Not being paid

[carliex]

I really dont know what to do!
i am 20 years old and 29weeks pregnant, i have not been able to work through my pregancy as i have had lots of problems and been in hospital 3 times for aweek each time. My work have been paying me at the wrong ssp rate they have been aware of this for over 4months now and everytime i ring then im told there being looked into someone will contact you but noone ever does! I sent them a letter saying i would Reluctantly seek legal advise if i didnt recive the money i am owed with my september pay, they didnt pay me what i was owed and sent me a letter back saying that my threat of legal advise was dissapointing and had been noted but still over a month later i have heard nothing from them about my pay i had a meeting with a member of managment about my maternity and holidays and i also mentioned my pay they said id here from them the following week but stil iv heard nothing i went into work on friday they said i would deffently here from them by monday and everything would be sorted but i still have not heard anything and every time i phone there busy! i dont no what eles to do as im only young and have baby on the way and really need my money but cant affored a solisitor!??????????

[themas]

It seems to me you have already made a lot of efforts to get them to pay you correctly. You are entitled to go to an Employment Tribunal with a claim for unpaid wages, but the procedure involves you going through a Grievance Procedure with your employer before you can go to the Tribunal.

You need advice on this. Either go to your local CAB (if possible) or contact ACAS Helpline (use Google to find the number). You can then start the procedure.

[carliex]

I really need my money but i really dont want to have to course lots of trouble becouse i love my job as i work at a hospital looking after babys and i really want to be able to go back to work after iv had my baby as iv worked with these babies for ages and miss them like hell, before all this happened with my pay id even work extra shifts i loved my job that much i wish there was an easier way of getting around it but looks like ill have to take your advise thankyou x

[pink-kittens]

What makes you think you are not getting the correct rate of ssp? What rate are you getting? You don't get paid for the first 3 days, so if you are having a week then going back then off for a week, you will lose 3 days pay each time you are off sick. Being pregnant and getting ssp are not related in anyway and there is no correlation between the 2 as to how much ssp you get either - or certainly none that I am aware of

Are you going back to work afterwards? Personally, with the 9 months paid leave you get for SMP I would maybe leave now, get paid more and then fight to get your full ssp owed

[cassa333]

NHS maternity is very generous normaly.. My sister in law is on maternity leave and was paid an absolute fortune and as long as she goes back at least part time she is fine.

[buildersmate]

Who said this was employment with the NHS - I suspect it isn't.

[cassa333]

I work in a hospital looking after babies..... My mistake then not a hospital!!!

[THECORBYLOON]

SSP is paid at a standard rate so do you mean SSP or do you mean company sick pay? If it IS SSP and you think it is wrong, you should contact HMRC (they used to be the Inland Revenue) as they run the system and they�ll be in the local �phone book. They may give you another number as they have various centres covering different parts of the country.

You should �phone ACAS for advice too, they are open Monday - Friday 08:00 - 18:00 - 08457 47 47 47.

With reference to SSP and pregnancy, there is a link. If you receive SSP for a pregnancy related illness at the start of or in the 4 weeks before the wee one is due, SSP will stop and any entitlement to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) or Maternity Allowance (MA) will start automatically.

Also what was said about not getting paid for the first three days each time is incorrect. Those three days are called waiting days and if the spells of sickness were separated by 56 days or less, the spells are counted as being linked and the waiting days would not be applied again.

[carliex]

sorry i didnt make it clear its not the nhs i work for its a private nursery at the hospital so we look after the doctors and nurses babys between 3month - 3yrs, while they are workig.iv looked it up and also been told that depending on the amount of days worked the daily rate changes im being paid at a rate of �9 aday for working 4days week and also i was working for 2weeks and on sick for 2 weeks in one months so instead of paying 2weeks full pay and 2weeks sick they took a whole month off me and paid me sick for it, and the months i have not been in at all im being paid �9aday

[THECORBYLOON]

SSP is paid at the rate of �75.40 per week. After you have served the three waiting days that is what you get each week you are off sick. If you work one day a week you get �75.40, if you work seven days a week, you get �75.40. The daily rate is �75.40 divided by the number of days you were due to work in that week.

If you are sick for two weeks and you would have worked for five days in each week, you would not be paid for the first three which would leave one week and two days' SSP. Two days SSP would be �30.16 (2/5 X �75.40) and one week would be the �75.40 so in total you'd get �105.56.