One of our payroll clients has notified me today that one of their employees has been off sick for a number of weeks and has a sick note from their GP saying she is unfit for work but doesn't actually explain why.
Firstly, do I need a copy of the sick note.
Is the sick note valid as it has no description of why she is off sick?
I don't. If the client tells me that a staff member was off sick then I just record it as such.
If the employee reported their sickness directly to yourself the situation would be different but with your scenario the manager is aware of the absence so nothing to cover yourself for.
kind regards,
Shaun.
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
The employee works part time and is on monthly pay doing the following hours:
Monday 9am-1.30pm Tuesday 12pm-3pm Wednesday 12pm-3pm Thursday Off Friday 9am-4.30pm
So an 18 hour week.
She was given a week off from the 31st December to the 4th January so take it that she is entitled to 1 days holiday for the 1st January and 2 days concessionary days off for 2nd and the 4th.
She came in on Monday 7th, was off work on the 8th and came in on the 9th. After this she was off work until present but didn't contact her employer. It was only on the 22nd that the employer had contact from her with a sick note.
As she failed to notify the employer within 7 days does this mean she isn't entitled to SSP altogether or that she is only entitled to SSP from 22nd to the end of her sick note which is 12th February.
Also the employer has said that they do not pay SSP. However am I right in thinking that all employers must pay this by law if their employee qualifies and that the SSP can be claimed back when the PAYE is calculated each month/quarter?
Unless the employer has their own rules for notification of being off sick and has told employees in advance of this, then the employee should have given notification within 7 days. One of the rules of getting SSP is that they must notify the employer within 7 days, however see the excerpt from Page 9 of the HMRC Helpbook for SSP below:-
Another qualifying condition for SSP is that the employee must earn at least £107 a week, so there is that to be taken into account as well.
The employer cannot say that they do not pay SSP. By law they must if the employee meets all the qualifying conditions.
SSP cannot be claimed back when the PAYE is calculated.....it is not like SMP or SPP. If the employer has a lot of employees off sick at the same time, then they may be able to claim back a percentage of SSP under the Percentage Threshold Scheme.
"Employee doesnt tell you If your employee doesnt notify you of sickness absence within: the time you fixed, or seven days of the first day of incapacity, and if you consider that there was good cause for delay, you must accept that the notification was given correctly if it is given within one month of the time you specify, or in the seven day period after the relevant day(s) of incapacity, or up to 91 days after the relevant day(s) of incapacity, if you are satisfied that it was not reasonably practicable for the employee to notify you within the month. If you have accepted that the notification was given correctly, your employee will be entitled to SSP from the beginning of their absence as if they had notified you on time. However, if you do not accept that notification was given correctly, there is an example of a letter you may wish to use to advise your employee that you consider they are not entitled to SSP for this reason on page 22"
If the employer has told me that the employee didn't notify them within 7 days, what would happen if the employee actually did notify them but the employer is telling me little white lies to get out of paying? How would I find out? Or do we as an agent just have to go by what we are told from the employer?
