Sick pay for temps?

[bongo_fury]

Hi.

I've recently been put on light duties because of some leg problems. It was ok doing that to start with, because I just did stuff like kill-offs and a bit of sorting and whatnot which meant I could sit down some of the time. Now they've got me in the callers' office and I seem to be doing almost as much walking as when I was on delivery, no to mention kneeling,
and bending. I really don't think it's doing my legs much good. I recently had my Atos 'pnone interview and they told me they'd recommend to the manager that I do something else or only spend half the time in the callers' office. My manager won't have it and wants to farm me out to the sorting hub instead. She reckons I'd be able to sit down but some of my colleagues have said that's a load of carp and I'll still end up walking up and down and standing.

My doctor seems keen to sign me off but I'm trying to avoid that, as I'm worried about managing on statutory sick pay. I can't find any info about company sick pay though. Can temps with over a year's service get this? I'm on my 3rd temp contract. My 1st two were 6-monthers and this is a 1 year one which I'm just a few weeks from the end of.

Another thing I'd like advice on, is my rights if my contract isn't renewed while I'm ill. I'm supposedly going permanent after Xmas according to my rep, but will being off sick or on light duties for the last few weeks of my contract kill my chances of continued employment? It's really bad timing! Cheers a lot for any advice.

ps. I would ask my rep about all this, but he's proving hard to catch this week.

[chrisj]

I would have though that you should be able to get away with minimal walking and standing whilst sorting. If your sick nots specifies that you should do the minimum to aggravate your injury then the 'sorting hub' management should respect that.

Callers office at this time of the year will not do you much good.

* They simply cannot find you much to do in your present office and it appears that your doctor is not willing to let you off completely. I'll go and do the sorting and see how it goes...

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Bongo as far as I know you are entitled to the same rights as permanent staff and if that's the case you will get the same sick pay as your contracted hours as long as you have served 12 months. Sick pay at full rate last 6 months and half pay is another 6 months - these are both over a 4 year rolling period.

Also they cannot dismiss you based on your sickness outside the process agreed with the Union, and if have had official confirmation that you are going to be made permanent after xmas then if they don't based on your sickness this should be an automatically unfair dismissal and you would be in a strong position in an ET.

Really you need to speak to the Area Rep to get the best advice.

[barrowc]

If other MCs are like my one, almost every job involves standing up for long periods. Rather than spending a whole shift at a letter frame or flat frame, people tend to get moved on to bag opening or packet sorting for a couple of hours at a time

[bongo_fury]

Cheers everyone for the advice. I'll wait until my xray result comes, then see what the quack says. Hopefully, I'll be able to collar the rep on Monday.