Knee replacement

stevet61

I am due to have a knee replacement during 2024. I have 12 weeks full pay for sickness under my contract of employment, which should be long enough to be in a position to return to work. I will obviously email my line manager in the 1st instance to inform him of when it is due etc. Can they refuse to pay me any sick pay as it is at the managers discretion? I cannot see that elective surgery is excluded, although I have no choice really as it does effect my ability to walk etc. Thanks Steve61

Jimm_Alumni

stevet61 said:

I am due to have a knee replacement during 2024. I have 12 weeks full pay for sickness under my contract of employment, which should be long enough to be in a position to return to work. I will obviously email my line manager in the 1st instance to inform him of when it is due etc. Can they refuse to pay me any sick pay as it is at the managers discretion? I cannot see that elective surgery is excluded, although I have no choice really as it does effect my ability to walk etc. Thanks Steve61

Hi @stevet61, as far as I am aware this should be covered if you are too unwell to work due to surgery. I am not an expert however and it is usually best to get advice from experts when possible! So I'd recommend checking in with ACAS about what your rights are here. They are experts in employment law and rights and their advice is always free: Work and employment law advice | Acas

My gut feeling says that your manager shouldn't be able to refuse you your pay. I would speak to ACAS to check your rights and once informed you could contact HR if you have any issues with it.

66Mustang

I had a look as I was quite interested in the answer

Unless I am mistaken

You can get statutory sick pay if you are unfit to work, the cause of being unfit is irrelevant, so you could even choose to have cosmetic surgery and if this made you unfit you'd get SSP

As for contractual sick pay which is probably what you are interested in this is entirely dependant on the terms of your contract so the only way of finding this out is to read this...employees actually have no automatic right to contractual sick pay at all, no matter the reason they are sick, but many employers choose to provide sick pay and the terms you can claim this under will be in your contract somewhere

Bydand

@stevet61……the above advice from @mustang66 is pretty accurate, but it would be advisable to speak to your HR dept or read your employers absence management policy if they have one as it will contain details of the process, trigger points and SSP details if applicable.

Make sure you also advise them of the date of the Operation well in advance….months if possible

and be prepared for the surgery to be cancelled last minute…..it isn’t unheard of!

Good luck

Deb13

Not got advice on your sick pay . But do hope everything goes well on your operation. I had both hips replaced. Only can imagine the pain you in . Good luck 

stevet61

Thanks all for your comments, agree with them all after looking into it a bit more. Once I get a date I will let you know how I get on with my employer. Could help someone else in my position.