Managers have direct responsibility for managing sickness absence. It is essential that you are familiar with and fully understand the Council's procedures for reporting, recording and monitoring sickness absence.

Employees also have a responsibility to follow certain procedures to be entitled to Occupational Sickness Allowance and Statutory Sick Pay. It is your responsibility to ensure that your employees are aware of notification arrangements, as in the Calling in Sick Guidance, and the consequences of non-compliance. This should form part of onboarding / induction training and any changes to these arrangements should be notified to all relevant employees. 

• You must keep in contact with employees who are absent from work.
• If the absence lasts, or is likely to last longer than 7 calendar days, then the employee should be asked to complete a self certificate via MyView or, if this is not possible, a sickness absence self certificate form must be sent to the employee as soon as possible for them to complete and return.
• You must ensure that all sections of the self certificate form are completed prior approving this on MyView or uploading this to MyView.
• You are responsible for ensuring that Med3 certificates are uploaded onto MyView upon receipt.
• Once in receipt of a Med3 certificate, you should update the employee's absence record on MyView to reflect stated reason for absence and the certificate review date. This record should be updated for any subsequent Med3 certificates received. 
• Where an absence is long term (over 4 weeks duration) you should keep a record of all contact with your employee using the Long term sickness absence contact record form.

• Any absence record should be updated on an employee's return to work to avoid overpayments.
• You should advise Payroll of periods of unauthorised absences. 

The Council's normal absence reporting arrangements and your role in this are outlined below:

First day of absence

On the first day of absence employees are required to telephone the appropriate supervisor or manager as early as possible and certainly no later than one hour after normal starting time. Employees who work shifts, job-share or part-time should notify you as soon as they become aware that they will be absent from work. They should not wait until their next scheduled work period. If your Service has a local procedure such as telephoning a specific contact number for out of hours reporting, you should ensure that your employees are aware of this.

Once notified of absence, you should update MyView to open a new absence record for your employee. Guidance is available on maintaining sickness absence records on MyView.

Employees are expected to telephone you personally to report their sickness absence. Sending a text message is not acceptable and only if the employee is physically unable to speak to you should a representative (such as husband or wife, partner, relative or friend) be asked to act on behalf of the employee to ensure that you are advised promptly of the employee's absence.

As soon as the employee is physically capable they should contact you direct. If you are not available to take the call, arrangements should be made for a nominated person to act as a contact point and you should return the employee's call later. Employees are expected to provide the reason for their absence and the likely duration of absence to the person who takes their call.

Regular contact

The employee must stay in regular contact with his/her line manager. If the duration of illness was not specified at the time of the initial call then it is the employee’s responsibility to telephone you the following day to update you and to keep in touch with you thereafter to advise of an expected date of return. 

Absence continues for more than 3 calendar days

If the absence continues for more than 3 calendar days, the employee must contact you again on the 4th day. At this point, you should ask your employee to indicate whether the absence is likely to continue beyond the seventh calendar day. If an employee is absent for more than 7 days they should keep in weekly contact with you (unless another arrangement is made) and continue to submit medical certificates (Med3) on the due date. Occupational Sickness Allowance and Statutory Sick Pay may stop if Med 3 are not submitted on time.

Absences up to 7 calendar days

For absences up to 7 calendar days it is expected that a statement of short term sickness absence will be completed via MyView (or paper copy uploaded to MyView) on the day the employee returns to work. In respect of teaching employees it is recognised that national conditions state in section 6.27 that "where the absence period is 4 to 7 days, the employee will complete a self-certification form on return to work".

Teaching employees are however, encouraged to complete a statement of short term sickness absence from day one of absence. This enables managers to provide appropriate support for employees such as early referral to Occupational Health as required.

Absences longer than 7 calendar days

If the absence is longer than 7 calendar days then the employee should complete a sickness absence self certificate via MyView (or you would send this to them and ask them to return this to their normal operating base). You should ask them to forward a Med3 Certificate to cover the period of absence beyond the first 7 calendar days/self certification period.

A Med3 certificate will state that the employee is either unfit for work, or may be fit for work taking account of advice provided. The advice is likely to cover issues such as: phased return, altered hours, amended duties, and/or workplace adaptations.

GPs may provide additional written comments to assist employers, eg how the employee's condition will affect what they do and some of the things that could help their return to work.

The Med3 Statement of Fitness for Work is:

• evidence for why an employee cannot work due to illness or injury
• not required until day 8 of a sickness absence, with the first 7 days covered by a self-certificate
• advice to the patient which is not binding on the employer.

• You should check that the GP has indicated the expected period of absence [either as (1) a period of time or (2) between specific dates] and whether or not the employee will have to see their GP again before returning to work. [NB: Any period described in days refers to calendar days not working days. Within the first 6 months of an absence the maximum period a GP can certify at any one time is 3 months.] 
• If the GP does not need to see the employee again, you can expect the employee to return to normal duties at the end of the Statement period.  
• If the employee feels well enough and asks to return before the end of a "not fit" Statement period, they do not have to return to the GP. However, you should consult the Occupational Health.  
• If the Occupational Health Adviser wishes to see the employee, you should proceed with an Occupational Health Referral in the normal way. You should not allow an employee who has a "not fit" certificate to return to work without Occupational Health approval. If Occupational Health do not authorise a return to work, the employee will still be covered up to the end date of the certificate.  
• If the GP needs to see the employee again and then decides that the employee can return to normal duties the GP will not issue a new Statement. GPs no longer issue "signing-off lines". GPs will continue to issue consecutive "not fit" certificates in the case of long-terms sickness. 
• If you have any queries, please contact the HR helpdesk. 

• You will consider the adjustments suggested and contact Occupational Health by telephone or email for guidance. If the Occupational Health Adviser wishes to see the employee, you should proceed with an Occupational Health referral in the normal way.
• If the Occupational Health Adviser confirms temporary adjustments, you should discuss these with the employee and make every effort to accommodate them. Where issues such as manual handling are involved, you should also consider carrying out a risk assessment.
• If the adjustments can be accommodated, then you should arrange for the employee to return to work immediately. In these cases, the period of time given on the Med3 relates to the need for adjustments.
• If it is not possible to accommodate the adjustments, the employee may remain on sick leave up to the end date of the Med3 without obtaining a further certificate. An additional certificate is only required if the employee is unable to return to work at the end of the Med3 period.
• If the GP has recommended an Occupational Health assessment, you should contact Occupational Health for guidance. A referral to Occupational Health will only be required if the Occupational Health Adviser requires to see the employee.
• If the employee feels able and asks to return to full duties before the end of the certificate period, and Occupational Health are in agreement, you may allow the employee to return. If Occupational Health are not in agreement, the employee must remain on restricted duties or on sick leave as appropriate and as advised by Occupational Health.
• If you have concerns at any of the above stages, you should contact the HR Helpdesk for advice.

If you have discussed with Occupational Health and agreed adjustments to enable an employee to return to work and the employee disagrees with your proposal:

• You should discuss the issues with the employee to find out why they feel they cannot return to work.  
• You should contact Human Resources for guidance, and you may also wish to contact Occupational Health again to discuss any issues raised by the employee.  
• If the employee is still reluctant to return to work, you should refer the employee to Occupational Health for an independent assessment of their fitness to return to work with the adjustments you have proposed. 
• If Occupational Health consider that the employee is fit to return the employee will be expected to return immediately.  
• If Occupational Health consider that the employee is not fit to return, then the employee can continue on sick leave up to the end date on the Med3 without revisiting the GP.

It should be noted that employees returning to work before the end date of the Med3 Statement with Occupational Health approval will be covered by Falkirk Council's Employers Liability Insurance as it is generally accepted that an employee does not necessarily have to be 100% fit to return to work.

However, you should ensure that you record all actions taken so that you can demonstrate that you have done everything possible to minimise the risk to the employee. 

If an employee fails to comply with the sickness absence notification and certification requirements without good reason, you may consider this unauthorised absence and, in discussion with Human Resources, it may be appropriate to withhold pay pending an investigation into this matter in line with the Disciplinary Procedures, confirming this in writing to the employee involved.

Persistent disregard of the notification procedures may also be dealt with through the Disciplinary Procedures.