One of our clients has given me a sick note from their employee (who was off for 8 days) saying that they were assessed on 8th March, it advises that they are unfit for work and this will be the case for two weeks OR from 16th March. So which dates will she be getting SSP for?
From the 16th for 2 weeks? Or from the 8th? Where it says this will be the case for...........and where it says OR FROM.......TO.........should the GP have only filled in one of these?
Sick notes are just evidence of sickness. Assuming that the employer accepts/believes that the person was/is sick the person gets SSP from when they started being sick and unable to work until they are able to work again, or 28 weeks, whichever comes first. You can't for example deny a person part of their SSP just because they didn't go to the doctor straight away. You can't always get a Drs appointment straight away, for a start.
I've since found that the employee worked on the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 11th, 12th, 13th March. Her sick note began on the 16th March and was for 2 weeks and so she will have been off for 8 days in those two weeks.
I've done the SSP calculator but just wanted to double check, will I completely miss out the first 3 days from the payroll system where you mark off the SSP days on the calendar? And just process 5 days of SSP?
Does the employer need to pay their employee for those first 3 days that SSP doesn't cover or is this just classed as days off sick?
If it is classed as days off sick the employer doesn't usually pay staff for absences just as a note x
How to record the sickness in your payroll system depends on how the payroll system works.
Sick pay other than that mandated under the SSP rules is a contractual matter between employer and employee. Employers are not obliged to pay anything other than SSP for sickness unless the contract of employment specifies it.
