Forum - Disciplining an employee while they're off sick....

Disciplining an employee while they're off sick....

Mon, 15/02/2010 - 12:14 — AeC

Over in the 'Discipline and grievance' section of the site, Jinny42 has left a comment that poses the following question: can you take disciplinary action against an employee while they're off sick, or must you wait until they have returned to work?

Is this a question that anyone here in the forum can shed any light on?

In general, employers need to tread carefully when dealing with disciplinary or sickness-related issues, let alone an interaction of the two. The ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures states that:

"Where an employee is persistently unable or unwilling to attend a disciplinary meeting without good cause the employer should make a decision on the evidence available."

But it would probably be a brave/foolhardy employer who argued without rock-solid evidence that an employee's being off sick amounted to this kind of persistent inability/unwillingness to deal with a disciplinary issue at work.