Company Sick Pay

[RainMaker]

I'm employed on a permanent contract. I work 10 months on, 2 months off (off months randomly decided by employer). I've been paid the same amount every month for the last 4 years. My normal salary is calculated at 10/12 of the full-time equivalent (FTE) salary. My employer pension (%) contributions are based on my normal salary. The company bonus scheme (%) are based on my normal salary.

Company policy on sick pay:

Sick pay will be calculated based on your normal hours of work as set out in your Terms and Conditions of Employment.


My employment contract reflects the above.

The following numbers are fictional for ease of understanding.

I'm paid £1000/month, every month, for 12 months. The FTE would be £1200/month.

I'm currently on 1/2 sick pay. My expectation was to be paid 1/2 my normal salary (£500). But the company say no, I should be deducted 1/2 of the FTE salary leaving me with (£1000 - [1200 x 0.5] £400.

Surely this can't be right ?

[ULA]

"Sick pay will be calculated based on your normal hours of work as set out in your Terms and Conditions of Employment." Is this the full sick pay clause or is the a more detailed clause, if so it would be useful to have you post it up for us.

Also what you have set out refers to normal hours of work so what are your normal hours of work?

[RainMaker]

"Sick pay will be calculated based on your normal hours of work as set out in your Terms and Conditions of Employment." Is this the full sick pay clause or is the a more detailed clause, if so it would be useful to have you post it up for us.

Also what you have set out refers to normal hours of work so what are your normal hours of work?

Hi ULA

“Sick pay shall mean your normal basic rate of pay
Absence up to 2 months = sick pay
Absence 2 to 4 months = 1/2 sick pay”

When I’m at work I do the same hours as everyone else, 38.

Many thanks.

[Manxman]

I'd go back to your employer's payroll/HR dept and ask them to explain their reasoning to you, and which part of your contrcat of employment they are relying on.

According to their argument, if you worked six months per year - rather than ten - and you were getting paid £500 per month every month, you wouldn't be entitled to receive anything at all on half pay!

I wonder if whoever you've spoken to already has mistakenly applied a reduction of half pay of the FTE salary rather what your actual salary.

Without knowing why they've done it the way they have, it's difficult to help. You really need to ask them

[RainMaker]

I'd go back to your employer's payroll/HR dept and ask them to explain their reasoning to you, and which part of your contrcat of employment they are relying on.

According to their argument, if you worked six months per year - rather than ten - and you were getting paid £500 per month every month, you wouldn't be entitled to receive anything at all on half pay!

I wonder if whoever you've spoken to already has mistakenly applied a reduction of half pay of the FTE salary rather what your actual salary.

Without knowing why they've done it the way they have, it's difficult to help. You really need to ask them

Manxman

Exactly that !

They’ve taken 1/2 of the monthly FTE and deducted that from my actual salary. They think this is the right and proper way to apply the 1/2 sick pay policy !

[Manxman]

Depending on how sophisticated your employer's payroll system is, it's also possible that it's been (mistakenly) set up so as always to deduct 50% of the relevant FTE salary whenever any employee goes into half pay - regardless of whether that employee is actually FTE or not.

Easiest and quickest way is to ask them. Give them the example of someone who works standard hours for only six months in the year ( 0.5 FTE) being entitled to zero half pay according to their logic. I'd be surprised if that was correct.

If they don't agree, come back here with their explanation.


(I know you get paid in 12 equal monthly instalments each year, but is this something to do with the two months each year that you don't work? Is that confusing the issue? How does your contract distinguish between the months you do work and the months you don't work? Are the months named or is it some sort of annualised hours arrangement?)

[ULA]

Thank you for the further detail. I woukd agree then that, if in your example your normal salary is £1000 per month then months 2-4 of sick pay should be at £500.

However you do need to check l how they are factoring in an pro-rata for the 10/12 working months.

[pc0101]

Your sick pay should be half your FTE so would be £600 per month for 10 months, giving a yearly total of £6000 or £500 per month if spread over a year.

The logic from your employer is unusual but I presume what they are saying is that the deduction is half your FTE, so they are deducting £600 and you will get £400 per month, for this logic to work though you would have to be not counted as being sick for the 2 months you don't normally work so you would expect no deduction in those months, this would then mean you get 10 x £400 and 2 x £1000 which would equates back to the yearly £6000 we know you are due but just not evenly spread.

[RainMaker]

Resolved.

My employer agreed that the correct approach is to pay 1/2 my “normal” salary, rather than deduct 50% of the FTE salary from my normal salary.

Many thanks for everyone’s input.

[Manxman]

Good. Thanks for the update. Whenever your employer (HR or payroll) tells you something that makes no sense, challenge them.

[ULA]

RainMaker thanks for coming back to your thread to let us know that the company sick pay issue has been resolved.