Occupational Sick Pay Scheme

  1. An employee who is absent from the University owing to illness, injury, or other disability, will be entitled to receive occupational sick pay in accordance with the following scale, provided the sickness notification and reporting procedure, as outlined in the Sickness Absence Management Policy, has been followed:

During the 1st year of service:1 month at full pay and, following

completion of 4 months service, 2 months

at half pay.

During the 2nd year of service:3 months at full and 3 months at half pay

During the 3rd year of service:4 months at full and 4 months at half pay

During the 4th and successive

Years:6 months at full and 6 months at half pay.

  1. For the purposes of the Occupational Sick Pay Scheme, ‘normal pay’ is the pay which would be earned during a period of normal working, including:

a)contractual overtime payments made to employees whose contract states that they must, each month, work hours in excess of the usual hours and for which overtime payment is made as a regular addition to salary (excluding casual overtime payments and casual standby payments);

b)any other permanent allowances, e.g. shift pay and enhanced payments for weekend work forming part of a regular shift pattern.

  1. The amount of occupational sick pay an employee is entitled to will be calculated at the beginning of each absence period. As part of the calculation, any OSP paid during the previous ‘rolling’ 12 months will be subtracted from the entitlement.
  1. At the discretion of the Director of Human Resources, in exceptional circumstances, the period of paid sick leave may be extended. Appeal against any decision not to offer a discretionary extension may be made through the Grievance Procedure.
  1. If an employee is absent from work as a result of an injury for which a claim may be made for compensation, and an award is made, the employee will be required to refund, either partly or wholly, the amount of OSP paid for the period of sickness. In this event, this period of absence will not be recorded against the employee’s entitlement to OSP.
  1. Where an employee is absent from work as a result of an industrial disease or accident, the employee will be entitled to OSP provided that he/she has complied with the following conditions:

a)Any accident arising out of and in the course of employment with the University must be reported and recorded in accordance with the procedures laid down by the University. The accident will be subject to investigation and subsequent report by a manager authorised for the purpose by the University.

b)In the first instance, advice will be sought from Occupational Health about an illness or accident which is suspected or alleged to result from the nature of his/her employment. In the event that the University’s Occupational Health Adviser is not satisfied that the absence is due to an industrial disease or workplace accident, the employee has the right to request a referral to an Occupational Health Practitioner or appeal through the Grievance Procedure.

  1. If, in accordance with the SSP (General) Regulations 1982-86, an employee, if an employee is a carrier, or has been in contact with a case of infectious disease, is deemed to be incapable of work, and is excluded from work by a Medical Practitioner, they will be entitled to full pay for such period of absence as authorised by the Medical Practitioner.
  1. Where employment does not attract a National Insurance Contribution it will still be regarded as attracting State Benefit or minimum level of SSP for the purpose of calculating an allowance under this scheme.
  1. An employee who falls sick during a period of annual leave will be regarded as being on sick leave from the date on a GP Fit Note, and they will be entitled to take the balance of annual leave before the end of the leave year in which the absence occurred.
  1. Where an employee is receiving sick pay, he/she will continue to receive such pay if a public holiday occurs during the sickness period. Where an employee has exhausted his/her period of sickness entitlement, no payment will be made (other than SSP if applicable) for a public holiday occurring during the sickness period.
  1. An employee is not entitled to payment or time off in lieu where a public holiday occurs during a period of sickness leave.
  1. If the University is of the opinion, on the advice of the Occupational Health Adviser, that the illness/disability which has resulted in the employee being absent from work is due to his/her misconduct, or the employee has failed to observe the conditions of this scheme, or is guilty of conduct prejudicial to his/her recovery, the payment of sick pay under the scheme may be suspended. In this event, the University will inform the employee of the reason why payment has been suspended and the employee may have recourse to the Grievance Procedure.

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