Teachers sick pay due to stress (A guide)

In this brief blog, we will be talking about teachers’ sick pay due to stress, teachers’ sick days due to stress, teachers on long-term sick leave due to stress, and more information about teachers’ sick pay due to stress.

Where can I find details as a teacher on my sick pay entitlement?

You can find details as a teacher on your sick pay entitlement in the Burgundy Book Scheme.

The details of this kind of book will be discussed in the next section below. 

A lot of teachers follow the Burgundy Book Scheme to follow the legalization of authorities.

In some authorities, some details of the scheme will be changed as agreed upon. 

Teachers who work in academies or free schools can also join other kinds of schemes if they join the academy or the free school groups.

Any member who is confused about the sick pay entitlement scheme that they will be getting should ask his or her employer.

What are the Burgundy Book sick pay entitlements for teachers?

The Burgundy Book sick pay entitlements are the following which complies with the terms of service of the teacher in the school he or she is working in:

In the first year of teaching service:

• Complete pay for 25 working days and after fulfilling four calendar months’ service, half pay for 50 working days.
  

During the second year of teaching service:

• Complete pay for 50 working days and a half pay for 50 working days.

During the third year of teaching service:

• Complete pay for 75 working days and a half pay for 75 working days.

During the fourth and successive teaching years:

• Complete pay for 100 working days and a half pay for 100 working days
  
  

The sick leave sliding scale is at its minimum amount and the employer can extend it through proper discretion.

As you can see, the Burgundy Book Scheme is related to the teacher’s working days. 

These working days where some days were spent being absent can affect the sliding scale entitlements.

Holidays and weekends are not parts of these sick entitlements. 

Since the Burgundy Book Scheme can be adjusted, it is somewhat up to teachers to reckon the following working days:

During the first year of teaching service:

• Complete pay for 1½ months and, after four calendar months’ of teaching service, half pay for 3 months.

During the second year of teaching service:

• Complete pay for 3 months and a half pay for 3 months.
  
  

During the third year of teaching service:

• Complete pay for 4½ months and a half pay for 4½ months.

During the fourth and successive years of teaching:

• Complete pay for 6 months and a half pay for 6 months.
  
  

You can keep a record of your working days by buying this journal on this website.

What is your sick pay entitlement as a part-time teacher?

Sick days should be related to the school working days of the teacher and not the teacher’s individual working days.

The sick pay entitlements of part-time teachers should be related to the actual salaries of their 100 working days.

For instance, a part-time teacher employed on a 0.4 employment contract in the school would get their normal 0.4 salaries for 100 school working days and then 50% of their 0.4 salaries for a further 100 working days in their time teaching in the school.

How to deal with teachers’ sick leave due to stress?

Most HR departments in schools have been dealing with a lot of teachers who are absent due to some physical or mental illness.

Statistics have shown that 3,750 teachers in 82 schools became absent from school due to reasons such as anxiety, high demands at work, and mental health issues.

Dr Mary Boustead who is the joint general secretary of the National Education Union stated a precaution that schools are encountering an epidemic of stress.

There are several changes that have occurred in schools and some of these changes are the funding of costs and collecting data in schools which can cause stress in teachers.

The school with the HR department should be able to promote wellbeing in the teachers to help them do what they need to do in school.

The following are some methods that schools have used to alleviate some stressful moments that can lead teachers to get absent.

The HR can even record his or her observations of what caused the stress-related absences in teachers by buying this journal on this website.

Disability-related claims

Teachers who are getting absent due to stress may be caused by a disability that is defined in the Equality Act of 2010.

Although these disability claims may only last for 12 months until the affected teacher is able to make him or her eligible for disability claims in another year.

Nevertheless, schools should be careful about giving the teacher’s sick pay due to stress due to disability claims.

Schools should also be careful about not complying with the actual disability claims of the affected teacher such as not making reasonable adjustments in his or her work and the discrimination that may become evident due to the disability claim.

It is the school together with the HR department to make reasonable adjustments happen to make the teacher comfortable and productive in his or her work due to his or her disability claims through changing some provisions, criteria, and practice in school.

This can only be done when the school is informed about the teacher’s disability.

There is a need to adjust the absence procedures of these teachers with disabilities such as interviewing staff in performance consultations and the days that they have been signed off due to their disability.

Disabled teachers’ sick payments due to stress are also adjusted as well.

The school should make it a responsibility that it will make the necessary adjustments for the teacher with a disability through getting some health advice on how to do these adjustments.

The school should also minimize the discrimination against the teacher’s disability claims. 

The school should be pursuing a goal of making adjustments for the disabled teacher.

The school can also reduce different forms of discrimination against disabled teachers such as direct discrimination like dismissing teacher because of disability and indirect discrimination like showing a piece in the criteria that implies the teacher with a disability can’t join in.

You can learn more about the laws against discrimination to teachers who have disabilities by buying this book on this website.  

Unfair dismissal claims

There are schools that terminate teachers due to their prolonged absence due to stress.

Even though they have been absent for too long, this doesn’t mean that the school can’t use the fair procedures of addressing this issue.

Although it is not wrong if the school will be dismissing the teacher due to his or her prolonged absence due to stress, the teacher will still have to undergo the common process of this issue.

There is a need to take into account the facts of the issue such as the nature of the teacher’s illness such as stress, effect of the illness on teaching performance, effect of absences in the school environment, and some ongoing school issue such as having a heavy workload.

The non-termination of the teacher’s employment may lay the foundation of constructive unfair dismissal.

For instance, the teacher may have suffered psychological harm from the work in school which can be evidence for constructive unfair dismissal claim.

This process of termination should follow a legally safe process which it is highly recommended that you should seek legal advice for this issue.

You can learn more about this employment issue by buying this book on this website.

Tips to manage stress amongst staff in schools

You can use some online resources that can help you get rid of the heavy workload of your stressed teachers.

You can find these online resources in websites that are discussing teacher stress.

For instance, the following are procedures that need to be followed for dealing with teacher stress and making sure these procedures are followed by ethically and methodically:

• Adjustable Working Process
• Anti-harassment and Bullying Policy and Rules
• Disciplinary and Capability procedure and process
• Grievance Procedure.
  

These procedures and rules should act as guidance to principals and HR on how they can promote the teachers and students’ wellbeing and minimize stress.

For instance, an adjustable working process can be used to help teachers to relieve their stress at certain times.

You have to see if your sickness procedures have been using the return to work interview which can give your principal an idea on why you were stressed in school.

Once the stress is identified, HR will make some activities and adjustments to minimize the source of stress.

Performance reviews and appraisal should also be fulfilled frequently in teachers.

This process can also help teachers to open up about how they were stressed in the first place and make some changes to alleviate stress.

Teachers who have been stressed can be referred to an occupational health advisor to find some tips they need to apply to minimize their susceptibility to stress and keep them healthy.

Workshops can also be organized where trainers can teach teachers how to deal with stress in effective ways. 

For instance, the Mental Health First Aid Organisation is promoting mental health services in workplaces and schools by using trainers.

The teacher should also see that the school is complying with the health and safety obligations that need to be followed in schools. 

This department has provided management standards to promote good practice which can eliminate work-related stress.

Psychological first aid can be effective in treating teachers who are suffering from work-related stress which you can learn by buying this book here.

Conclusion

In this brief blog, we have talked about teachers’ sick pay due to stress, teachers’ sick days due to stress, teachers on long-term sick leave due to stress, and more information about teachers’ sick pay due to stress.

If you have any questions about teachers’ sick pay due to stress, please let us know and the team will gladly answer your queries.

FAQs: teachers sick pay due to stress

Citations

Neu. Teachers’ sick pay and sick leave entitlement.

Wilsons Solicitors. Managing stress-related absence in schools.