Sick leave


Management Services Winter 2012


17


The hidden cost of sick leave


The festive break may be good news for employees, but is the holiday pain about to begin for those employing individuals on long term sick leave?


“Employees in the UK can now save up holiday leave entitlement accruing to them whilst on sick leave.”


Thanks to European law, employees in the UK can now save up holiday leave entitlement accruing to them whilst on sick leave and take it when they are well enough to return to work. They can also claim to carry over this holiday leave to the following holiday year for a reasonable time thought, following European cases, to be about three months. If the employee’s employment terminates during sick leave, they will be entitled to payment in lieu of holiday.


So, if an employee has been on sick leave for a year and has a holiday allowance of six weeks per year, when they return to work the following year, they may be entitled to 12 weeks holiday leave. One of the major causes of sick leave is stress. Stress triggers are on the rise and


just reading the news can be stressful at a time when few have confi dence in their job security. Money troubles at home place domestic relationships under pressure. Anxiety and tensions heightened outside work can disable the ability to concentrate and cope with the normal demands of the workplace. Once an individual is diagnosed with depression, the employer is legally obliged both under employment and health and safety law to take steps to reduce normal work pressures and to offer support.


A fi nancial and moral burden


Employers carry a fi nancial and moral burden. If full pay is continued for a time after an employee goes on sick leave, it is often a diffi cult decision to curtail that arrangement,


particularly when the employee is known to be depressed or anxious about money worries. Another cost is the hiring of temps to cover sick leave. If the funds are not there it is common for work colleagues to be asked to take on the additional burden of covering for their fellow worker and this can in turn cause colleagues to be stressed or unhappy about workload. There is also an issue of trust. Employees on long term sick leave may neglect to apply for holiday leave if they are taking holiday whilst off sick, perhaps taking the view that a trip abroad is therapy for their illness and not really holiday. If it comes to the attention of the employer that the employee has gone to Spain for a fortnight and not applied for holiday, this can affect trust and also cause the


employer the administrative burden of an investigation if the employee disputes that the travel amounted to holiday.


Medical opinion Where the illness qualifi es as a ‘disability’ under the Equality Act 2010, the employer is normally obliged to obtain a medical opinion from an advisor to identify what reasonable adjustments the employer should be considering making, to support that person so that they can continue or return to work. For many employers this will mean referring the employee to an independent occupational health specialist at a cost of around £500. This can be problematic as the specialist is unlikely to meet with the employer but will meet with the employee. This


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