A Brit has been left in £4,500 worth of debt after his work ‘mistankenly’ continued to pay him after his cancer diagnosis.
Jack Parker’s battle with cancer has taken a huge emotional toll on him – and now it has been compounded by financial strain.
The 32-year-old owes his former employers £4,500 after they continued to pay him while he was going through chemotherapy.
READ MORE: Brit mum ignores doctors’ advice and jets autistic son abroad for stem cell therapy
The ex-account manager claims his boss failed to hand over his doctor’s note to HR – causing them to mistakenly continue to pay him.
“It is awful,” Jack, from Plymouth, told Need To Know.
“Especially as at this time, I do not even know if I have beat cancer.
“I have young children and go to bed each night praying that I am not going to leave them and on top of that now, I have financial stress to worry about.”
Jack received his diagnosis on 12 Dec, after two months of excruciating pain – which he worked through.
He was diagnosed with Gastric B Cell Non Hodgkin Lymphoma after dealing with a stomach ulcer.
During this time, Jack was very appreciative of the support his company offered him after they allowed him to work from home when driving became too painful.
He said: “My manager seemed understanding and told me to take a week to work from home while I wait for further tests and news.
“Especially as driving was very painful for me at the time.
“This turned into me working from home throughout December while undergoing more scans and continued pain from my stomach ulcer.
“I worked from home still until around the 17th Dec.
“At the time, I didn’t know or understand what the company’s policy was on sick pay. I was only six months into the job and it was never explained to me during the period I was off.
“To be honest, money was the last thing on my mind.”
Throughout January, February and March, Jack was paid by his company before receiving SSP in April.
The change came without any warning and left him shocked and on the phone to his boss.
Jack said: “He informed me that I was supposed to be on that during my time off but unfortunately there had been a mistake and HR did not know that I was off sick.
“He also informed me that I would have to pay it back on a payment plan but we could discuss this during my first day back to work.
“He also said it should have been over £6,000 but senior managers had reduced it to £4,500.
“It was not a discussion about affordability, more him just telling me what I owe.”
After returning part time to the company, working three days a week, Jack was placed back on probation.
The added pressure from his work load, finances and his recovery left him extremely stressed and led to him eventually quitting his job entirely.
This is when Jack took to social media to share the torrid situation he had found himself in.
He said: “I made a social media video.
“I was then contacted again by phone and informed that the company had seen my videos and if I removed the videos and made no further comments about them then they would ‘wipe my debt’.
“I was not happy with this at first, as it felt like they were trying to silence me.
“It was also upsetting that the debt could not be wiped out for my personal circumstances but for a social media video.”
With no form of employment, two young children and an intense chemotherapy schedule, paying off the debt is extremely difficult for him.
Since sharing his story online, a number of Brits have come forward with their horror stories of being in debt to their employers.
Jack said: “I don’t think people realise the amount of physical and emotional stress that comes with chemotherapy and how hard it is to return to work in the first place after a life-changing illness.
“This, coupled with financial stress, can really be quite crippling.
“I would love to raise awareness for other people who have been treated unfairly in the workplace during their cancer treatment.
“I am not looking for compensation, I just wanted the debt cleared and the freedom to talk about my own experience with cancer without deleting posts that helped me during the treatment.”
READ MORE: Teacher left ‘looking like a burnt hamster’ after cream prescribed by GP causes agonising effects
