10:29
Faizan
Employee absence has a huge impact on your organisation. It affects staff morale, disrupts the work of others, and reduces the quality of work outputs. Absences carry costs, risks and productivity hits for your business.
But there are avenues you can pursue to challenge employees who take frequent 'sickies'. Generally speaking, you cannot dismiss or discipline an employee for being absent due to sickness. Doing this may expose you to a claim of unfair dismissal, discrimination or unlawful termination, so this needs to be handled carefully and properly to reduce your risk of future complications.
You can however challenge an employee for misconduct if they deliberately mislead you about the reasons for their absence. For example, the employee has called in sick, but their Facebook page indicates that they're doing something else -this is proof that the employee is not taking leave for the medical reasons they claimed and in this instance, you would be justified in requesting a medical certificate.
If the employee then provides you with a medical certificate to substantiate their absence, you must accept it as evidence of their illness and you would need compelling evidence to challenge it. If you doubt the accuracy of the certificate, you can seek clarification from the doctor who signed it. Once you have received confirmation from the doctor, you cannot take the issue further.
However, if the employee cannot provide a medical certificate legitimising their absence, you are well within your rights to deny them paid sick leave.
To control the impact of absenteeism, you need to see trends so you can control costs. You need to manage your policies so you can minimise compliance risk. And you need to identify workers with attendance issues so you can improve workforce productivity.
Here's a quick sample of some of the things you can do -simply announcing these measures to employees will more than likely reduce the number of sickies in your workplace!
-Identify the causes for an employee's absenteeism. If you can find out why an employee is consistently absent, you can deal more effectively with the problem. For example, if an employee is often absent because of issues with childcare, you could offer them the option of more flexible working hours. Stay open minded when talking to the employee about their sickness and do not imply that you do not believe them. Look for patterns in their absences.
But there are avenues you can pursue to challenge employees who take frequent 'sickies'. Generally speaking, you cannot dismiss or discipline an employee for being absent due to sickness. Doing this may expose you to a claim of unfair dismissal, discrimination or unlawful termination, so this needs to be handled carefully and properly to reduce your risk of future complications.
You can however challenge an employee for misconduct if they deliberately mislead you about the reasons for their absence. For example, the employee has called in sick, but their Facebook page indicates that they're doing something else -this is proof that the employee is not taking leave for the medical reasons they claimed and in this instance, you would be justified in requesting a medical certificate.
If the employee then provides you with a medical certificate to substantiate their absence, you must accept it as evidence of their illness and you would need compelling evidence to challenge it. If you doubt the accuracy of the certificate, you can seek clarification from the doctor who signed it. Once you have received confirmation from the doctor, you cannot take the issue further.
However, if the employee cannot provide a medical certificate legitimising their absence, you are well within your rights to deny them paid sick leave.
To control the impact of absenteeism, you need to see trends so you can control costs. You need to manage your policies so you can minimise compliance risk. And you need to identify workers with attendance issues so you can improve workforce productivity.
Here's a quick sample of some of the things you can do -simply announcing these measures to employees will more than likely reduce the number of sickies in your workplace!
-Identify the causes for an employee's absenteeism. If you can find out why an employee is consistently absent, you can deal more effectively with the problem. For example, if an employee is often absent because of issues with childcare, you could offer them the option of more flexible working hours. Stay open minded when talking to the employee about their sickness and do not imply that you do not believe them. Look for patterns in their absences.
Posted in: business
