Can a large company create their own Sick Leave policy?

[Motofreek]

Hello to All,

I have a question as the topic says about sick leave.

Now as far as I know, the law (according to the industrial court of T&T website) states that an employee is entitled to 14 days paid sick leave per year and further specifies that if an employee is absent for 2 or more consecutive days only then a Medical Certificate is required.

My question is:
If a company is demanding a Medical Certificate for any period of time (even 1 hr) after the employee uses 7 out of the 14 days entitled, is this legal?

[zoom rader]

https://trinidadexpress.com/opinion/col ... 5939f.html

Please read

"Under the Minimum Wage Act, every worker is entitled to two weeks’ vacation leave with pay every year upon the completion of 12 months’ service from the date of employment. This is provided that the employee has worked a minimum of 228 days within that period.

In the case of a part-time worker, he/she shall be paid based on the average salaries received over the preceding three months or the salary received immediately preceding vacation leave, whichever is the higher rate.

It should be noted that where a public holiday falls within the period of a workers’ vacation leave, the worker is entitled to one additional vacation day with pay for every such holiday.

Here is in interesting fact that most of us may not be aware of.

Did you know that if you are on vacation and becomes sick, you are entitled to one additional vacation day, with pay, for every such day provided that the sick leave is certified by a doctor?

But there is a catch. If this were to occur, those days will be deducted from whatever remaining sick leave days you may have.

When it comes to sick leave, Section 7(1) of the Act states that a worker is entitled to 14 days leave per year with pay provided the worker has been employed for a period of at least six months.


By law, employees ought not to be victimised by employers for utilising their sick leave days. Should this take place, again, the employer may face penalties for non-compliance with the Act."

[zoom rader]

https://www.lawforalltt.com/recent-arti ... and-tobago


Again read

[moving]

Are employees entitled to paid sick leave and vacation leave?

There are, save for certain industries in respect of which specific provision is made under a Minimum Wages Order, no statutory provisions governing sick leave in Trinidad and Tobago. However, certain customs and practices have developed over time. For example, certain public sector industries are governed by statute which provides for 14 days paid sick leave per year, and many private sector employers have used this 14 day limit as a guide in crafting their own sick leave policies.

There are (again, save for certain industries in respect of which specific provision is made under a Minimum Wages Order) no statutory provisions governing the amount of vacation leave that employees are entitled to in Trinidad and Tobago. Entitlement to vacation leave is generally governed by the terms of the employment contract. In general, industry practice is usually that employees are entitled to between 2 -5 weeks paid vacation after completing 1 full year of service.

Employees are generally entitled to paid time off on national public holidays. There are currently 14 national public holidays in Trinidad and Tobago. Additionally, although they are not official public holidays, most businesses close on Carnival Monday and Tuesday.

https://trinidadlaw.com/employment-laws ... questions/

[88sins]

Short answer, to a point, yes, as long as their "policy" stays within the parameters of the law.
At no time and for no reason can they do less than the law requires that would cause the cost company to be able to take advantage of or abuse a worker or otherwise place an employee at a disadvantage or expose said employee to unfair or unsafe effects.

As to what you stated in your original post, they out of bounds.
As regards s/l, even after all 14 days used up, if you take a day, you simply will not be paid for that day, and are NOT, I REPEAT NOT, legally required to provide a s/l for that day, but you should notify them of your absence as early as possible.

Edit
Yuh want to see how serious they are about their policy?
Tell them this, word for word,
"after consultation with my attorney I was advised that I am not legally obligated to comply with your policy with regards to sick leave certificates prior to the exhaustion of my paid sick leave, and the company policy is in breach of industrial law, both local and international, however, you may forward to me any written correspondence to me regarding this topic that you may deem necessary."



See how many bricks will be shat thereafter

[Motofreek]

Thank you all for your responses but my question is really about when is a sick leave required. I am entitled to 14 days SL as the law states but the Company's policy states that I must present a Medical Certificate (Sick Leave Certificate) if I exceed 7 of the 14 days. It doesn't matter if I take 1 day or 1 hour, any time your exceed 7 days SL for the year, you must present the Medical Certification from a doctor or face disciplinary action.

Is this legal?

[Dizzy28]

Thank you all for your responses but my question is really about when is a sick leave required. I am entitled to 14 days SL as the law states but the Company's policy states that I must present a Medical Certificate (Sick Leave Certificate) if I exceed 7 of the 14 days. It doesn't matter if I take 1 day or 1 hour, any time your exceed 7 days SL for the year, you must present the Medical Certification from a doctor or face disciplinary action.

Is this legal?

Are you working for minimum wage? If not you actually do not have 14 days sick leave by law.

Those not covered by the min wage order would be governed by company policy.

[Motofreek]

No I am not working for minimum wage. So this means the company can create its own policy?

Thanks for this.

[redmanjp]

Thank you all for your responses but my question is really about when is a sick leave required. I am entitled to 14 days SL as the law states but the Company's policy states that I must present a Medical Certificate (Sick Leave Certificate) if I exceed 7 of the 14 days. It doesn't matter if I take 1 day or 1 hour, any time your exceed 7 days SL for the year, you must present the Medical Certification from a doctor or face disciplinary action.

Is this legal?

Are you working for minimum wage? If not you actually do not have 14 days sick leave by law.

Those not covered by the min wage order would be governed by company policy.

so u saying only a fraction of ppl (those who working EXACTLY minimum wage) entitled to 14 days and the vast majority not? im sure there are other Acts that apply e.g. Industrial Relations Act or others?

that part about having to get sick leave for 1 hr is ridiculous- why would someone take sick leave for 1 hr? personal errands? in that case its not sick leave that applies and the company effectively is preventing ppl from taking more than 7 days because who d a$$ will get a medical cert for 1 hr?

if i were u OP i would consult a labour or union officer about this.

[Motofreek]

Thank you all for your responses but my question is really about when is a sick leave required. I am entitled to 14 days SL as the law states but the Company's policy states that I must present a Medical Certificate (Sick Leave Certificate) if I exceed 7 of the 14 days. It doesn't matter if I take 1 day or 1 hour, any time your exceed 7 days SL for the year, you must present the Medical Certification from a doctor or face disciplinary action.

Is this legal?

Are you working for minimum wage? If not you actually do not have 14 days sick leave by law.

Those not covered by the min wage order would be governed by company policy.

so u saying only a fraction of ppl (those who working EXACTLY minimum wage) entitled to 14 days and the vast majority not? im sure there are other Acts that apply e.g. Industrial Relations Act or others?

that part about having to get sick leave for 1 hr is ridiculous- why would someone take sick leave for 1 hr? personal errands? in that case its not sick leave that applies and the company effectively is preventing ppl from taking more than 7 days because who d a$$ will get a medical cert for 1 hr?

if i were u OP i would consult a labour or union officer about this.

You are right, no one including myself would take 1 hr SL; I was just exaggerating the point. However many persons have either left early feeling unwell or came to work late and applied for 4hrs but still required a SL certificate after exceeding 7 days for the year.

[djruncrowd]

At my workplace we are entitled to ( 7 days uncertified, S/L)
( 8 days certified, S/L)
( 4 days emergency, L) which can also be used as hours

[zoom rader]

At my workplace we are entitled to ( 7 days uncertified, S/L)
( 8 days certified, S/L)
( 4 days emergency, L) which can also be used as hours

Slave camp

[hover11]

At my workplace we are entitled to ( 7 days uncertified, S/L)
( 8 days certified, S/L)
( 4 days emergency, L) which can also be used as hours

I thought slavery was abolished

[zoom rader]

At my workplace we are entitled to ( 7 days uncertified, S/L)
( 8 days certified, S/L)
( 4 days emergency, L) which can also be used as hours

I thought slavery was abolished

Well it seems that Trinidad labour laws are useless

[sMASH]

usually , these things are decided via collective bargaining .

The minimum wage act is to represent those who earn too little to join a union and pay dues.

[sMASH]

Form a union
/end

[Dizzy28]

At my workplace we are entitled to ( 7 days uncertified, S/L)
( 8 days certified, S/L)
( 4 days emergency, L) which can also be used as hours

I thought slavery was abolished

This actually seems quite reasomable.

There is also NIS for emergencies as well.

[hover11]

At my workplace we are entitled to ( 7 days uncertified, S/L)
( 8 days certified, S/L)
( 4 days emergency, L) which can also be used as hours

I thought slavery was abolished

Well it seems that Trinidad labour laws are useless

FACTS

Name one new labour law PNM created in the nine years in government....Nada

[88sins]

Thank you all for your responses but my question is really about when is a sick leave required. I am entitled to 14 days SL as the law states but the Company's policy states that I must present a Medical Certificate (Sick Leave Certificate) if I exceed 7 of the 14 days. It doesn't matter if I take 1 day or 1 hour, any time your exceed 7 days SL for the year, you must present the Medical Certification from a doctor or face disciplinary action.

Is this legal?

You can stay home for two consecutive days, and no sick leave certificate is required, whether you notify them of your impending absence or not, even after you've used up 12 of your 14 days s/l. Only at the start of day 3 is a s/l legally required.
It's called sick days, not sick hours. So that horses#!t they trying to pull is a means to basically intimidate workers and push for maximum productivity yield per dollar per hour.

I'd love to know who's the professional arse-eater pushing this shite in what company, simply to lick a managers kakahole for a paycheck. At least the company

[redmanjp]

yeah in the public sector its for THREE or more consecutive days -only exception is for a long weekend if u take 2 days u need a SL cert. to discourage ppl from extending their long weekend using sick leave.

[zoom rader]

At my workplace we are entitled to ( 7 days uncertified, S/L)
( 8 days certified, S/L)
( 4 days emergency, L) which can also be used as hours

I thought slavery was abolished

Well it seems that Trinidad labour laws are useless

FACTS

Name one new labour law PNM created in the nine years in government....Nada

And So are the Labour Courts, totally useless and always in favor of large Employers.

Then these Trade unions are nothings more but extensions of the PNM

[hover11]

At my workplace we are entitled to ( 7 days uncertified, S/L)
( 8 days certified, S/L)
( 4 days emergency, L) which can also be used as hours

I thought slavery was abolished

Well it seems that Trinidad labour laws are useless

FACTS

Name one new labour law PNM created in the nine years in government....Nada

And So are the Labour Courts, totally useless and always in favor of large Employers.

Then these Trade unions are nothings more but extensions of the PNM

Imagine PNM fired an industrial court Judge via a telephone call while the woman was in another country because she was on the side of the workers now they put a yes man who always siding with employers. Rich must get richer.

[Drea]

The challenge with these scenarios are that the law in no way explicitly prohibits the company from making such policies, and the only way to really challenge it is to take the matter to the industrial court which the employer knows 90% of the time the employee will not want to expend the time and energy it takes to get a resolution.

[zoom rader]

The challenge with these scenarios are that the law in no way explicitly prohibits the company from making such policies, and the only way to really challenge it is to take the matter to the industrial court which the employer knows 90% of the time the employee will not want to expend the time and energy it takes to get a resolution.

This is correct and its why the Unions are full of sheit.

Employers without unions take advantage

Even if an employee challenges the employer they get victimised .

[hover11]

The challenge with these scenarios are that the law in no way explicitly prohibits the company from making such policies, and the only way to really challenge it is to take the matter to the industrial court which the employer knows 90% of the time the employee will not want to expend the time and energy it takes to get a resolution.

This is correct and its why the Unions are full of sheit.

Employers without unions take advantage

Even if an employee challenges the employer they get victimised .

Unions today have gone soft when compared to their older counterparts, gone are the days when unions made a real impact in the world of work. Past union leaders like Adrian Reinzi and Uriah Butler probably turning in their graves at what all their hard work yielded to looking at today's society.

[Dizzy28]

The challenge with these scenarios are that the law in no way explicitly prohibits the company from making such policies, and the only way to really challenge it is to take the matter to the industrial court which the employer knows 90% of the time the employee will not want to expend the time and energy it takes to get a resolution.

An employee does not go to the Industrial Court except for an OSH matter.
Only a Union representing an employee and the Employer can.

Its why if you take a look at their most recent judgements you do not see any named individuals.

[Motofreek]

So I guess the answer to my question is "YES" . Companies can do as they wish regarding Sick Leave Policies.

[redmanjp]

in some cases u can ask a union to represent you even though they are not the official representative- have heard about those cases from my mom when she worked at BIGWU.

[hover11]

So I guess the answer to my question is "YES" . Companies can do as they wish regarding Sick Leave Policies.

A company can give you your 14 days and also have an excessive absenteeism policy. For example, you can't stay home or call in sick ( uncertified)5 times within a twelve week period or you will be written up. This deters employees from sporadically staying home when they wish.