Vulnerable family member

paul.r1 · Post by **paul.r1** » 17 Apr 2020, 18:10

Hi my 13 year old son has been classed as extremely vulnerable and has received the 12 week shielding letter, my question is if I ask my manager to stay off work to protect him would I be able to receive full pay ,would it be unpaid leave, does it depend on my manager, I have looked on the forum extensively and have found different views, would really appreciate a definite standpoint on this.
Take care everyone

LukeyBoy · Post by **LukeyBoy** » 17 Apr 2020, 18:21

Official Royal Mail policy is no pay in this situation.I'm in the same boat manager,HR, and Branch level at CWU level all told me the same.You can take leave etc and the company has to be flexible with you.Also they won't furlough pay as that's another avenue I went down.

paul.r1 · Post by **paul.r1** » 17 Apr 2020, 18:44

This was the answer I was expecting but have seen messages on here saying if you have not used up your sick allowance in last 12 months then that is the route to go down, this is where I wondered if it came down to whether your manager wanted to help you or not, I know there is a planned meeting next week with RM management and CWU regarding sick pay absences etc.

LukeyBoy · Post by **LukeyBoy** » 17 Apr 2020, 19:38

There is a certain amount of discretion a manager could use but not 12 weeks.I personally think there will no budge on RM from this,it's a dire situation to be in and RM wonder why we can't stick the current regime.
The CWU have asked RM for figures on how many people this would affect and the costs but RM will not play ball the Union have my opinion that they will not produce the figures because its embarrassing and a drop in the ocean as far as pounds and pence is concerned.
All im saying is it's a very stressful position to be put in that must be causing tremendous anxiety.

Post by **Mister T** » 19 Apr 2020, 08:49

My wife has had Stem Cell/Bone Marrow transplants as she had a form of Leukaemia, and classed as high risk. I have took 2 weeks off through leave now on unpaid leave for the foreseeable future. No contact from work or CWU as they said they would keep in touch, after 35 years working for Royal Mail I feel very let down by them. There can't be huge numbers of us in this situation, it gets me when you see Open Reach have backed their vulnerable people.

A2B · Post by **A2B** » 19 Apr 2020, 10:23

Mister T wrote:My wife has had Stem Cell/Bone Marrow transplants as she had a form of Leukaemia, and classed as high risk. I have took 2 weeks off through leave now on unpaid leave for the foreseeable future. No contact from work or CWU as they said they would keep in touch, after 35 years working for Royal Mail I feel very let down by them. There can't be huge numbers of us in this situation, it gets me when you see Open Reach have backed their vulnerable people.

It's a discrace the RM are putting you in this situation and the CWU should hang their heads for not taking this situation to the courts.

You don't need telling but i'll say it anyway, you are doing the right thing by staying off and protecting your wife

Schiff · Post by **Schiff** » 19 Apr 2020, 11:19

In the OP's position I would likely find myself extremely stressed, to the point of making myself ill and requiring time off work sick, at the thought of the risk that I was presenting to the vulnerable family member that I was living with.

Of course sickness absence due to stress isn't exempted from RM's absence stages, but is the threat of a stage warning really more important than the life of a vulnerable loved one?

Herbzzz · Post by **Herbzzz** » 19 Apr 2020, 18:41

My wife received a 12 week isolation letter, I’ve been on leave for the last 12 days, I’m due back to work Tuesday Spoken to my shift manager and he suggested ‘off the record’ to go sick with stress. I feel RM should furlough staff like myself in a shielding position. Other big companies have. (Boots, who employ 56000+ Staff also are paying the extra 20% so shielding workers are 12 weeks on full pay)
Why is RM so hesitant to take up the furlough option the government has in place?

AngardWolf · Post by **AngardWolf** » 19 Apr 2020, 18:52

At my Mail Centre quite a few staff are shielding and I suppose chances are that there must be as many staff again with family members who are shielding - they just can’t afford to lose any more staff? I definitely think if I was in a position like this I’d be looking at the stress route, largely because it *is* a deeply stressful time, and if that’s being exacerbated by your employer, why not?

Post by **rogersh** » 19 Apr 2020, 20:36

paul.r1 wrote:Hi my 13 year old son has been classed as extremely vulnerable and has received the 12 week shielding letter, my question is if I ask my manager to stay off work to protect him would I be able to receive full pay ,would it be unpaid leave, does it depend on my manager, I have looked on the forum extensively and have found different views, would really appreciate a definite standpoint on this.
Take care everyone

An extract from a letter dated 14th April from Terry Pullinger DGSP CWU to Sally Ashford Chief HR Officer Royal Mail Group

The CWU believe that your policy needs to be extended to show compassion to the following individuals:

 Those that need to isolate because they have vulnerable people in their home.

 People who have suffered long periods of ill health fighting very serious illnesses that have either fully exhausted their sick pay or have gone on to half pay.

 Those over 65.

 Those that have been working closely or in contact with work colleagues who now have symptoms (Person A in the Government isolation chart) should also self-isolate for 14 days in line with the Government flow-chat (Person B) on full pay.
The CWU’s opinion is that all of the above should be isolating on full pay, other major employers such as BT and the Post Office now have emergency polices in place regarding full pay for such circumstances.