Do you know the 10 steps when dismissing an employee due to ill health?
If you are considering terminating an employee’s contract on the grounds of ill health, it is important to follow a fair and reasonable procedure for someone who is on long term sick. You must ensure there are justifiable reasons and that you have explored every avenue prior to getting to the stage of dismissal due to ill health.
What do I need to do to ensure I have followed the process?
You will have to show that you have taken all the reasonable steps to try and get the employee back to work; for example, by either phased return to work, alternative work, or reasonable adjustment (only required if their disability, under the Equality Act, puts them at a substantial disadvantage).
Working from home, work pattern change, assigning support in the workplace by way of supervision are also alternative methods to assist employees. Remember that an employment tribunal (ET) will want to see what steps have been taken in order to get the employee back to work and the procedure followed before a decision was made to dismiss the employee.
Here are 10 steps to ensuring you have followed process:
- Ensure that the absence has been dealt with in accordance with the company’s absence procedure.
- Consult with the employee and keep in touch regarding their absence and their prospects of returning to work.
- Ensure you are receiving fit notes on a regular basis to cover their absences.
- You could look to get a medical report from the employee’s doctor in order to have a better understanding of the reason of their absence, ensuring you tell the doctors what the employee does on a day to day basis. Remember to first get consent from the employee to approach their doctor.
- Once you have the medical report, you should look to arrange a formal meeting with the employee to review the report and their capability in the role and decide whether any adjustments can be made. You should outline in the invite letter that a possible outcome of the meeting could be a dismissal due to ill health, as well as giving them the opportunity to be accompanied at the meeting.
- During the meeting, there are a few things that should to be discussed and considered:
- Would a phased return to work help? Such as temporary part time working.
- Would a temporary change in their work be reasonable? Such as less target driven work or targets are set to low.
- Does the employee feel they can continue with the same job as before? Could an alternative role be looked at for a faster return to work?
- If reasonable adjustment is a suitable option and the employee agrees on the terms then you can look to bring the employee back to work on those terms for either a period of time or on a permanent basis. This would be dependent on what the medical report shows.
- You should continue to monitor their progress closely and ensure that the employee is recovering well. For example look to have weekly or bi-weekly catch ups with the employee to check on progress.
- If, having discussed and considered all options for the employee to return to work a return to work date cannot be agreed in the foreseeable future then you should consider dismissal due to ill health. Prior to arriving at this decision you should adjourn the meeting to consider the facts, consider your options and arrive at a decision.
- You should confirm your decision verbally to the employee at the formal meeting and put it in writing confirming the conversation that took place at the meeting. The employee would be entitled to their final pay, notice pay, any outstanding holiday pay and other benefits such as pension, bonus, car etc; this would be determined by the contract of employment.
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