Steering clear of employment tribunal action on attendance grounds

Most human resources professionals are at some point called upon to oversee disciplinary action against staff that appear to have turned poor attendance in to an art form. Ongoing financial uncertainty and lack of growth in many sectors means that it is also part and parcel of the duties of many human resources professionals to get involved in discussions about redundancies. When such discussions are necessary, they can naturally revert back to staff members that consistently take time off work or have displayed patterns of questionable sick leave.

In cases of disciplinary measures against staff and redundancies alike, business owners and their human resources representatives need to ensure they clearly differentiate between what should be considered genuine sick leave and what should be considered unsatisfactory attendance levels. Genuine sick leave does not constitute grounds for disciplinary measures or worse. Failure to adhere to employment law that covers this area can and does result in the instigation of employment tribunal action against businesses by employees who feel they have been unfairly discriminated against.

Certain medical conditions are protected by the Disability Discrimination Act, including asthma, back problems, depression and ME. Should staff members suffering such illnesses be required to take time off work as a result, employers must ensure that they do not allow unfair bias to cloud their judgement when taking disciplinary action or making posts redundant. Many businesses enlist the outsourced services of employment law and human resources specialists to ensure that they understand the bigger picture and do not fall foul when dealing with staff issues.

At NorthgateArinso, assisting businesses with matters relating to health and safety and human resources is our field of expertise. In difficult cases of potential disciplinary action against staff or looming redundancies, we work in partnership to ensure that businesses continue to operate on the right side of employment law and do not unwitting slip on to the wrong side of it.

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