Human Resources
Sickness Absence Policy & Procedure
Revised December 2010
Updated September 2015
1. Purpose and Scope
This policy is aimed at enabling sickness absence to be addressed consistently and fairly across the University and sets out procedures for reporting and recording sickness absence, and establishing guidelines for managers and staff in relation to sickness absence.
It applies to all categories of University staff and Ordinance 11A.5 Sickness Absence Procedure also applies to Academic Staff[1].. Whilst this policy has been written to ensure that the process outlined in Ordinance 11A.5 is followed, this Ordinance should be referred to when an Academic member of staff is going through the sickness absence process
The University is committed to improving the health, well-being and attendance of all employees. We value the contribution our employees make to our success. So when an employee is unable to work for any reason, that contribution is missed. This absence policy explains:
· What is expected from managers and employees when handling absence
· How we can work together to reduce absence levels to a minimum.
This policy and procedure does not form part of any employee’s contract of employment. It may be amended from time to time with appropriate consultation with recognised trade union representatives.
2. POLICY PRINCIPLES
The University’s sickness absence policy is based on the following principles:
(i) Regular, punctual attendance is an implied term of every employee’s contract of employment. Employees should take responsibility for achieving and maintaining good attendance.
(ii) We will support employees who have genuine grounds for absence for whatever reason. This support may include:
· ‘Special leave’ for necessary absences not caused by sickness. Please see the University’s Leave Policy;
· A flexible approach to taking annual leave;
· Access to University’s Well Being Centre and University counsellors;
· Special arrangements for employees with chronic conditions (appropriate on a case by case basis);
· Monitoring the institutional environment for possible causes of ill health;
· Ensuring that employees who are ill are treated sympathetically and that every effort is made to assist recovery and safeguard their employment;
· Having effective arrangements in place to cover sickness absence.
(iii) We will use an Occupational Health Advisor/Physician, where appropriate to:
· Help identify the nature of an employee’s illness;
· Check for any underlying causes of frequent short-term absences;
· Give advice to managers when an employee has been declared fit for work by their GP subject to workplace modifications, altered hours or amended duties being implemented.
· All employees with a medical statement that shows a mental health illness or physical impairment will automatically be referred to Occupational Health.
· Review all employees who have been provided with a statement of fitness to work that recommends adjustments, on the expiry of the statement.
· Advise the employee and their line manager on the best way to improve the employee’s health and well-being and manage their return to work following prolonged sickness absence;
· Assess the probability of an employee’s return to work and fitness to continue in his/her current occupation having regard for deployment and retraining opportunities, suitable equipment/aids and safeguards;
· Liaise with GP(s) and or Consultant(s) regarding an employee’s condition and prognosis on behalf of the University and in accordance with the Access to Medical Records Act.
· It is expected that staff fully co-operate with the Occupational Health Service (OHS) and attend appointments when arranged. If a member of staff is unable to attend they should give reasons, and reasonable notice wherever possible, and in addition, make a new appointment Failure to co-operate or comply with a reasonable management request to attend an appointment may result in action in accordance with the Disciplinary Procedure.
See Appendix A for further information.
(iv) We undertake to provide payments to employees who are unable to attend work due to sickness, as long as certain conditions are met (see Appendix C).
(v) We may use the University’s Disciplinary Procedure if an explanation for absence is not forthcoming, is not thought to be satisfactory, or where someone has abused the system. This may result in warnings or, in certain circumstances, dismissal.
(vi) The University reserves the right to withhold payment of occupational sick pay (OSP) where an employee fails to co-operate or comply with reasonable requests or enquiries to ascertain his/her medical condition or in any way apply these procedures. Failure to comply may also be regarded as a disciplinary matter.
(vii) We are committed to maintaining the highest standard of service provision.
(viii) We respect the confidentiality of all information relating to an employee’s sickness. The policy will be implemented in line with all Data Protection legislation, the Access to Medical Reports Act 1988 and Access to Health Records Act 1990. Access to employee’s sickness absence records will be restricted to authorised persons only.
(ix) Information about absences relating to the disability of an employee or to pregnancy will be kept separate from sickness absence records. It should be noted that where an employee is absent due to a pregnancy related illness following the fourth week before the Expected Week of Childbirth maternity leave will automatically commence on the day after the first day of absence.
(x) In cases where the formal procedure needs to be invoked, all employees will have the right to be accompanied by a trade union representative or work place colleague.
3. TYPES OF SICKNESS ABSENCE
Not all patterns of absence fall neatly into one of the following groups and/or the pattern may change over a period of time, so some flexibility of approach may be needed.
(i) Repeated Short Term Sickness Absence
This is where an employee has been absent from work through sickness or injury on a number of occasions within a defined time frame or absences which fall into a pattern over the same period. See the triggers points in the bullets below.
(ii) Long-term Sickness Absence
When an employee has been or is expected to be absent from work for more than 4 consecutive weeks. See the triggers points in the bullets below.
The trigger for review is not prescriptive, but it is generally considered that the following levels will initiate the appropriate sickness absence process (see Para. 6.1. – 6.3):
· Four incidents (of whatever length) in a consecutive four-month period;
· 10 non-continuous working days or more in a 12 month period;
· 4 weeks/28 days continuous absence;
· Any recurring recognisable patterns;
· Sickness absence related to mental health issues e.g. depression, anxiety, stress or because of a physical impairment an employee needs workplace modifications, an employee will automatically be referred to Occupational Health.
· Other reasons for absence that may cause concern.
4. PROCEDURE FOR NOTIFICATION OF SICK LEAVE
In the event of an employee becoming ill, and unable to carry out their duties, whilst at work, they will notify their line manager and/or Absence Administrator, following local reporting arrangements, before leaving for home or to visit their GP. Thereafter, the following procedure will apply.
If an employee is unable to attend work because of illness or injury, the procedure listed below must be followed:
On the first day of absence the employee must report his/her absence in accordance with the specific requirements of his/her Faculty or Administrative/Service Department no later than one hour after their expected start time. The notification should where possible include a provisional diagnosis and a likely return date. If the absence is due to an injury at work this must be reported when notifying the Faculty/Department. It is also recommended that someone is made aware of any urgent work or other internal/external colleagues who may need to be informed of the absence (but not reason for it). In exceptional circumstances, for example in the event of hospitalisation, someone else may notify the department on the employee’s behalf. Text messaging or leaving a message with anyone at random is not acceptable
The employee should maintain regular phone contact with their line manager to advise on the progress of the illness or injury and the likely date of return to work. The frequency will depend on the circumstances, but as a minimum it should be after the first 4 working days and/or when there is any change to previously given information. If it is impractical for the employee to make contact e.g. in the event of hospitalisation, s/he should ensure that someone carries out this responsibility on their behalf.
If an employee believes that his/her condition may be related to an activity or incident at work s/he should inform his/her manager. In these circumstances the line manager should inform the Health & Safety Department or Faculty H&S Adviser immediately and (if this was not done at the time of the injury) complete an Incident Report Form based on the information given. This should be sent to the H&S Department or Faculty Safety Adviser within 2 days. An incident form should be sent to the employee for completion and return (if this was not done at the time of the injury).
If an employee has been exposed to a communicable illness (e.g. diarrhoea and vomiting, chicken pox, or an illness that could be passed onto colleagues in a workplace environment) s/he must inform their line manager. Human Resources (HR) will seek advice from occupational health to confirm whether s/he is ‘fit’ to attend work.
5. RECORD KEEPING AND MONITORING SICKNESS ABSENCE
5.1 Sickness Certification and Recording
The employee must provide the relevant form to their Faculty or Administrative Department’s Absence Administrator.
· For periods of sickness absence from 1 – 7 days a University Self Certificate must be completed on their return to work.
· For any period of absence of more than 7 days, a medical statement covering the relevant periods of absence should also be provided and sent into the Faculty or Administrative Department’s Absence Administrator.
· Where an employee has been provided with a medical statement indicating that they are ‘fit for work’ with recommended workplace adjustments they are required to contact their line manager immediately before returning to work and the process shown in Appendix D will be followed.
If a period of absence includes a weekend this should also be covered by either a self-certificate or medical certificate.
For on-going periods of sickness absence, medical certificates should continue to be sent regularly to the Faculty or Administrative Department’s Absence Administrator, until the employee is fit for normal duties. If an employee wishes to return to work before the expiry date of their medical statement, advice should be sought from Occupational Health before they are allowed to do so. This may involve a formal referral.
The HR representative of the Faculty or Administrative/Service Department will keep automated records of all sickness absence. If they are informed that the absence is due to an injury at work they must inform the Health & Safety Department and Faculty / Department Safety Adviser immediately so that the incident can be investigated.
The first step in managing sickness absence is to identify unusual and/or heavy patterns of absence which need to be addressed. This can only be done though maintaining records and monitoring absence levels on an individual and group basis.
Maintaining accurate statistical information also enables the University to fulfil its obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act (RIDDOR regulations 1995), its general duty of care to employees, and ensures a fair and consistent approach.
It also facilitates positive action by providing information that will:
· Monitor an employee’s progress towards recovery and assists the return to work of employee’s who have been absent due to illness.
· Promote working conditions and practices which contribute to employee attendance by investigating underlying causes of high levels of absence within job or job groups and taking follow-up action, as appropriate.
The University operates a rolling 12 month period for reporting sickness absence.
5.2 Role of Human Resources Department
The HR representative of the Faculty or Administrative/Service Department has a responsibility to both the manager and the employee to advise on the interpretation and implementation of the policy and to advise on good practice. A representative from the HR Department will be present at all formal stages of this procedure.
Referrals to the Occupational Health Department will be made through HR. An employee may self refer to Occupational Health, although it is advisable that they discuss this with their line manager or Human Resources in the first instance.
5.3 Medical Appointments
Reasonable time off with pay will be allowed for hospital, doctors and dentist appointments or for emergency medical or dental treatment.
Staff are expected to make every effort to ensure that routine appointments are made before or after the working day. Where this is not possible, it expected that appointments will be arranged to minimise disruption to an individuals work. Therefore, appointments should be made at the beginning or end of the normal working day (i.e. within the first or last working hour), or possibly around a lunchtime period (with agreement).
It is accepted that there are cases when the employee has no control over appointment times, e.g. those allocated by a hospital or clinic, where the employee has been subject to a waiting list process.
5.4 Sickness during Annual Leave
If an employee falls sick whilst on annual leave, s/he should report the absence as soon as reasonably practicable and by no later than his/her return to work date. Normal reporting procedures will then apply.
Annual leave may be reclaimed for the days the employee is sick provided that a medical certificate is supplied to cover these days. Where an employee is abroad for this period, s/he should seek to get a medical certificate and this should be translated if the original is not in English. Each case will be reviewed with HR before agreement is given.
An employee on long term sickness will continue to accrue annual leave entitlement. and may take annual leave whilst on sick leave. For the period of annual leave sick pay entitlement will cease and the employee will receive their normal pay. They are required to get approval of all annual leave dates in accordance with the normal procedures. Wherever possible, accrued annual leave should be taken before the end of the leave year in which it is accrued. Employees on long term sickness absence will be allowed to carry leave forward to a different leave year if prevented from taking that leave due to sickness. Carry forward only applies to the statutory minimum holiday entitlement (28 days including Bank Holidays, pro rata for part time staff).