Archive for the ‘Sick Pay’ Category
By Emma - Monday, April 28th, 2008
The TUC is calling on employers to provide better occupational health assistance after it discovered that 175 million days were lost through sickness absence in 2006 (at an estimated cost of £650 per employee). It has published a new educational workbook today on the topic called “Occupational Health: Dealing with the Issues” and plans to train up 15,000 workplace safety representatives to use the workbook and advise employers on how to provide healthier solutions for employees.
See here for more information.
Posted in Sick Pay | No comments »
Similar Posts:
By Sarah - Thursday, February 21st, 2008
Acting for many employers as we do, there is much frustration over the employee with whom HR are engaged in some process from managing performance to redundancy who then goes off sick.
We have blogged before on the ease at which some GP’s hand out sick notes and that some say they are written on the back of a cornflakes packet. With our employee had on in some cases we would have to disagree when we see people who are genuinely stressed out.
Well the world of politics is proposing a solution. On the back of the conservatives announcements on their plans for benefit reforms should they win the election, the Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, has announced that plans may be a foot to change sick notes into well notes.
The new well note would cover what the employee could do rather than say what they are off with. Perhaps the well note will say can do office based work. Who knows -watch this space.
Posted in Sick Pay | 1 comment »
Similar Posts:
By Philip - Friday, October 12th, 2007
The facts of this case are a common workplace occurrence ( not at PJH Law I might add).An employee asks for something at work, gets knocked back by her manager, walks off the job in “a fit of pique” then submits a sick note from her GP for stress.
The employer in this case here had a discretionary sick pay scheme where sick pay was not payable where there was some doubt about the genuiness of the illness.
The ET and the EAT said that the employer was not entitled to withhold sick pay as the GP certificate certifying stress meant that there was no doubt about the genuiness of the illness, and therefore the employer was not entitled to withhold sick pay.
I cannot imagine there are too many HR practitioners nodding their head in agreement at this decision, but there we are.
Had the employer had other medical evidence indicating there was doubt about the genuiness of the stress then the employer would have been entitled not to pay the sick pay.
That’s quite enough double negatives for a Friday afternoon, have a great weekend.
Posted in Sick Pay | 3 comments »
Similar Posts:
By Philip - Wednesday, August 1st, 2007
The Court of Appeal have upheld a decision of the EAT, which gives employers greater latitude in dismissing employees who are off sick, even if the employer caused the sickness. In our experience employers are always reluctant to dismiss employees where there is evidence that they have caused the medical condition, as they do not wish to compound the original offence.
Where the employer has caused the sickness the Court of Appeal approved the EAT’s decision, which stated that an employer should go the extra mile in looking for alternative employment in cases where they have caused the condition that has led to the absence.
Just because the employer can dismiss fairly in such circumstances does not mean, of course, that the employer is out of the frying pan as it could be held liable for the losses arising from the dismissal in a personal injury claim, even though a Tribunal has held the dismissal fair. There is always some merit in considering whether to keep the employee on the books in such cases. Masterly inaction is a tried and tested tactic. Read the case here.
Posted in Sick Pay, Unfair Dismissal | No comments »
Similar Posts:
By Sarah - Thursday, June 7th, 2007
Mental health problems are having a huge impact in the workplace, with increasing numbers of employees taking time off for stress and depression, research has shown. The study of 30,000 workers found that depression/stress is now the second largest cause of time lost to sickness absence.
As employment solicitors these issues do impact in our work daily. Cases of depression/stress need to be handled sensitively as they may in some instances constitute a disability. That aside particularly with stress, employers have to tread carefully so as not to make the situation worse by their actions as employees may try to bring a personal injury claim as a result of the stress.
Not only can these issues cause difficulties with managing sickness absence but they often arise when there are other issues to be dealt with. For example it is not uncommon, for us to see when advising employers, that the employee is suspended facing an investigation for GM and then gets signed off sick with stress. From the other side of the fence we see people in our offices who are genuinely stressed and their health is suffering. Much is said about doctors handing out sick notes like sweets but the difficulty employers face is telling which cases are genuine or not when the card has been played.
Posted in Disability Discrimination, Sick Pay | 3 comments »
Similar Posts:
By Philip - Friday, November 3rd, 2006
Those of you following the long running saga of whether working time holiday accrues during sickness absence will not be surprised to hear that the case took another twist. The Court of Appeal found that holiday did not accrue back in April. That decision was appealed to the House of Lords who have now referred the matter to the ECJ. Those of you with cases pending ( you know who you are) sit tight, this case has further to run.
Posted in Sick Pay | No comments »
Similar Posts:
