When Paul McFadden stepped on a glass and cut his foot, he could hardly have expected that the incident would lead to him leaving his job.

But after he phoned in sick and attended A&E, he was docked £50 from his wages. And soon afterwards, McFadden, 37, resigned from his position as an agency carer with Newcross Healthcare in Fife, Scotland because of the stress that the policy had caused. He had only worked there for two months.McFadden, who had to pay £25 out of his own pocket to pay for training when he started, was employed to make home visits to elderly people in the community.

He provided personal care and had to travel using his car in between appointments at residents’ homes. Although he often worked up to 14 hours a day, including travelling time, he said he was only paid for about eight or nine hours – the time he was actually in people’s homes for appointments. He says he earned around £9 an hour, but claims that he rarely got proper breaks.

In February 2016, McFadden said he accidentally stepped on a glass and cut his foot at home in the early hours of the morning after finishing a long shift at 10pm, rendering him unable to walk properly. He ended up attending A&E and had his foot bandaged.

Before attending A&E, he phoned up Newcross’s out of hours call centre to cancel his shift for the following morning as he was not fit for work, but was told he would have £50 deducted from his wages.

His case is one of a number of examples seen by the Guardian of workers for Newcross who have been fined for calling in sick. After being contacted for comment over the broader situation, Newcross announced that it would be scrapping the charge and said that it did not apply to workers who were “genuinely ill”. It said it could not comment on individual cases.

McFadden, who now lives in Durham, told the Guardian: “If I went to work with my sore foot, that could have been a recipe for disaster. If I were to move a client and something went wrong, then I would be held accountable.”

A payslip seen by the Guardian shows a “cancellation charge” of £50 deducted from his pay. A £3 insurance fee was also deducted.

McFadden added: “The £50 that got taken off me was money to go towards my bills. I left the job due to the stress of the sickness policy. How does anyone know if they are going to be sick or injured 24hrs in advance?

“I had a colleague who turned up for work loaded with a cold. Now the problem with that is when you are working with the elderly and the vulnerable, they can catch these colds, which can potentially be life-threatening for them. But my colleague couldn’t afford to stay off because of the £50 fines.

“It’s absolutely shocking that Newcross would make a staff member go to work while ill – but staff don’t call in as they cant afford to lose the money.”

He accused the firm of being “all about money” and said it was “disgusting” that the directors of the firm were paying themselves millions of pounds in dividends.

A current Newcross Healthcare carer, who has worked for the firm for nearly 18 months but is a 20-year veteran of the industry, told the Guardian that the fees created a situation where employees turned up for work sick, putting the health of vulnerable residents at risk.

The worker, in his 40s, said he was paid about £10 an hour during the week, and nearly £14 at weekends, with hours ranging from 20 to 60 hours a week. Shifts are booked on a first-come-first-serve basis via an app. He had to pay for his own training in the techniques used to move and handle immobile patients, he said.

“People who phone in sick are going to lose their money for that shift anyway. I think docking an extra £50 on top is a bit harsh,” he said. “I just think it’s the way the company can make their money back on losing out on shifts.”