Sick days - where do you stand?...

I saw a report saying that the public sector still has many more sick days on average per person than the private sector.

Clearly since there is no reason to think people who work for the public sector have worse health than the private sector, there must be a higher number of 'sickies' in those figures.

Are there any legal rules that exist that say (for instance) if you have more than X sick days a year your employer is able to sack you, or at least take some disciplinary action or similar?

Re : Sick days - where do you stand?

I have 7 emeployees and used to suffer real problems with a few of them taking lots of time off sick. Their original contract allowed 4 weeks full pay, 2 weeks half pay, and then SSP - which some staff just seemed to take as extra holiday. In the end I changed the contract and got everybody to sign it, restricting sick leave to 10 days full pay per year, then straight to SSP. Strangly, I've seen the number of days 'sick' plummet. You'll never stop it but you can mitigate the loss to your business. Genuine sickness from staff who have an exemplory record can even be looked at individually. Ultimately, an employer can dismiss an individual for not being able to competently carry out their duties (which you can't if you're off sick all the time), as well as instigate disciplinary action if an employee is consistently sick without medical sign-off by a Doctor (fit for work note). Clearly the terms of the employemnt contract need to be followed in all cases.

Re : Sick days - where do you stand?

That's very interesting, and it sounds like being pro-active has actually helped stop people take advantage.

Personally I would just have doubt in my mind as to whether the sort of person that would take advantage is the sort of person I would want working for me if I employed people; ironically the ones that reduced their sick days most drastically would be the ones I would be most suspicious of therefore!

Re : Sick days - where do you stand?

Sick days, holiday pay, paternity leave, maternity leave, health and safety, employment tribunals...

it's no wonder that many small businesses are put off hiring people. It will be interesting to see what if anything the government does to tackle these things in the budget coming up!

Re : Sick days - where do you stand?

Here is a guide to sick pay and how you (the employer) stand:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/Sicknessabsence/DG_10027238

Hope it helps.
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Re : Sick days - where do you stand?

Thanks - that's a useful link

Re : Sick days - where do you stand?

What we recommend to clients is the Bradford Factor which has a points system with different values for disciplinarys,Check out the link below for more info on this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford_Factor

Re : Sick days - where do you stand?

That's true - the Bradford Factor does appear to be the most commonly used system. Basically you can start to see trends in absence patterns.
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Re : Sick days - where do you stand?

Huh,the link was very useful, the Bradford Factor seems to be the most commonly used system..!
That true..!