There are 2 types of sick pay – statutory and contractual. I would imagine that a company of BA’s magnitude has contractual sick pay in place for their employees. It seems to me that a lot of people believe that protected industrial action must not have an effect on the statutory and contractual rights of strikers. However, the effect of industrial action on statutory and contractual employment rights of strikers has been documented and published in the local government employment website from which I quote:
Statutory Rights – Statutory Sick Pay:
Employees who are absent from work through illness before a stoppage of work retain their right to statutory sick pay (SSP) during the period of industrial action. Where, however, an employee is away from work because of a trade dispute when their sickness begins, they are excluded from SSP, except where he or she has no 'direct interest' in the dispute and has not participated in it at any time.
Contractual Rights - Sick Leave:
Employees who are absent on account of sickness before industrial action starts should be assumed to be on sick leave, providing that the necessary certification is produced. If the employee reports as sick on the day the action starts, the authority will need to make its own judgment, taking into account any evidence that the employee can provide, whether he or she should be regarded as on sick leave or on strike.
Source: http://www.lge.gov.uk/lge/core/page.do?pageId=119719#contents-3[
Also, I have noticed in the Statutory Sick Pay form itself on Part E from the last page (page 7) , the following clarification of the “Reasons why you cannot get SSP”
H . You cannot get SSP if there is a trade dispute at your workplace. But you may get SSP if
- you were already getting SSP when the dispute began, or
- you can show that you had no direct interest in the dispute.
We use trade dispute to mean - a strike
- a walkout
- a lockout
- another dispute about work.
Source: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/advisers/claimforms/ssp1_print.pdf
Futhermore, notwithstanding the above effects during strikes, under normal circumstances (i.e no ongoing industrial action) contractual sick pay may have slightly different rules to the statutory sick pay in terms of provision of medical certificate for employees calling in sick. The following quotes are from the Citizens Advice Bureau – Employment in England:
Telling your employer you are sick – contractual sick pay
Your employer may ask you to follow certain rules about telling them you are off sick. For example they may insist that you:- provide a medical certificate immediately
- phone in by a certain time of day to tell them you are sick
- phone in more than once a week when you are off sick
- phone in yourself (not ask someone else to do it on your behalf).
Your employer must let you know what these rules are in advance and if you break the rules, your employer can refuse to pay you your contractual sick pay. For example, our employer can refuse to pay you contractual sick pay for the days you are off and do not call in sick. Also if you break the rules, you will be breaking the terms of your employment contract and eventually this could lead to you losing your job.
Source:
Off work because of sickness