Should employees get sick pay from first day they are unwell? Yahoo readers have their say

Yahoo readers have their say on whether employees should get sick pay from the first day they are unwell.

Yahoo UK's poll of the week lets you vote and indicate your strength of feeling on one of the week's hot topics. After 72 hours the poll closes and, each Friday, we'll publish and analyse the results, giving readers the chance to see how polarising a topic has become and if their view chimes with other Yahoo UK readers.

Young adult black man lying down at home with a flu and runny nose
Workers could be entitled to sick pay from the first day they are unwell under new employment laws. (Stock image: Getty)

More than seven million people could benefit from new employment rights under legislation introduced to Parliament on Thursday, including entitlement to sick pay from the first day they are unwell.

The Employment Rights Bill will see immediate access to sick pay and parental leave, as well as a ban on "exploitative" zero-hour contracts and fire and rehire practices.

Under current rules, staff would have to wait until their fourth day of illness in a row before they can get their statutory sick pay.

Sick pay for those who earn less than £123 a week is likely to be lower than the standard rate of £116.75 a week under the proposed changes.

The bill is expected to feature a host of other reforms, including employers having to allow requests for flexible working and protection against unfair dismissal from day one of employment.

Yahoo News UK asked our readers for their thoughts on sick pay, here are the results:

Sick pay poll
Sick pay poll

Our poll from Monday at midday until midday Thursday asked: 'Should all employees get sick pay from the first day they are unwell?'

It received 2,357 votes and showed over half of Yahoo readers think they absolutely should not.

Some 59.9%% of voters answered 'no way', compared to 36.2% who thought that they should, while 3.9% said they were undecided.

Some 59.9%% of voters answered 'no way'

Yahoo News UK readers were also asked: 'How concerned are you about workers' rights?'

Workers rights poll
Workers rights poll

This poll received 1,159 votes with the most common vote being 10, indicating many readers were concerned about workers' rights.

The average strength-of-feeling score on all the votes was 6.26.

Our original poll article can be found here.

Read more of Yahoo UK's Poll of the Week articles