We have a staff member who worked at a part time job whilst on sick leave from us, her full time employers. During this period she was paid sick pay by us and earned a wage from the PT job.

She has never denied doing this and claims that she believed it was reasonable as she had injuries that meant she could not complete 100% of her duties at her main job and her shift manager was getting on her back for slacking and threatened disciplinary if she could not complete all her duties. (wish he had not!).

Anyway, she went to her GP, got certification, she claims because her GP said she needed OCHealth and back to work discussions so that back to work arrangements could be made.

However, in the meantime we instigated disciplinary because the part time job came to light. She also made a complaint so we handled disciplinary and grievance side by side.

When we interviewed her she did not deny the PT job but stated that it was reasonable for her to do this because there were significant reasons why she could attend the PT job and not her full time job. This included GP recommendations and the previous difficult situation at work that caused her to go off sick.

Anyway, we are considering dismissal for working whilst receiving sick pay. Only we want to be sure that this is a gross misconduct offence as she is maintaining that as far as she is concerned she has done nothing wrong and we should have made back to work arrangements with her.

Surely if shes fit to do a PT job for someone else she’s fit to work for us and if there was a problem with her shift manager why didnt she come into work and speak with appropriate people to get the problem resolved instead of seeing her GP and getting sick cert.

Look forward to your experience and advice.
Mark Smaha