HI – we have a new employee starting and I have downloaded the basic part time employment contract. The employee is only earning ?80 per week before tax (plus car expenses), and therefore as I understand it, she would not be entitled to statutory sick pay should she be ill. This is because the threshold is ?107 per wk or higher pre tax. Should we just delete the paragraphs in the contract regarding SSP and replace with our own paragraph explaining that she would not be entitled to SSP and rather we would provide form SSP1 and refer her to apply for ESA (employment support allowance). Is it safe to just incorporate our own edited paragraphs into employment contract templates?
Thanks Laura
Alasdair Taylor's Answer
The contract states that SSP will be payable provided that the employee satisfies the relevant requirements. In this case the relevant requirements are not satisfied due to the low level of pay. I suggest that you leave the reference to SSP as drafted in the contract as it may be that one day the employee?s pay increases, or the relevant requirements change. To deal with the current situation you could perhaps point out in the covering letter to the contract that currently the employee will have no entitlement to SSP based on her low level of earnings.
You do not say how many hours the employee works per week, but you should ensure that you are paying her consistent with the National Minimum Wage. See here for details.
