Holidays, Absence and Sickness

All employees, whether temporary or permanent are entitled to time off from work.

Time off from work is a complex legal area. For example, temporary employees are entitled to be treated equitably in comparison to permanent employees; part time workers have an equivalent entitlement to holidays as full time workers (including their public holiday entitlement).

Our documents help employers manage holiday requests (Annual Leave and Public Holidays Policy), short and long-term illness (Sickness and Injury Absence policy), and other types of time-off work (Compassionate, Family, Domestic & Emergency Leave policy).

Annual, Compassionate & Other Leave

Employers are legally required to provide employees with certain types of absence from work, some of which is dependent upon an individual's employment and parental status (e.g. annual holiday leave, parental leave, family emergency leave).

Other sorts of absence from work provided by an employer can be on a contractual or discretionary basis, and may be paid or unpaid (e.g. compassionate leave, domestic emergency leave, treatment leave and other sorts of ad-hoc leave).

Our documents help:

Employers define, communicate and manage different types of absence from work.
Employee's request holiday (Annual Leave Request and Record Forms).
Employees notify sickness absence and complete a self sickness certificate.
Employers and employees understand contractual entitlements to leave and payments during absences from work.

Sickness & Injury Leave

Sickness absence management has been shown to reduce sickness occurrences, support individuals who are genuinely ill and reinforce a company's message that excessive levels of sickness will not be tolerated.

Our documents can help an employer manage ad-hoc absence problems and short-term sickness, which could lead to discipline action being taken against an employee, including:

Identifying employees who take regular sick days.
Requesting completion of a sickness self-certification form.
Highlighting potential risks within the workplace (e.g. stress).
Ensuring a return-to-work meeting is undertaken after each absence period.
Discouraging employees from falsely claiming they are sick.
Obtaining an employee's consent to a medical report from their GP.
Advise an employee of the right under the Access to Medical Report Act.
Requesting a medical report from a doctor, specialist or occupational health advisor.

Long-Term Sickness Leave

How an employer manages long-term sickness and injury absence is important to ensure employees are treated fairly, are not discriminated against and capability issues are dealt with in a consistent manner.

Our documents help an employer manage periods of persistent and long-term sickness absence, and can ultimately form the background evidence in ill-health or incapacity termination situations.

Our medical investigation, report and home visit documents provide a framework for:

Discussing long-term absence from work and capability to do a job.
Conducting home visits with an employee to discuss their health and continued absence.
Gaining an employee's consent to apply for a medical report.
Applying for a medical report from an employee's GP, doctor or health practitioner.
Discussing the effects on continued employment if employees are unable to return to work.
Consideration of the results and recommendations of a medical report.
Discussing the findings of a medical report and taking into account an employees views.
Considering alternatives and assistance in order to facilitate an early return to work.
Assessing and communication capability dismissal.
Terminating employment where an employee be unable to return to work.

Documents are available individually or as a pack (Absence, Attendance and Medical Investigation - letters & forms pack)