John Lewis says its unjabbed staff are entitled to full sick pay after Morrisons, Ikea, Ocado and Next said they would only get £96.35 a week legal minimum
- Several retailers announced unjabbed workers would only get statutory pay
- However, John Lewis director Andrew Murphy said the policy is ‘just not right’
- Retailer will continue paying full sick pay to unjabbed workers forced to isolate
John Lewis has said all of its staff will receive full sick pay for Covid absences – even if they are unvaxxed.
John Lewis’s operations director Andrew Murphy said he ‘cast no judgement’ and that it would not be ‘right’ to give the unvaccinated less pay.
It comes after Morrisons, Ikea, Ocado and Next all revealed they would only give unjabbed staff £96.35 a week if they have to isolate with Covid – the legal minimum.
Mr Murphy said in a Linkedin post: ‘We’re conscious that some businesses have changed their sick pay policy with regard to unvaccinated employees in some Covid-related absence scenarios.
‘[But] we just don’t believe it’s right to create a link between a partner’s vaccination status and the pay they receive.
‘When life increasingly seems to present opportunities to create division – and with hopes rising that the pandemic phase of Covid may be coming to an end – we’re confident that this is the right approach for us.’
John Lewis’s operations director Andrew Murphy said unvaccinated workers will be given full sick pay
Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Asda all say they pay unvaccinated workers full company sick pay when they are isolating.
Next, which employs around 44,000 people, said earlier this month that all employees who test positive for Covid-19 – regardless of whether they are vaccinated – will be paid in full.
However, unvaccinated staff who are required to isolate because they have been identified as a close contact of someone with the virus will only receive statutory sick pay unless there are mitigating circumstances.
The policy, comes after employees witnessed a jump in absences in recent weeks due to the rapid spread of the Omicron strain of the virus.
YOUR RIGHTS: STATUTORY SICK PAY
Employees can get £96.35 per week Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if they are too ill to work.
This is the minimum, but some employers choose to offer more than this amount.
To qualify for SSP, workers must be classed as an employee and have done ‘some work’ for their employer; earn an average of at least £120 per week; and have been ill or self-isolating for at least four days in a row, including non-working days.
Agency workers are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay.
SSP could be lost if workers do not tell their employers that they are unable to work before the deadline they set – or within seven days if they have not set one.
The maximum allowance for SSP is 28 weeks, and those who are getting Statutory Maternity Pay do not qualify.
The legal position of employers treating vaccinated and unvaccinated staff differently is untested.
Richard Fox, of law firm Kingsley Napley, said: ‘With the Government telling everybody to get the vaccine and care workers forced to get it, it could be difficult for an employee to mount a claim.’
Next currently pays store sales staff and stock assistants between £6.55 and £9.21 an hour and warehouse operatives between £9.30 and £11.26 an hour.
However, unvaccinated staff who have not tested positive but are self-isolating could receive as little at £96.35 per week, the national minimum for statutory sick pay.
In September Morrisons announced plans to cut sick pay for unvaccinated employees – in an effort to convince more people to get the jab.
Chief executive of the Bradford-based group, David Potts, said pay changes were part of a strategy to mitigate cost rises from shortages of HGV drivers, supply chain disruption, and growing wholesale prices.
Retail giant Ikea said its policy had to change along with the circumstances as it cut sick pay for unvaccinated staff who had to self-isolate due to being exposed to Covid.
Self-isolation guidance for the vaccinated was relaxed last month, but there was no change to guidance for unjabbed people who come into contact with positive cases.
The move means unvaccinated workers, who are required by the Government to isolate for 10 days after close contact, could receive as little as £96.35 a week under Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) obligations, a legal minimum.
That compares with the average pay for Ikea shopfloor staff of £10.10 an hour outside London and £11.30 in the capital – the equivalent of £404 and £452 for an average working week.
Ikea, which has 21 large stores and more than 10,000 staff in the UK, said ‘mitigating circumstances’ would be taken into consideration.
‘We appreciate that this is an emotive topic and all circumstances will be considered on a case by case basis, therefore anyone in doubt or concerned about their situation is encouraged to speak to their manager,’ said a spokeswoman.
The retailer is among a string of companies such as Santander and Asda which encouraged employees to receive a coronavirus jab, offering paid time off for vaccinations.
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