Stuck Not Sick Procedure

Introduction

The County Council acknowledges that employees will occasionally need time away from work. It accepts that employees are sometimes unwell, however this is just one reason why they may need time away from work. They may be affected by personal circumstances such as a child or elderly dependent being ill, or they may have bereavement in the family and require time off from work. The County Council has established procedures to deal with circumstances such as these (Please see the Urgent Domestic Reason paragraphs in the Time of Work booklet: http://www.intranet.ccc/eLibrary/view.asp?ID=35635).

The Stuck Not Sick procedure aims to address situations where currently an employee might telephone in sick when in fact they are not actually sick, but they are genuinely stuck. We all encounter problems from time to time, often with little or no notice, for example:

o The car won’t start o A child minder doesn’t arrive o A school closes due to severe weather conditions o a child or parent is suddenly admitted into hospital or o the washing machine breaks down and the kitchen is flooded

For these and many other problems, employees need time off from work. This Stuck Not Sick procedure enables an employee to take the time off they need to deal with the crisis, however there is a contractual requirement to repay these hours at a later date.

It is recommended by the Director of Children’s Services that this procedure is adopted by schools. Where adopted by a school, for “Corporate Director” read “Headteacher/Chair of Governors” and for Directorate HR read HR provider.

Process The Stuck Not Sick arrangements are available to all employees, though they are more likely to be used by employees without a flexi time scheme in operation. Hours will be taken and repaid within an agreed time frame.

1. Notification and agreement of arrangements Employees will telephone their line manager to discuss their need for stuck not sick hours and where possible (subject to service need) they will be granted. Employees will only be paid their normal contractual hours for that day i.e. not any additional hours scheduled. If the hours would normally attract a sessional payment i.e. nights, Sunday or Bank Holiday they will not be paid as they have not actually attended work. When they repay the hours they have already been paid however, if they work at a time that would attract a sessional payment then this will be paid.

A limit of 15 hours stuck not sick time will be applied for employees on whole time contractual arrangements. This means that the maximum stuck time an employee can owe at any one time is 15 hours. In normal circumstances, no further stuck not sick hours will be agreed until any outstanding hours have been re-paid. Part-time employees will enjoy the same benefits of the scheme on a pro rata basis.

Longer periods of time off can be dealt with using other leave procedures. Stuck time is for a short term crisis only.

The manager should complete an application form (see Appendix 1) for each instance where an employee requests to use Stuck not Sick hours.

2. Repayment of hours When an employee returns to work, they must meet with their line manager and agree ways in which the stuck not sick hours taken will be repaid. Managers will agree with employees a payback period (this would not normally be longer than 12 months). If the hours are not paid back within the period then the outstanding number of hours will be deducted from the employee’s salary. Both the manager and employee should agree and sign the application form. Copies of the form should be kept on the employee’s file held by the manager. The form should be reviewed at the end of the payback period to ensure all hours have been repaid and the manager should sign the form confirming the hours have been repaid. If they haven’t then they should notify the HR Service Centre so the outstanding hours can be deducted from the employee’s salary.

The method of repaying stuck hours is at the discretion of line managers and subject to operational needs, in consultation with the employee. Options on how to repay stuck hours include:

- Working extra hours to repay stuck hours - Working additional shifts to repay stuck hours - Use of annual leave - Flexi credit hours - Unpaid leave For those employees who work fixed hours or shifts, or where the opening times of establishments restricts the ability to work additional hours, alternative arrangements for repayment of stuck hours may be considered by agreement between the manager and the employee.

For some there might be the opportunity for cross-service working to repay stuck hours. For instance an administrative assistant in one service area could work in another directorate or a support worker in DMH could work in an Older Adults residential home.

All Stuck not Sick agreements should be recorded as absence on iTrent using People Manager.

For Schools: Name of School: Date by which School have adopted procedure:

April 2014 Appendix 1 - Stuck Not Sick – Application/review form

Employee name Employee number Post Location / Team Date of “stuck” day Number of “stuck” hours requested*1 Recommendation Agreed/ Disallowed (state reason)

Line Manager Signature:

Date: Date of Stuck Not Sick agreement meeting How will the Stuck hours be For example: repaid? 2.5 hrs annual leave/4 hrs additional shift 10/3/14

Date hours will be repaid by Individual Agreement I agree to re-pay the Stuck not sick hours as detailed above. I understand that if I have not repaid the hours within the time period agreed the hours will be deducted from my salary.

Signed: Name: Personal number: Date: Stuck hours review I confirm all the stuck hours as detailed above have been repaid/taken as unpaid* 2.

Line Manager Signature: Date: Stuck not Sick hours taken Date: input on employee’s record in iTrent

*1 Total number of stuck hours at any one time must not exceed 15. Managers should check the status of any previous Stuck not Sick agreements in place before authorising a further request.

*2 Delete as required. STUCK NOT SICK - Frequently Asked Questions

Can a manager question how genuine the “stuck” is? Managers will generally take such a request at face value. As an employer we trust our employees to act in good faith and use this scheme when they are genuinely in need of some short-term time away from work without having recourse to the sickness scheme. Hours taken as stuck will be repaid by agreement between employees and their manager. Should a manager at any time feel that operation of the scheme is being abused or hours not properly repaid then this facility can be withdrawn from employees and/or consider disciplinary action where appropriate.

Can we allow employees to use leave from next year’s holiday entitlement to repay stuck hours? If an employee has used all of the current year’s holiday entitlement, managers may use their discretion to allow a limited amount of leave to be brought forward. It is not envisaged that this will be normal practice as requests for stuck not sick are more short-term and unplanned in nature.

Must employees contact work by a certain time if they are stuck? The Stuck not Sick procedure is about allowing employees the flexibility to deal with short- term crises. Where possible, employees should contact their line manager as soon as they can to request stuck time. For example, those who work normal, full-time office based hours should contact their line manager before 9.00am (the start of a normal working day). For those who work shifts, part-time or non standard working patterns, contact must be made where possible before the time they are due to start work to allow sufficient time for line managers to arrange for cover where required. It is accepted that there may be times when it might not be possible to make contact within these timescales. In such circumstances employees should make contact as soon as they can. Unauthorised absence however will not be allowed.

If additional hours cannot be worked to repay stuck hours, can we make deductions from wages? Deductions from wages should be seen as the last resort unless this is the employee’s preferred option to pay back stuck time. There may be some posts where, due to the nature of the role or the working pattern, it will be impossible for employees to work additional hours either in their own position or an alternative position to repay hours owed.

Where hours owed are not repaid within the timescale agreed the council has a contractual right to make appropriate deductions from wages to repay the hours owed

If employees work an additional shift on a Sunday to repay stuck hours, do we pay sessional payments? Yes – sessional payments are made for attendance at work. However, if they are off on a day which would have attracted a sessional payment then the sessional payment will not be made as they have not actually attended work.

If employees abuse the Scheme, can we withdraw them from it? Yes. Abuse of the Scheme could lead to the facility being withdrawn or in some circumstances, disciplinary action being taken.