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National Ill Health Retirement & Management of
Long Term Sickness Absence
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Addendum July 2003 -
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On 1 April 2000, and
following a review of the existing ill health retirement arrangements, Royal
Mail Group plc (Royal Mail) introduced a National Ill Health retirement
Agreement which was agreed with the CWI and CMA (“the agreement”).
Following a review of the Agreement between Royal Mail, the CWU And
CMA, various points of clarification of the terms of the agreement have
been reached, as set out below. This
addendum should therefore be read in conjunction with the agreement.
Whilst every effort has been made to avoid any inconsistencies or
ambiguities between this Addendum and the Agreement, if in fact any such
inconsistencies or ambiguities subsequently emerge, then the parties to
this addendum agree that the terms of the agreement shall take precedence
over the terms of this addendum.
This agreement also embraces a revised approach to the management of
long term sickness absence cases.
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General
1.1.
We acknowledge and actively support the Ill
Health retirement (IHR) agreement as the principle way in which long-term
sick absences covered by the agreement will be managed and considered for a
return to normal duties, rehabilitation, redeployment or IHR
1.2.
We recognise that there are s relatively small
number of cases where employees fail to cooperate with reasonable requests
in relation to their absence such as failing to attend appointments, refusing
to give consent or refusing to return to work on rehabilitation. In these circumstances it was agreed that
Royal Mail retain the right to take appropriate action under other agreed
procedures up to and including dismissal.
1.3.
It was agreed that a more proactive approach
towards absence management would be beneficial to both employees and the
business and maintaining contact during periods of absence was key to this.
1.4.
As stated in sub-paragraph 6.1 of the
Agreement, individuals who meet the definition of “Retirement on ill health
grounds with immediate pension” as set out in sub-paragraph 4.1 and
paragraph 5 of the agreement, will qualify for immediate pension providing
they are members of the Royal Mail Pension Plan (RMPP)
1.5.
Employees who meet the “immediate pension”
definition set out in paragraph 4.1 of the Agreement, but are not members
of the Royal Mail Pension Plan and employees who meet the “foreseeable
future” definition set out in paragraph 4.2 of the agreement qualify for
retirement with lump sum payment only.
Similarly, a Royal Mail Pension Plan member with less than two years
reckonable service would (subject to having a completed years service) be
eligible for a lump sum payment in addition to refund of employee pension
contributions.
1.6.
All employees should be reminded of the
availability of the Employee Welfare Adviser service and offered the
opportunity to take advantage of it if they wish.
1.7.
Item 2 Scope:
1st sentence of the Agreement to read “It will apply to
all Royal Mail Group plc (or associate employer) employees with the
exception of casual employees from the date of this Addendum.”
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Reporting Absence and
Maintaining Contact
2.1
The employee has the responsibility to inform
the business of their absence as soon as possible as well as telling the
business the cause of the absence and their anticipated date of
return. It is also important that
the employee keeps the business up to date on any changes in their
circumstances throughout the absence including the provision of sick
certificates in a timely way.
2.2
The employer also has a responsibility to
maintain contact with the employee, to ensure that the employee is provided
with the support and help necessary whilst off sick. This may be face to face through visiting
the employee at home, with prior notice and agreement, on Royal Mail
premises, in writing or by telephone as and when appropriate.
2.3
Contact should be supportive and
constructive and might consider a range of activities to aid the employee’s
recovery and return to work. It is
important that such contact, in particular by telephone, is not perceived
as intrusive.
2.4
The CWU also has a responsibility in
facilitating this proactive approach by supporting and encouraging a
two-way dialogue between employer and employee and enabling the most
appropriate action to be taken.
2.5
A joint communication explaining exactly how
this approach will work will be drawn up and agreed and deployed.
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Retirement Age
1.8.
The Agreement applies to employees below
60. Those aged over 60 will not be
eligible for the benefits of the Agreement, but in accordance with existing
policy the full range of rehabilitation and re-deployment options should
still be explored for employees within this group.
1.9.
It should be noted that references to “normal
retirement age” in the Agreement should henceforth be read as “normal
retirement age for pension purposes”, which remains unchanged at age 60 as explained
in the Gazette dated 15 July 2002.
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Misconduct
1.10.
An individual under investigation for gross
misconduct who subsequently applies for Ill Health retirement will not be
eligible for the benefits applicable to the IHR agreement should they be
dismissed for gross misconduct.
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Calculation and payment of
lump sum payments
1.11.
It has been agreed that the pay used for
calculating lump sum payments should be the basic weekly or monthly
wage/salary of the individuals grade (i.e. the rate of pay that they would
have been in receipt of but for sickness absence or leave purchase
arrangements) on the date of retirement plus any personal reserved rights
payments and geographical supplement (e.g. London/RRIS) where
applicable. No other element of
‘pay’ should be included.
Confirmation of inclusive elements within basic pay are available
from the Personnel group for each Business.
1.12.
Employees who are ill health retired with a
lump sum, will receive the payments within seven days of the end of the
notice period irrespective of any appeal that may be lodged. At the time the payment is made, the
employer will inform the employee that they will be required to pay back
the lump sum within fourteen days, in the event that they are subsequently
re-employed or gain ill health retirement with immediate payment of pension
on appeal.
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Annual Holidays and notice
periods
1.13.
In accordance with existing provisions Annual
Holiday should be taken in the year which it is due. However, in the event that an individual
is unable to take their holiday entitlement due to sickness it will carry forward
to the following holiday year.
1.14.
Individuals on long term sickness absence may,
with appropriate notice, take any outstanding holidays that they have, and
receive normal basic pay and assigned allowances for such days.
1.15.
Contractual annual holidays cease to accrue once
full and half rate sick pay has been exhausted, except where necessary to
make up to the statutory minimum in a holiday year.
1.16.
Any outstanding holiday is to be taken within
notice periods. However where Ill
Health retirement is authorised the employee’s notice period should be
extended to take into account any untaken annual holiday accrued on a
pro-rata basis during the current annual holiday year.
1.17.
The arrangements outlined within this section
vary those within the People Management Framework, Way Forward Agreement
and any collective agreements, whether local or national, which relate to
the accrual and taking of annual holiday and the ways in which outstanding
holiday is treated on leaving Royal Mail service.
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Interpretation
1.18.
To assist to resolve any future difficulties
regarding the Ill Health Agreement, it has been agreed that the Head of
Pension and Retirement Provision – or nominated deputy – will assume
responsibility as an arbiter with the employee’s national representative on
interpretation of the agreement and agreed process in the event of a
disagreement at any stage. The role
however is merely confined to interpretation and defining the agreed
process/principles and will not be involved in the specifics or details of
individual cases.
1.19.
As part of the role the Head of Pensions and
retirement Provision will be empowered to extend the time allowed for
completion of the appeal process, where there are circumstances related to
the production of additional supporting medical evidence outside of the
individual’s control. The reasons
for the delay should, where necessary, be confirmed formally by the
individual’s representative.
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Associated Short Term
Activities
1.20.
EHS have a key role to play in this process and
it was agreed that Royal Mail would pursue ways of ensuring that EHS play a
proactive role in offering advice and help on health issues. In this way EHS would use their own knowledge
of our health issues to proactively recommend improvements and solutions.
1.21.
It was also recognised that a number of process
improvements needed to be addressed in respect of the timeliness of reports
as well as ensuring that where a prognosis was difficult that EHS provide a
probability of when an employee may recover or return to work.
1.22.
It was agreed that those involved in this
agreement would review any “Managerially Unacceptable” cases that were at
appeal at the time of the moratorium.
A request for all papers pertaining to such cases will be made and
at the earliest opportunity be reviewed and a decision made about each
case.
1.23.
Both parties recognise and agree that there
were other issues that needed to be addressed and that further discussions
to deal with these should take place without delay.
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