Future Retirement Success
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks

Future Retirement Success

Business

Should you contact an employee on sick leave?

by September 17, 2024
September 17, 2024
Should you contact an employee on sick leave?

If so, how often is acceptable? What if the contact is unwanted?

The Employment Tribunal recently considered these issues in the Toure v Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs case.

Ms Toure joined HMRC in 2019 and is a French national of African origin and a Muslim. She had a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010. Comments were made about her accent and her appearance, including being described as being a “beautiful black woman”. She was also asked why she wore a headscarf.

During a team meeting in August 2020, Ms Toure’s line manager (who kept a list of his team’s birthdays) acknowledged her birthday to the team. Ms Toure then emailed her line manager, explaining that although she had appreciated the birthday wishes, she did not want her personal information shared. She asked to be removed from the list.

Ms Toure subsequently raised an informal complaint and later a formal grievance about how her expenses claim had been handled and the lack of training opportunities.

The grievance was mostly not upheld, nor was her second grievance.

Ms Toure went off sick on 30 June 2021 for work-related stress. She asked her line manager to keep correspondence to a minimum and to send it only by email. During the first three weeks of July 2021, she was contacted 11 times and received another birthday card.

The Tribunal accepted that some of the correspondence was because of Ms Toure’s lack of proactive efforts to report her sickness absence. None of the contact, including the birthday card, was intended to harass her.

However, the Tribunal held that it was unwanted conduct due to Ms Toure’s disability. The correspondence had the effect (even if not intended) of creating a hostile and intimidating environment for Ms Toure. This constituted disability-related harassment.

Lessons for employers

Correspondence may be sent with the best of intentions. However, it is difficult for employers to strike a balance, especially as ACAS’s guidance suggests that employees absent because of a mental health condition often benefit from regular contact with their employer.

How can an employer avoid making a similar mistake?

Review Absence policies

Consider whether there are suitable provisions for contact during periods of sickness absence. These provisions should cover the purpose, frequency, and method of contact, and they can be adjusted when necessary.

Consult your employees

Obtain your employees’ views on how, when, and from whom contact should be made. Part of this discussion can be about how much information the employee wants to share with colleagues. Ensure that what has been agreed upon is passed on to anyone else contacting the employee.

Consolidate correspondence

This is particularly important in large organisations. Contact may come from a line manager, HR, payroll teams, or occupational health. Individually, they may not correspond with the employee frequently, but collectively, their correspondence could be significant. Employers also need to take care of automatically generated correspondence, for example, a communication informing the employee that contractual sick pay is being reduced or ending. Ensure that communications come from one person only or at set times wherever possible.

This case is a valuable and important reminder for employers to have clear and transparent policies while remembering the needs of individual employees.

Read more:
Should you contact an employee on sick leave?

0
FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
previous post
Deliveroo CEO Will Shu sells £15m worth of shares after company’s first profit
next post
Four in ten UK businesses nearly closed in 2024, new report reveals

You may also like

Instagram and Facebook join Twitter with paid-for verification

February 20, 2023

UK house prices rise in May for fifth...

May 19, 2025

Tesla launches CEO search as Elon Musk pledges...

May 1, 2025

Ofgem cuts energy price cap but bills are...

February 27, 2023

Heineken snaps up London craft brewer Beavertown

September 8, 2022

Bank of England Deputy Governor says he would...

November 24, 2022

South Korea Moves to Curb Crypto Speculation: Bans...

January 16, 2024

Team ITG buys Emerald Thinking Group to accelerate...

December 15, 2022

Citi puts over a thousand British banking jobs...

January 13, 2024

Barclays is to shut 14 more branches –...

March 27, 2023

    Get free access to all of the retirement secrets and income strategies from our experts! or Join The Exclusive Subscription Today And Get the Premium Articles Acess for Free

    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.

    Recent Posts

    • Business leaders paralysed by risk warn BDO as caution stifles growth

      June 9, 2025
    • Starmer pledges £1bn investment to supercharge UK tech and AI infrastructure

      June 9, 2025
    • 5 terrifying flashpoints that could ignite global war

      June 9, 2025
    • HMRC inheritance tax investigations surge 37% as treasury seeks to plug revenue gap

      June 9, 2025
    • Believ secures £300m to roll out 30,000 public EV charge points across the UK

      June 9, 2025
    • US and China hold London talks to ease trade war tensions

      June 9, 2025

    Categories

    • Business (8,160)
    • Investing (2,019)
    • Politics (15,572)
    • Stocks (3,136)
    • About us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Disclaimer: futureretirementsuccess.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2025 futureretirementsuccess.com | All Rights Reserved