‘So six years backpay too, please’: Healthcare company tries to hoodwink their employees, secretly changing their ample sick leave policy until an overnight employee goes haywire in court

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer
Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Sep 20, 2024 1:00 PM EDT

This overnight caregiver probably had many late-night 14-hour shifts to imagine the perfect revenge against his CEO after discovering that the company was trying to hoodwink the workforce into relinquishing their right to their generous PTO policy. And that's a decision that will haunt the company's accountant's dreams for years to come after this thorough employee is finished with them in court…

Benefits to a job aren't just limited to your paycheck. In some cases, companies will sweeten the deal with health insurance opportunities, pensions, 401k's, and if you're really lucky, ample PTO and sick leave policies. So when you sign on as a new employee, those benefits are something to consider as you weigh your options against a competitor. But after learning that his company was trying to secretly buy them out of their '6-month maximum' sick leave benefits, this overnight employee got rubbed the wrong way. 

Instead of accepting the £200 buyout, this employee went postal in court, hiring employment attorneys and wielding emails, documents, and timesheets like Excalibur in the courtroom, chopping up his devious CEO for all to see–and getting a massive payout in the process. Read on for all of the details of this diabolical revenge story stemming from deception in the workplace. 

This is an employee no CEO would want to mess with… 

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  • 01
    I told him it was pure malice, you financially hurt me I hurt back.
    via FG Trade - Getty Images Signature via Canva

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    We've decided you're no longer entitled to sick pay. I had taken a job as a care support worker, it paid about £50 per week more than minimum wage but it provided full sick pay for 6 months a year.
    via Meincornwall
  • 03
    I reckoned I could get by as long as I worked part time as a bouncer too. So a few years down the line they decide to attempt to remove the sick pay.
    via Meincornwall
  • 04
    They had the nerve to tell everyone they were going to lose it but if they voluntarily relinquish it now they'd receive £200. I laughed at the offer.
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  • 05
    They got my deputy manager to "have a chat" He sat me down & told me we were "just talking as friends" & pointed out how expensive life is atm & what would I do if I suddenly needed £200?
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  • 06
    I told him I'd call in sick & go and work my second job. That's something I could do for 6 months every year, so I was good. Thanked him for the chat & walked off.
    via Meincornwall
  • 07
    Now this is where it gets interesting, they then made the decision to just put an extra £200 in my pay cheque.
    via Meincornwall
  • 08
    I immediately approached the area manager & double checked she was aware of my decision over the sick pay, she confirmed it.
    via Meincornwall
  • 09
    So I suggested the £200 was obvs just a bonus, & thanked her for it (in writing). My next application for sick pay wasn't paid.
    via Meincornwall
  • 10
    Now the fun really began, I had a chat with the director & told him they had some important choices to make. There were two outcomes...
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    One, apologise & reinstate my sick pay. I will continue coming to work & keep my head down. Or
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  • 12
    Two, I file a grievance but every single time you drag me into the boardroom for it I will throw another issue in that will cost you dearly.
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  • 13
    I will win back my sick pay & then every year I will take 6 months off sick. I will do this until you grow big enough to dismiss me & then I will really take you to the cleaners in an unfair dismissal case.
    via Meincornwall
  • 14
    The director I told was a decent guy & fully appreciated the gravity of my threat but said he had no influence. They chose option 2. Now for a little background as to why I felt so legally safe...
    via Meincornwall
  • 15
    Every single "back to work" interview they ask the question "Is there anything the company can do to improve your health" I replied with "The companies inability to provide the legally mandated breaks definitely adversely affects my health.
    via Meincornwall
  • 16
    These breaks were legally mandated in order to improve the health of workers & your refusal to provide them is a clear breach of employee law"
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  • 17
    They refused to let me write it initially, I refused to sign the paperwork & sent an email explaining why. So, if they ever had the audacity to go to court,
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  • 18
    they'd have to make a case that 14 hour shifts without breaks didn't adversely affect employee health & why they ignored so many warnings. So now onto board room meeting one...
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  • 19
    My union rep had been briefed that if another issue of illegality came up please immediately address it. So I had my "This was part of my remuneration package" "You had no legal right" etc speech.
    via Meincornwall
  • 20
    Then I slipped in that I didn't even receive minimum wage for some of my shifts. The union rep jumped in & long story short from that moment forward the
    via Meincornwall
  • 21
    company owed everyone 6 years backpay for non payment of national minimum wage for all sleep in shifts. They were paid at a flat rate of £25 for ten hours.
    via Meincornwall
  • 22
    The companies liability was hundreds of thousands of pounds. Amusingly the hr rep (untrained idiot son of ceo) pulled me to one side afterwards & asked why sleep ins, you've established an
    via Meincornwall
  • 23
    exemption years ago & are due the least backpay of anyone. I told him it was pure malice, you financially hurt me I hurt back.
    via Meincornwall
  • 24
    There was much discussion amongst the directors & they made the foolish decision to call me back to the boardroom.
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  • 25
    Same again, this time I brought up that I received only flat rate for holidays & the law entitles me to an average working weeks wage. So six years backpay for everyone on that too please.
    via Meincornwall
  • 26
    That meant that everyone who did sleep ins was owed over £25 per weeks holiday plus a share of the weekend enhancement paid taken in the last six years. They then officially apologised & reinstated my sick pay.
    via Meincornwall
  • 27
    I took 6 months off for "stress" that year. To add insult to injury I continued working as a bouncer in their local club. Amusingly all legal, as they found out.
    via Meincornwall
  • 28
    That meeting wasn't in the boardroom (they were learning). I pointed out that I'd approached my night job boss, who incidentally had been given his first ever bouncing job by me many
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  • 29
    many years prior, & told him of my current problems with managing stress & he's said that if ever I feel stressed, go and have a break & a cup of tea. If you can do the same...
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  • 30
    The only other legal hurdle is that you can't be paid sick & normal pay in any time period so the schedules couldn't cross over, they didn't. I took 6 months sick the following year too.
    via Meincornwall
  • 31
    Then I couldn't be part of the appalling care they were providing so resigned. Now the only reason this doesn't end with...
    via Meincornwall
  • 32
    "The charity went bankrupt & everyone was taken on by our competition & lived happily ever after" is because the rest of the staff were too scared to act.
    via Meincornwall
  • 33
    I wrote a spreadsheet that calculated the backpay owed, I wrote a standard letter for folks to submit. To my knowledge not one person submitted a claim.
    via Meincornwall
  • 34
    Now time caught up with them anyhow, their terrible service was eventually picked up by cqc the governing body & the majority of their homes closed.
    via Meincornwall
  • 35
    But the lesson to take from this is join a union & stand up for yourself. If the staff at that charity had done so, some would currently have mortgages instead of landlords today.
    via Meincornwall
  • 36
    jolovesmustard • 21m ago The company I worked for not only enforced 15hr shifts with only 9 hrs in between but there was no sick pay or breaks. It's shocking what they got away with, and probably still do.
    via jolovesmustard
  • 37
    notrapunzel 2h ago It's just so freaking sad though, that you standing up for your rights and the rights of your coworkers was revenge, when they should actually have been doing all that stuff in the first place.
    via notrapunzel
  • 38
    sawdustsniffer · 1m ago The crowd cheering in my head kept getting louder as I read this story. Well done!
    via sawdustsniffer

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boss sick leave worker employee manager job attorney lawyer work coworkers court working time off ceo backpay employees PTO supervisor workplace union leave company coworker business unionize
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