ACAS has recently issued new and updated guidance for employers managing sickness absence in the workplace. The purpose of the guidance is to support employers with managing and recording employee absences as well as dealing with their return to work. The guidance focuses on helping small business owners and employers with various categories of absences.
The sickness absence guidance issued by ACAS covers:
- Holiday entitlement and sick pay
- Proof of sickness and fit notes
- Covid advice
- Time needed off for parents and or dependants
- Time off work for bereavement
- Supporting disabled people at work
- Returning to work after an absence
- Producing absence policies
- Keeping records and reducing sickness absence
- Absence trigger points
Sickness absence is an issue all employers face. As an employer, you should ensure that you treat everyone fairly and monitor and manage absence.
Contact during absence
In cases of long-term sickness absence, maternity leave, or any extended period of absence, employers and employees should agree on the best ways to keep in touch and also the amount of contact that will be had.
In addition to this, it’s important for employers to keep employees aware of significant developments, promotions, or job opportunities while they are off, so they feel included and don’t miss out. This will help maintain relationships with the employee while they are off as well as protect the employer from discrimination complaints.
Return to work discussions
These can be as simple as an informal chat between the employee and their line manager to discuss:
- Whether the employee is ready to return to work;
- Inform them of/discuss work updates or developments while they were on leave; or
- See if they need additional support.
If the employee is disabled, then you should talk about reasonable adjustments that could be made to support them when they return to work.
Recording sickness absence
As an employer measuring and recording sickness absence can help you in several ways such as:
- Help discover if there is an issue with absence levels
- Compare absence levels with similar businesses
- Look at the most commonly used reasons for absence and consider ways of addressing them
- See if there are higher absence levels in particular groups i.e. if new starters have lots of absences, is there an issue with the induction process?
It is helpful for employers to record different types of absences differently rather than lumping them all together. For example, absence related to pregnancy should not be included within sickness absence records.
Comment
As an employer, absence can be difficult to manage. Monitoring and managing absence is important to spot any trends, nip problem issues in the bud, and create a culture where employees can raise issues that might otherwise cause them to be absent. However, you must ensure to follow procedures fairly and consistently in order to avoid grievances, further absence, or an employment tribunal claim being made against you.
How can Nelsons help
Laura Kearsley is a Partner in our expert Employment Law team. Laura has a strong reputation in all aspects of employment law, including Employment Tribunal litigation, discipline and grievance issues, and unfair and constructive unfair dismissal claims, and has particular experience in developing HR support services for businesses.
If you would like any advice in relation to the subjects discussed in this article, please contact Laura or another member of the team in Derby, Leicester or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online form.
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