The purpose of this note is to set out some key legal and practical issues to consider when managing absent employees, to help ensure that any legal risk to your business is minimised.
Issues to consider:
Providing the relevant information - section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires you to 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". This information can either be contained in the employee's written statement of particulars of employment, or the statement can refer the employee to "the provisions of some other document which is reasonably accessible to the employee", such as a staff handbook or sickness absence policy...