Can you be dismissed for being off sick

Your employer should have looked at how they could cover your work while you were absent. A tribunal might ask:. Depending on your work situation, it may be harder for your employer to manage without you. For example, if you do skilled work, it could be difficult for them to find suitable cover.

If you're one of several people doing a similar semi-skilled or unskilled job, it might have been easier to find other people to cover. The tribunal will want to know whether you are likely to get better and when this would be. If you need further treatment, when would this happen? If you are likely to make a full recovery it might not have been reasonable to dismiss you. A large employer may have been able to cope better with your absence than a smaller one. Or they may have been more able to find you suitable alternative work.

If the reason you're off sick is because of your employer's negligence, it may still have been reasonable to dismiss you if you're unlikely to be fit enough to return to work and they can't offer you suitable alternative employment. However, a tribunal will look to see if your employer did everything they possibly could to help you. You should think about how strong your claim is and think about how much compensation you might get if you win.

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Child abuse - advice and support Advice for people affected by child abuse. Law and courts Legal system Claiming compensation for a personal injury Discrimination Parking tickets Civil rights. A Was there a fair reason to dismiss? It may be potentially fair to dismiss an employee on the basis of their conduct. This would apply in cases where an employee is dishonest and tells you they are sick when they are actually fine.

Likewise, it may be fair to dismiss an employee on the ground of capability , if their persistent absences negatively affect their ability to fulfil their work obligations. It may also be fair to dismiss for some other substantial reason , if their absence is having a harmful impact on the business.

B Did you follow a fair procedure? Need support? Support from our qualified Employment Law specialists will: Offer practical advice on how to effectively monitor, reduce and deal with repeated short-term absence; Ensure you have robust policies and procedures in place to minimise disruption to your daily operations; and Help you to make smart, commercial, legal decisions.

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Go straight to our free sector-specific Risk Assessment Templates for Scottish organisations…. It applies to sickness related dismissals too.

If you need help with a tricky employment situation, why not give me a call on You may have read in the news about a young And you know what that means. Here are 5 things you need to remember about dismissing an employee for being off sick. Check the Employment Contract The first port of call, as always, is the employment contract.

If you have a policy as part of the staff handbook, make sure you comply with it. Conduct an investigation You need as much information as possible. Maintain contact with your employee throughout the procedure, especially when you: receive medical evidence; are considering what adjustments to make or whether an alternative position would be suitable; are contemplating dismissing the employee.

Is the employee disabled?