Though some sick days will always have a stigma attached to them (World Cup flu, post office party pains to name a couple), the majority of people use their sick leave appropriately. Critics of strict sick-leave policies say that presenteeism (employee's coming into work when they are ill) is a much greater threat to business than skiving. Employees turning up for work sick not only run the risk of making others ill, but run the risk of seriously harming their own health. Studies by University College London focusing on a group of workers who continually struggled to work even when their health was compromised found that those who took no time off work were more likely to die early. Surely this should be sufficient warning to know your rights where sick-leave is concerned.
Statutory sick pay (SSP)
Statutory sick pay, currently £81.60 per week (as of January 2012), is paid by your employer for up to 28 weeks. When statutory sick pay is no longer paid (after the 28 weeks) you should claim incapacity benefit from the DSS.
To be entitled to SSP, employees must:
- Be currently employed.
- Be between 16 and 65 years of age.
- Have been sick for at least four days or more in a row.
- Have average weekly earnings equal to or more than the Lower Earnings Limit (the amount you would need to earn before you start paying National Insurance contributions) of £102 a week.
Please see the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) website for further details.www.dti.gov.uk
An employee may not be eligible for SSP if:
- They have already received SSP for 28 weeks and become ill again within eight weeks of their SSP ending.
- Their gross pay in the last eight weeks before their sickness was less than the lower earnings limit for National Insurance contributions purposes.
- They have not done any work for their employer.
- They have been receiving Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance within eight weeks of being sick, or in the case of Welfare to Work beneficiaries, 52 weeks.
- They are aged 65 or over.
- They are away from work, as the result of a trade dispute.
- Their contract of employment is for a period of three months or less.
Contractual sick pay
An employee's contract may provide that they will receive their normal salary when absent during illness (in which case there will be no need for payment of statutory sick pay) or they will receive their normal salary less the amount of statutory sick pay. If contractual sick pay is not payable at all under the terms of the employee's contract then the employee will only be entitled to statutory sick pay.