Most of the time short term sickness absence is dealt with easily in the workplace as it fits within the allotted amount of sick days and doesn’t cause disruption of the job. However, what happens when an employee has frequently occurring short term absences from work or a long term absence due to a serious illness?
There needs to be a fair procedure in place before dismissing an employee for frequent short term illness of continuous long term illness. It can be difficult to know what to do in a situation when an individual has been off sick for a very long time, especially when they have not yet received a diagnosis for the cause of their illness. Your organisation might not have developed a system which would provide managers with a procedure to follow during this situation.
This is especially important in small organisations, where one absence can be crippling to the operation of the entire business. Employment tribunals generally take the size and administrative resources of the employer into account when they are making decisions on these types of cases. Of course, some sickness absence might not be genuine and employers need to consider how they can investigate this and take disciplinary action.
The most important thing in this situation is weighing up the impact of the long absence upfront and encouraging communication between employer and employee. This will ensure that you can achieve an outcome that is agreeable to both.
Communicate Up Front
If one of your employees is undergoing a surgical procedure or is suffering from a medical condition, they will likely notify you in advance about a potential long term absence from work. Any absence that lasts for longer than four weeks is considered to be long term.
When you are notified about this, it is time to start thinking about what impact the absence will have on your organisation so that you can consider your options. If you have a small business, you might even want to consider contingency plans in advance for any key employees. It is good practice to never be completely reliant on one particular person.
Medical Assessment
The next step is to request that the employee visit an occupational health specialist who can independently review their health condition, their treatment, how long their absence will likely be and the long term effect on their job performance. When your employee notifies you that they will be absent for the long term you can request their medical reports as well as asking them to be medically assessed.
After the assessment, the medical practitioner will recommend whether or not the employee is fit to return to work or if they should have alternative hours or other changes to their working environment that would enable them to work.
There is no specific law about the length of an employee sickness absence that is ‘unsustainable’ for a business; it depends on what impact the absence will have on your particular operation. When it comes to a tribunal, your ‘reasonableness’ will be considered and it will be determined whether or not you exhausted all alternative options before terminating the employee. Think about all of the options available, from a phased return to work to a flexible job design. If none of these options work and you have to dismiss the employee, you will be able to satisfy the employment tribunal that you considered them and made a fair decision.
Managing a long term absence due to sickness can cause problems for you and your company. Therefore by recommending a regular health assessment and by not relying solely on one employee, you can ensure that the impact upon yourself and the employee is minimal if they do become ill.
