Bridge HR articles

With the Government recently updating its guidance for employers on Fit Notes, we are reminding employers how to get the best out of these documents.

What is a fit note?

Essentially, a Fit Note is what is commonly referred to as a “sick note”.

It is:

• the document provided to you by a medical practitioner when your employee is either unfit to work or unfit to work without adjustments; and
• usually required by employers after 7 days of absence due to sickness; and
• can last for varying lengths of time; and
• issued by doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists and physiotherapists, but typically come from the employee’s GP.
  
  

What’s new?

Fit Notes are now digital, which is a very useful enhancement that allows for speedy production of the documents and easy communication of it to you as employers.

The different professions which can issue them have also been added to – as set out above – so that a GP appointment isn’t always needed by the employee.

What are FIT NOTES for?

A Fit Note is issued if an employee is not fit for work (or may only be fit for work in certain circumstances).

There is no “fit for work” certificate – when the Fit Note runs out, the employee is then fit to return as far as the practitioner is concerned.

The Fit Note provides evidence of the absence being due to ill-health, allowing sick pay to be paid, and should give some guidance as to the condition and the likely duration (although both of these are fairly limited).

May be fit for work

On occasion, the healthcare professional may complete the Fit Note indicating that, with adaptations or adjustments, the employee could be fit to return to work.

If this happens, it is very helpful information, allowing you to consider reasonable adjustments which may be required under the Equality Act 2010, and possibly get the employee back working in some way rather than simply being off sick.

Sometimes a Fit Note may contain helpful information in the comments box about the type of work the employee can do generally – not limited to their job.

This allows you to consider if there are any alternative positions your employee can do whilst being off. For example, an employee with a physical injury preventing them from doing their usual work may be temporarily assigned to administrative tasks until the injury recovers.

Before making such amendments, it is important to discuss with the employee what the proposals are, and also you will need to do an up-to-date risk assessment.

You may need occupational health support at this point – or at the point of the employee’s eventual return if later – to help ensure that the employee is returning to a job within their capabilities.

Reasonable Adjustments

Always remember the Equality Act 2010 requires you to positively consider reasonable adjustments for any employee who has a disability under the Act, and this is generally good advice, if possible.

The sorts of things you might like to consider are:

• Adjusting the job, a temporary move to another job or change of location, which can include working from home temporarily;
• Temporarily re-assigning parts of the job – for example, heavy lifting, for the duration of the incapacity;
• Obtaining different equipment to enable the employee to continue working;
• Reduced or flexible hours;
• A phased return to work;
• Working in a team instead of by themselves (or vice versa); and/or
• Arranging for an occupational health assessment.
  
  

Difficult employees

• Some employees may be very reluctant to provide any form of communication with you as employers while being signed off and resist attempts to have conversations about welfare and likely return to work. This needs to be handled carefully and in line with the reason for the absence.
• An employee off sick with stress should be handled more carefully than one with a physical injury which prevents them from working.
• All employees remain bound by their contracts and their underlying duties to you, the employer, and should comply with reasonable instructions. Where an employee is being difficult and refusing to engage, we recommend you take legal advice on how to move forward. 

Holiday

• Bear in mind, that employees continue to accrue holidays during sickness absence. It is wise to draw this to their attention and to indicate that they are able to take holiday during sickness if they choose.
• An employee cannot be off on sick and on annual leave at the same time, but you are allowed to switch between them if the employee wishes to take some paid holiday.
• You cannot force the employee to take holiday, but often they are keen to do so to receive some income.
• If they do not take any, then the holiday will continue to accrue and it can mean they have a fairly large amount to take on their return and/or on termination, so it’s a good idea to try to proactively manage this by encouraging the employee to take some periods of leave whilst off sick.
• Again, advice should be taken if there are any issues, and always remember you cannot force an employee who is signed off to take their leave if they do not wish to do so.

Top Tips

1. Always follow up Fit Notes with the employee to get your own notes of what is wrong – information is key to managing absences;
2. Set contact expectations with your employees from the start – agree with each employee when contact will take place, how and set out why;
3. Make sure your contract gives you the most help with this area – setting out clear expectations of what will happen during absence from day 1 and throughout – this can be backed up with a policy;
4. Always consider adjustments with an employee – talk to them about this from the start, and ask them to discuss it with their GP/medical expert;
5. Consider using robust occupational health experts early in the proceedings – you can avoid a lot of delay and difficulty by getting good quality medical advice from the beginning;
6. Remember holidays and proactively manage these to avoid a big build-up – encourage employees to take periods of annual leave while on long-term sick and make it clear to them that they can apply to do this;
7. Don’t forget to keep long-term sick employees in the loop about what is happening at work – just as you do with employees on statutory leave.