Sick leave can have a significant impact on small businesses, as the loss of even one employee from a small staff rota can cause major problems. There are rules and regulations for dealing with employee sickness, and it is important that you follow these carefully, as if you mismanage sickness you could be left vulnerable to legal procedures through employment tribunals.

Sick Leave Entitlements

It is advisable that you inform your staff of their sick leave entitlements by including it in their contract, (preferably written), when they join your company. You should include details about what sick pay they can expect to receive, either SSP (statutory sick pay) or a company ‘sick pay scheme’ and for how long. Company schemes are normally put in place after a probationary period (for example 3 months), and will set out how many weeks full pay will continue into sick leave, what time half pay occurs and when pay will cease all together. SSP is a national scheme, which employees can only receive if they qualify, and the current rate is £75.40 per week, which starts on the fourth day of sickness (so you may not get anything else for the first three days).

The standard amount of time staff can self certificate themselves is 8 days, and then after that they will need a medical certificate from their doctor. If a medical certificate is not produced, then the employee can be classed as ‘absent without leave’, and it is usual for them to no longer be entitled to either SSP or full pay under the company sick scheme.

Holiday

Employers must remember that normally staff should continue to accrue holiday whilst on sick leave. It is advisable for them to return to work for at least one day before taking any holiday directly following a period of sick leave, so that you can assess their health and ensure that they are not taking holiday when they are still unwell. If the employee is off for over a year then they would normally lose that whole years’ sick leave, apart from the limited amount that they are allowed to carry forward into the new leave year.

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