WO toolkit 2012 complete.pdf - GMB
WO toolkit 2012 complete.pdf - GMB
WO toolkit 2012 complete.pdf - GMB
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SECTION 5.29<br />
GROUP FOUR<br />
SICK PAY<br />
29. Am I entitled to be paid while off sick from work?<br />
<strong>GMB</strong> negotiates sick pay schemes for its members,so check to see if your employer has a sick pay policy.<br />
If not,the law sets minimum standards through Statutory Sick Pay(SSP).Your employer has to pay you<br />
SSP when off sick from work.<br />
You are entitled to SSP after three qualifying days of absence,provided:<br />
You are absent for four or more(not necessarily working)consecutive days.This forms a Period of<br />
Incapacity for Work(PIW).Two PIWs can be‘linked’and treated as a single PIW if eight weeks or less<br />
separates them.<br />
Your absence also has to fall in a‘period of entitlement’.The period of entitlement begins with the PIW.<br />
The employer’s liability to pay SSP ends if:<br />
• You are no longer sick;<br />
• you reach the maximum entitlement of 28 weeks,or three years have elapsed since you began your<br />
PIW;<br />
• your contract ends,unless your employer is trying to avoid paying SSP; you are detained in legal<br />
custody; or<br />
• you become entitled to SMP or Maternity Allowance and are within the maternity pay period.<br />
SSP can be paid for a maximum of 28 weeks.<br />
You are not entitled to SSP if on the first day of incapacity if:<br />
• You are under 16 or over 65;<br />
• you are on a fixed term contract of three months or less and you have worked less than 13 weeks.If<br />
you are on a series of contracts and no more than eight weeks separates these you can link them<br />
together for this purpose;<br />
• your average earnings are less than the lower earnings limit(£87 a week from April 2007);<br />
• in the previous 57 days you were entitled to Severe Disablement Allowance or Incapacity Benefit;<br />
• you have done no work at all under the contract.If you had worked for an employer under a<br />
previous contract which ended not less than eight weeks before,you are not excluded;<br />
• there is a trade dispute in which you have a direct interest;<br />
• you have exhausted the 28 weeks with a former employer and there is a gap of 56 days or less since<br />
you last received SSP;<br />
• you are or have been pregnant and are within the maternity pay period;<br />
• you are a‘Welfare to Work’beneficiary with a 52 week linking period; or you are detained in legal<br />
custody,or you are not in the European Union.<br />
If you are excluded or have exhausted your entitlement,you may transfer to incapacity benefit(IB).<br />
Entitlement to IB depends on your national insurance record.Otherwise you may be able to claim<br />
income support(IS),a means tested benefit.<br />
REMEMBER: there may be more than one person affected by this issue.<br />
Consider calling a meeting to advise,recruit and organise.