Teachers have been urged to resist “pressure” to deliver online lessons when they are unwell - and advised that they must be paid in full if working from home.
The warning follows concerns that some teachers having to work from home may only be receiving statutory sick pay.
It also comes amid fears - raised in a TikTok video “liked” by thousands of users - that the rise of virtual learning could spell the end of sick days for teachers.
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Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, told Tes: “There may be pressure [to deliver online lessons when sick] but it’s clear if you’re unwell, you’re not working.
“If you’re well but not safely in school, you’re not on sick leave, you’re working and should be paid. These things are not difficult.”
Teacher ‘only got sick pay for delivering lessons from home’
She had also come across a teacher delivering full online classes at home but only receiving sick pay.
Dr Bousted said: “Somebody asked a question in a Zoom call last week where she was working from home doing online lessons but was being told she would have to take sick pay.
“So she was working full time and being told, because she wasn’t in school, she’d have to take sick pay.”
This was wrong, she said, “because if you’re delivering online learning, that’s hard work, it takes longer to do than real-time learning because online learning take longer to prepare”.
“So you’re either working online in person or in school or you’re not - there isn’t a different category of work depending on where you’re working.”
