid any accusation of discrimination. My thought is also,, if they have consistently paid for Covid related absence since March last year and now deciding not to, even if this has been discretionary, given you are a small company, then it would have maybe been better for staff to have been notified that from xx date only SSP would be paid.

[explorer121]

Good morning
thank you for your reply. The company policy states no sick pay is or will be paid other than SSP. It would appear they have broken their own policy by paying full sick pay in the past.
I would be interested in the legal interpretation of this. Many thanks.

[ULA]

A company can chose to pay sick pay over and above SSP, even if an employee would not qualify under the company rules, however this goes back to my earlier point about if they do so then they need to consider each case on its own merits and be able to justify any accusation of possible discrimination.

If they have chosen to pay company sick for everyone in the past, thereby disregarding the own company rules and now want to enforce these rules, then this goes back to my point about them just letting all staff know this is going to be the case.

[explorer121]

Thank you for your reply it now gives me a clearer understanding of the situation and to sum up it all really relies on company discretion. Many thanks again.

[ULA]

Glad LegalBeagles could be of help