When you’re a small business owner managing any type of absence can be a challenge, you are having to juggle resources to cover employee workloads. Of course planned absence can be managed in advance, annual leave, as an example, is known absence and you can mandate that only a certain number of employees can be off at any given time. This allows you to plan for busy periods and ensure that you have cover across teams.
Sickness absence however, is a different matter. You have no way of knowing when an employee might be unwell, the work still needs to be done and this can result in higher workloads for the rest of the team or costly overtime. We all get sick from time to time, yearly flu viruses doing the rounds, stomach bugs, and of course you don’t want employees to come to work spreading their germs to the rest of the team. Short term sick is to be expected and if you have an employee who takes a lot of short-term absences, then make sure you manage that effectively and are having the appropriate conversations. Long term sick however, can be more difficult to deal with.
So how should you approach an employee who is off on long terms sick?
This does depend on the circumstances, flexibility is key as opposed to a one size fits all. There are some key things to bear in mind. Firstly, long term sick is defined as a period of sickness absence of 4 weeks or more. Normally if someone requires this length of time off work it will be because of a serious illness. Perhaps they have had to have surgery and need to recover or have been diagnosed with an ongoing illness. This can be a physical illness such as cancer or mental illness, such as depression or anxiety. Regardless of whether it is a physical or mental illness your approach to supporting your employee should be the same.
Tribunals
There have been a couple of cases at tribunal to note recently, where the claimant won an unfair dismissal claim. The first was concerning a cleaner who worked for the NHS, although she had 400 days of absence in 4 years the tribunal found that she had been unfairly dismissed. In a second case the tribunal ruled that an employee had been harassed by her employer when she was on long term sick.
Now of course you are within your rights to contact an employee when they are on long term sick, they are still employed and of course you need to be able to understand how they are and how you can support a return to work. In the case above the claimant had an operation and it was clear that there would be a recovery period, in this instance the best approach is to agree with your employee when you will contact them. For example you will want to know that the operation went well and to that end you may agree that a family member will contact the line manger, following the operation to let you know how they are. If they have been signed off, as was the case in the this instance for 4 weeks, then arrange to contact them towards the end of that period for an update. This call will be exploratory to find out how they are, whether they are well enough to return to work and if they need any adjustments. If they are signed off work for a further period, again agree when to contact them.
In both cases cited above it was deemed that the claimants were considered disabled as the nature of the illness, had a substantial, long term, negative effect on the claimant’s life. When this is the case, it is imperative you get a full understanding of the employees illness and what, if any, reasonable adjustments you can make.
You will need to have structured conversations with the employee to understand the impact of the illness, what their doctor has advised and what the ongoing symptoms will be. If necessary and if your employee agrees, ask to obtain a doctors report to understand more. You can also engage the services of occupational health practitioner who can provide an independent report and recommendations. Remember you don’t have to implement any adjustments, but you should always consider them.
You should make sure you record and follow up in writing with your employee. If you have committed to making any adjustments, do so within a specified timeframe. Make sure you monitor these adjustments and how well they are working. When an employee has been off for a long period a phased return is advisable, this allows them to return part time and gradually increase their hours as they feel better. Agree this approach and meet regularly to review and find out how they are feeling.
What if they can’t return?
Sometimes an employee may not, despite your best efforts, be able to return to work. If you have exhausted all avenues, you may dismiss on the grounds of capability. This should be a last resort, and you should follow your capability procedure and have worked with your employee to try and facilitate a return to work.
Get advice from an HR professional, especially where your employee would be deemed disabled. Make sure you do everything in your power to explore all options to support a return to work. Work with your employee to understand how they are feeling, agree how and when you will contact them, giving them enough time to recuperate. Remember there is no cap on awards given if it is found that an employee has been discriminated against. Need more advice contact me at bev@bdhr.co.uk.
