Rights re Sick leave if working "As Required"

munkifisht

I have a quick question about sick days that I am awarded in my job. I work in the Hospital, I am employed by the hospital (not an agency). I have been working here for almost 2 years and have been working full time, 5 days a week, since mid 2009.

The problem I have is, my contract states that I work “As Required”, or in other words I only get paid for the days I am in. This also extends to when I am sick, so any sick days I only get paid if I declare them as holidays.

Personally I find this very unfair, especially as any of my colleagues, who work the same amount as me, doing the same job get more holidays and get sick leave. What are my rights when it comes to taking sick time?

Eoin

From this page:

In general an employee has no right under employment law in Ireland to be paid while on sick leave. Consequently, it is at the discretion of the employer to decide his/her own policy on sick pay and sick leave

I also doubt there's anything to say that the same T&Cs must apply to all staff when it comes to annual leave.

D.McC

True, different staff may have different contracts so therefore may have different T&C's.

But the taken of holiday leave while sick is unacceptable.

Holiday leave is considered as a normal work day, but you are excused from attending work.

Sick leave is where you are unable to attend work due to illness, and may have to provide a medical certificate proving you were medically unable to work and / or medically fit to return to work.

You cannot claim holiday leave while sick due to this.

gerrycollins

D.McC wrote: »

True, different staff may have different contracts so therefore may have different T&C's.

But the taken of holiday leave while sick is unacceptable.

Holiday leave is considered as a normal work day, but you are excused from attending work.

Sick leave is where you are unable to attend work due to illness, and may have to provide a medical certificate proving you were medically unable to work and / or medically fit to return to work.

You cannot claim holiday leave while sick due to this.

the OP is saying that to get paid for days sick they must claim them from their holiday allowance.

this discourages the taking of indiscretion sick days however considering they work in a hospital its odd that they are not encouraged from bringing in germs to already sick patients.

however it depends on the contract they signed regardless if they have a note etc

Thoie

D.McC wrote: »

But the taken of holiday leave while sick is unacceptable.

Holiday leave is considered as a normal work day, but you are excused from attending work.

Sick leave is where you are unable to attend work due to illness, and may have to provide a medical certificate proving you were medically unable to work and / or medically fit to return to work.

You cannot claim holiday leave while sick due to this.

Absolutely - an employer cannot oblige you to take sick days out of annual leave (but sick days are days not worked, and may reduce the number of holidays you're entitled to). You may be entitled to illness benefit for some of the days you're out sick. See here for more information.

Eoin

It doesn't sound like the employer is obliging the OP to take sick days out of their annual leave entitlement; just that it's the only way for him/her to get paid for those days off.

D.McC

gerrycollins wrote: »

the OP is saying that to get paid for days sick they must claim them from their holiday allowance.

this discourages the taking of indiscretion sick days however considering they work in a hospital its odd that they are not encouraged from bringing in germs to already sick patients.

however it depends on the contract they signed regardless if they have a note etc

Generally, a sick note is only required after three continuous days sick leave.

Regardless of the contract, an employer has every right to insist on a medical certificate proving the employee is medically fit to return to the workplace.

Forcing the employee to use thier holiday leave to cover sickness is illegal, whatever the employers motives are. :mad:

Thoie wrote: »

Absolutely - an employer cannot oblige you to take sick days out of annual leave (but sick days are days not worked, and may reduce the number of holidays you're entitled to). You may be entitled to illness benefit for some of the days you're out sick. See here for more information.

The employee would need to be taking an unusually high number of sick days for it to effect their annual leave entitlement.

eoin wrote: »

It doesn't sound like the employer is obliging the OP to take sick days out of their annual leave entitlement; just that it's the only way for him/her to get paid for those days off.

Whatever the motive of the employer, paying holiday leave to cover sickness is illegal. Employee’s are entitled to statutory leave for health & safety reasons and thus this leave should only be paid for this reason.