Transcript Exercises in short term and long term sickness absence 6 November 2008

Exercises in short term and long
term sickness absence
Pauline Wilson and Andrew Macmillan
6 November 2008
Objectives….
• How to deal more confidently with issues
• What procedures must be followed
• What pitfalls to avoid
Do you have an absence problem?
Step 1 collate information
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Employee’s name
where they can be contacted
date of the first day of absence
cause of absence
whether the injury or illness is considered to be work-related
working days absent (updated regularly)
date the employee was last contacted and the outcome
expected length of absence, if known
return-to-work date
type injury or illness – short-term, acute, musculo-skeletal,
stress related
• long-term or chronic illness
But beware! Data protection!
• Data Protection Act 1998
• Covers collection, use and storage of information about
workers.
• Staff should know what information about their health is
being collected and why.
• Keep information about workers’ health in a secure place
• Assessment of fitness for work should normally be left to
a suitably qualified health professional
• Managers should not have access to more information
about a worker’s health than is necessary. In most cases
this can be limited to whether they are fit to work or not.
Step 2 review the information collected
• How often are individuals absent and why?
• Are there any problem areas within teams,
departments or locations?
• What is the balance between short term recurrent
absence and long term absence?
• Is a small part of the workforce responsible for a
large part of the overall absence?
• Are there any patterns of absence?
• Don’t rely solely on statistics - follow up by talking to
managers and staff
Step 3 consider the potential causes
of absence
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Medical factors
Injuries at work
Lifestyle factors
Persistent or recurrent conditions
Family, carer or other domestic commitments
Travel difficulties
Workload and stress
Organisation and team size
Company sick pay
Organisational culture or climate.
So how do you develop an absence
strategy?
Start with an absence policy which includes;
• the expected standards of attendance
• management commitment
• procedures for managing absence
• procedures for investigating and managing
‘problem’ absence.
Support the policy with other initiatives..
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Rigorous monitoring
Appraisals
Incentives?
Sick pay
Flexible working?
Occupational health
Managing short term absence
“ in order to show both the employee
concerned, and other employees, that
absence is regarded as a serious matter and
may result in dismissal, it is very important
that persistent absence is dealt with promptly,
firmly and consistently”
ACAS
Measures commonly used
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Notification procedure
Absence ‘trigger’ points
Return-to-work interviews
Attendance bonuses
First day medical certificate
The Bradford Factor
S X S X D = Bradford points score
• S = number of occasions of absence
• D = total number of days absence
• Over last 52 weeks (commonly)
S X S X D = Bradford points score
• 1 absence of 14 days = 14 points
(1 X 1 X 14)
• 7 absences of 2 days each = 686 points
(7 X 7 X 14)
• 14 absences of 1 day each = 2,744 points
(14 X 14 X 14)
Return to work interviews
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Welcome back
Well enough to be at work?
Cause of the absence
Disability?
Review absence record
Patterns or areas of concern
Any underlying causes
Steps to reduce likelihood of future absence
When can an employer say “enough is
enough”?
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Nature of the illness
Likelihood of it or another illness recurring
Length of absences
Length of spaces of good health
Need of the employer for the work done by the particular
employee
The impact of absences on others who work with the employee
Compliance with company policy
Assessment of the individual’s position
The extent to which the difficulty of the position has been made
clear to the employee
General considerations….
• Consultation with the employee
• Fair review of the attendance record and
reasons for absence
• Is there a risk of an underlying medical condition
or are the symptoms and complaints transient?
• If underlying condition, treat as long term illness
• Is there reason to suspect the illness is not
genuine?
Medical investigation
• Is it necessary?
• Yes; where risk of underlying illness
• No; where no risk (i.e. transient unconnected
symptoms and conditions)
• If in doubt, investigate
What procedure needs to be followed?
• Compliance with standard DDP/disciplinary
procedure
• Give appropriate warnings of dismissal if no
improvement
• Need to give opportunity to comment on
medical advice and make representations
• Alternative employment
• Reasonable adjustments
Managing long term sickness
Communication is the key:
• Requires discussion at the start of the illness
and periodically throughout
• Personal contact between the employer and
employee?
• Consideration of the employee’s opinions
• Consideration of alternative employment
What procedure needs to be followed?
• Compliance with standard DDP/disciplinary
procedure
• Need to give opportunity to comment on
medical advice and make representations
• Consider alternative employment
• Consider reasonable adjustments
• Permanent Health Insurance
Medical investigation:
• Will always be required before any dismissal
• Needs all the available information before any
decision to dismiss is made
• Info from GP or consultant?
• Conflicting medical reports
• Refusal to undergo medical examination
Medical records
• The Access to Medical Records Act
• When does it apply?
• What to do if consent is refused
The Disability Discrimination Act
What is a disability?
“A person has a disability if he has a physical
or mental impairment which has a substantial
and long term adverse effect on his ability to
carry out normal day-to-day activities”
Impairment
Physical impairment always includes:
• Multiple sclerosis
• HIV infection
• All cancers
Mental impairment can include:
• Anxiety
• Stress
• Depression
• Learning disabilities
Some conditions are excluded…
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A tendency to set fires
A tendency to steal
A tendency to physical or sexual abuse of others
Exhibitionism
Voyeurism
Hay fever
Addiction to alcohol, nicotine or any other
substance?
Effect
• The impairment must have a substantial
and adverse effect
• Substantial means more than “minor” or
“trivial”
• Focus is on what the worker cannot do
rather than what they can do
• cumulative effects
• Beneficial effect of medical treatment, use
of prostheses or aids is disregarded
Long Term
An impairment has a long term effect if at the
date of the alleged discriminatory act, it:
• Has lasted at least 12 months; or
• Is likely (i.e. it is more probable than not) to last:
– at least 12 months
– for the rest of the workers life
Normal Day to Day Activities
To count as a disability, the impairment must affect one
of the following activities:
• Mobility
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Manual dexterity
Physical co-ordination
Continence
Ability to lift, carry or otherwise move everyday objects
Speech, hearing or eyesight
Memory or ability to concentrate, learn or understand
Perception of the risk of physical danger
Reasonable adjustments…
The duty applies throughout employment to:
• a provision, criterion or practice applied by or
on behalf of the employer; or
• any physical features of the premises
• which place a disabled person at a
substantial disadvantage compared with nondisabled people
Examples of adjustments:
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Adjustments to premises
Reallocating duties
Transferring to fill an existing vacancy
Altering working hours or training
Assigning to a different place of work or
training
• Allowing time off for rehabilitation,
assessment or treatment
Examples of adjustments (continued)
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Appropriate training or mentoring
Acquiring or modifying equipment
Modifying instructions/reference manuals
Modifying procedures for testing or
assessment
• Providing a reader or interpreter
• Providing supervision or other support
• Extending sick pay
What is “reasonable” depends on…
• The effectiveness of the step in preventing
disadvantage
• The practicability of the step
• The financial and other costs
• Extent of any disruption
• Impact on other workers
• The employer’s financial and other resources
• If financial assistance available
• The value of the worker’s experience and expertise
• The nature of the undertaking and size/administrative
resources
Procedural considerations
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Statutory dismissal procedures
Automatic unfair dismissal
Enhanced awards
Step 1 – written invitation
Step 2 – meeting
Step 3 – right of appeal
What to do next….
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Collate information (beware data protection)
Look for trends or patterns
Look for common causes
Be proactive – medical cover/EAP etc
Adopt an absence policy – and tell everyone
about it
• Use back to work interviews
…and before you dismiss someone
Short term absence…
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Use of warnings
Medical reports?
Balance fairness to employee with business issues
Comply statutory dismissal procedures
Long term absence
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Medical reports
Consider reasonable adjustments
Balance fairness to employee with business issues
Comply statutory dismissal procedures
Andrew Macmillan
HBJ Gateley Wareing
City Gate East
Tollhouse Hill
Nottingham
NG15FS
[email protected]
0115 9838242
Pauline Wilson
ACAS
Lancaster House
10 Sherwood Rise
Nottingham
NG7 6JE
[email protected]
0115 9246504
Exercises in short term and long
term sickness absence
Pauline Wilson and Andrew Macmillan
6 November 2008