Do you have employees off sick?

According to the Office for National Statistics an estimated 185.6 million working days were lost because of sickness and injury in 2022 and the most common reason for sickness absence was minor illnesses, accounting for 29.3 % of occurrences.

When an employee is off sick there are various things an employer will need to consider which include:-

– what pay the employee will be entitled to. This would mean looking at entitlement  to Statutory Sick Pay and/or contractual sick pay and the qualifying conditions for these;

– the reason for the absence. This could include whether the absence is genuine, caused by workplace factors, and/or related to a disability and the obligation to make reasonable adjustments apply;

– whether the absence coincides with any periods of holiday; and

– the likely date of return to determine the likely impact of the absence.

It is a legal requirement that employers provide employees with particulars of “any terms and conditions relating to ….incapacity for work due to sickness or injury, including any provision for sick pay” under the Employment Rights Act 1996.

It is recommended that employers also have a policy in place to deal with absences consistently and to make sure employees know what to do when they are absent. 

 ACAS (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) has recently updated its guidance on managing sickness absence which includes sections on “Recording and reducing absence” and “Absence trigger points” to assist employers in this area.  

For more details please contact us and also see the guidance at:-

https://www.acas.org.uk/holiday-sickness-leave

The contents of this article is a general guide only at the date of publication.  It is not comprehensive and it does not constitute legal advice.  Specific legal advice should be sought in relation to the particular facts of a given situation.

Advice for employees and employers on managing holiday entitlement, sickness absence and other leave.

https://www.acas.org.uk/holiday-sickness-leave