LTB 263/20 - COVID-19 RECOGNITION PAYMENT

Post by **aiden01** » 25 May 2020, 10:27

tommytucka wrote:When is this £200 supposedly being paid then? All seems to have gone hush hush since first being mentioned

Supposed to be sometime in june.

Post by **nelly21** » 25 May 2020, 14:15

I had the symptoms and self isolated for 7 days and at that time I could not get tested.if I don't receive any bonus for working in a mail centre that does not care about distanceing or ppe that is non existent I will be taking some time off with stress and get my bonus that way

Frankie15 · Post by **Frankie15** » 25 May 2020, 14:57

Well I actually tested positive for the virus and I believe I contracted it on delivery!! To be honest I'm just happy that I didn't really go through a bad time with it compared to other people who have suffered far worse than me. People have lost their lives. My children were lucky to not have caught it from me which I'm so glad for. The £200 is a "bonus" which is something that none of us had before nor were expecting, however my point is while it doesn't faze me a lot if I get anything or not, the principle of not receiving anything because I HAD to go sick through no fault of my own when I would definitely have still been at work is unfair. Not just for me, for others who HAD to go sick for whatever reason. People cant help being genuinely sick. I know of quite a few in our office who seen it as a green light to go for an extra 7 - 14 days leave, trust me some have actually boasted about it and planned when to go. The same guys are even complaining that they better receive the bonus or they'll be going to the union!! As I say it's the principle more than anything.

Post by **Murdoch** » 25 May 2020, 15:31

Frankie15 wrote:Well I actually tested positive for the virus and I believe I contracted it on delivery!! To be honest I'm just happy that I didn't really go through a bad time with it compared to other people who have suffered far worse than me. People have lost their lives. My children were lucky to not have caught it from me which I'm so glad for. The £200 is a "bonus" which is something that none of us had before nor were expecting, however my point is while it doesn't faze me a lot if I get anything or not, the principle of not receiving anything because I HAD to go sick through no fault of my own when I would definitely have still been at work is unfair. Not just for me, for others who HAD to go sick for whatever reason. People cant help being genuinely sick. I know of quite a few in our office who seen it as a green light to go for an extra 7 - 14 days leave, trust me some have actually boasted about it and planned when to go. The same guys are even complaining that they better receive the bonus or they'll be going to the union!! As I say it's the principle more than anything.

How would you feel if you lose some of the bonus for having to self-isolate for those 7 days (I'm presuming you isolated for 7 days). But received the rest of the bonus pro-rata?

Frankie15 · Post by **Frankie15** » 25 May 2020, 15:36

I had to isolate for 14 days because I tested positive. To be honest as I said, if I were to receive anything then I'm more than happy. It's just hearing others in my office that have went out just for the sake of a few days off and then complaining that they better get the money that really annoys me!!

Woody Guthrie · Post by **Woody Guthrie** » 25 May 2020, 15:52

We can't argue that pro-rata for part-time hours is wrong and pro-rata for isolation is right.

Neither in the vast majority of cases were the choice of the individual.

Post by **Murdoch** » 25 May 2020, 16:08

Woody Guthrie wrote:We can't argue that pro-rata for part-time hours is wrong and pro-rata for isolation is right.

Neither in the vast majority of cases were the choice of the individual.

Nah, I have the same standard. If your contract is 25 hours, but you've worked an average of 38 during the lockdown. Then clearly you should get the full bonus.

Frankie15 · Post by **Frankie15** » 25 May 2020, 16:21

Personally I believe everyone should get the same regardless of contract hours. If you're putting the graft in and putting your lives at risk then you should be treated equally. In a stupid sort of pro-rata analogy it's like saying part-timers lives are less important than full-timers lives. For the record I'm a full-timer and think part-timers are being hard done by

Post by **Murdoch** » 25 May 2020, 17:01

Frankie15 wrote:Personally I believe everyone should get the same regardless of contract hours. If you're putting the graft in and putting your lives at risk then you should be treated equally. In a stupid sort of pro-rata analogy it's like saying part-timers lives are less important than full-timers lives. For the record I'm a full-timer and think part-timers are being hard done by

Sure, your logic holds. If it's about risk, of course all of us postal workers have inured an increased risk, carrying on and working.

It just depends on what the "recognition payment" is for I guess. I'm thinking of it as a payment for people stepping up and clearing the increased workload in difficult circumstances, a dividend for all the extra parcels if you like. So having it be proportional makes sense to me.

postslippete · Post by **postslippete** » 25 May 2020, 19:31

Murdoch wrote: Sure, your logic holds. If it's about risk, of course all of us postal workers have inured an increased risk, carrying on and working.

It just depends on what the "recognition payment" is for I guess. I'm thinking of it as a payment for people stepping up and clearing the increased workload in difficult circumstances, a dividend for all the extra parcels if you like. So having it be proportional makes sense to me.

Righto. So are you saying that those full-timer's doing additional overtime should get more bonus than another full-timer?? They do the increased workload that they get overtime for so they should also get an additional bonus as well?

Post by **Murdoch** » 25 May 2020, 19:43

postslippete wrote:
Murdoch wrote: Sure, your logic holds. If it's about risk, of course all of us postal workers have inured an increased risk, carrying on and working.

It just depends on what the "recognition payment" is for I guess. I'm thinking of it as a payment for people stepping up and clearing the increased workload in difficult circumstances, a dividend for all the extra parcels if you like. So having it be proportional makes sense to me.
Righto. So are you saying that those full-timer's doing additional overtime should get more bonus than another full-timer?? They do the increased workload that they get overtime for so they should also get an additional bonus as well?

Well the problem with that is there's a hard cap set on the Bonus from royal mail. They've set it as a maximum of 200 quid.

So, everything proportional would have to be less than than the maximum, by definition.

So yes it makes sense to me that full-time hours is the equivalent of the maximum, and maximum isn't some figure based on "Steve the overtime king" who works 64 hours a week.

postslippete · Post by **postslippete** » 25 May 2020, 23:40

Murdoch wrote:
Well the problem with that is there's a hard cap set on the Bonus from royal mail. They've set it as a maximum of 200 quid.

So, everything proportional would have to be less than than the maximum, by definition.

So yes it makes sense to me that full-time hours is the equivalent of the maximum, and maximum isn't some figure based on "Steve the overtime king" who works 64 hours a week.

So why should there be a minimum cap?? Giving one postie the full whack and then giving another one £40 less because they had to self-isolate for a week because they were following legal advice set by the government to keep their colleagues safe seems unfair.

I'm sure those colleagues will go on sick sometime in the future to make up for it. That is not what the company wants because we are supposed to be a team. Think of the bonus being paid for the fact that we all had to work during a very difficult time.

Post by **Murdoch** » 26 May 2020, 01:28

postslippete wrote: So why should there be a minimum cap?? Giving one postie the full whack and then giving another one £40 less because they had to self-isolate for a week because they were following legal advice set by the government to keep their colleagues safe seems unfair.

I'm sure those colleagues will go on sick sometime in the future to make up for it. That is not what the company wants because we are supposed to be a team. Think of the bonus being paid for the fact that we all had to work during a very difficult time.

Not sure I get your point regarding "So why should there be a minimum cap", there isn't a minimum cap, you can literally get none of the bonus if you haven't worked during this time. Did you mean, any amount taken off for absences should be capped? But the "£40 less" amount aggrieved you...so that cap would have to be such a tiny amount to appease you. So, I have no idea what you mean, you'll need to be more clear.

As I've said in my previous post. Anybody that had to self-isolate for 7-14 days, got full pay and an absence that doesn't count towards a stage. That seems pretty fair to me.

I really don't get your final point, that because people won't get the full bonus for being off, they'll go off sick in protest at some point in the future to "get it back". Why on earth do you think the company wants to tie bonus payments to attendance, it's because it thinks that some people take the bloody piss. And you're not helping saying stupid s**t like that.

Even though you bolded "all", we didn't all work during this time. I know first hand many people contracted with Royal Mail that haven't worked at all during the lockdown, for a variety of different reasons, some of them unrelated to covid-19. I really struggle to make a case for why they should get the bonus.

bucks123 · Post by **bucks123** » 26 May 2020, 06:43

I don't get the amount of protests on here. We are going to have more important things to worry about than what % of a £200 bonus we qualify for! I am part time and will take home around £100 after tax, nice gesture but not an amount that's going to make a difference to my standard of living.

We should be more concerned that we protect our annual salaries and pension contributions after this crisis is over. Don't take your eyes off the prize....

clashcityrocker · Post by **clashcityrocker** » 26 May 2020, 06:57

If you are in a football squad and that team goes on to win something, despite the fact that you might only have played a handful of games in that competition, or you might only have come on as a substitute you still get a medal. (Not a pro rata medal) because you were a part of the team.