Can employer stop paying sick leave?

If in a company all sick days were always paid - can an employer change the conditions to say 3-4 sick days per year and request that a cert be provided after 2 days? Would it be a situation where it is brought up with staff discussed agreed and implemented?

Do you have written contracts?

Hi Aoc

About 4 years ago we all got 20% pay cuts and we were also told that any sick days that we took off would have to be either taken from our holidays or go unpaid. Now we all had to sign a letter to say that we would agree to this but there was not much choice given at the time. We were told that if we agreed to this that nobody would lose their job which was very quickly forgotten about.

One person was trying not to sign as she said that she couldn't afford the pay cuts but the pressure was immense and she gave in in the end.

Not sure if this answers your question but just what happened where I work.

Employers don't have to pay sick leave at all so it's very much discretionary and often contracts will have something like "at the discretion of the employer" and "subject to change".

Unless sick leave is explicitly granted in your contract as a benefit they can change the practice unilaterally. If it's detailed in your contract you have to agree any changes to that contract.

It depends on the company policy if they have any mentioned written then yes. You can check with the HR of the company for more details.

technically there is no contract / HR Dept - its a small company.... private sector....usual story.

yes i realise it is discretionary - however as it was previously paid this would be a precedent and needs agreement to be change - am i correct?

if you consented by amending your contract in the letter you don't have much of a case