SICKNESS ABSENCE - 06.10.2022

Relationship breakdowns and sickness absence

Return to work interviews

Like all good employers, you probably conduct return to work interviews following every period of sickness absence (see The next step ). During this meeting, you should ask the employee about the reason behind their sickness absence.

You can justify this question on the basis that you have a duty of care to their and other employees’ health, safety and wellbeing, you have a duty to make reasonable adjustments where necessary and you need to be sure that the employee is fit for work.

A broken heart

Now, let’s suppose that during a return to work interview the employee tells you that they called in sick because a personal relationship had ended and they couldn’t face work.

As they didn’t have any symptoms of an illness or effects of a physical injury, do they have a right to take that time off as sickness absence ?

Emotional effects

Your initial response to this question might be “no” . You could also be thinking that the time off should be taken as unpaid leave and not as sickness absence.

However, it’s important to remember that everyone handles the end of a personal relationship differently - particularly where it’s unexpected or there are difficult circumstances involved. For some, the emotional effects can be huge and it could impact their mental health and wellbeing.

Questions to ask

When it comes to the genuineness of sickness absence , what matters is whether or not the employee was actually incapacitated for work. So, if, for example, they tell you that they spent the day in tears in bed or they weren’t able to eat and felt sick, you should probably cut them some slack.

That said, whilst a one off instance of sickness absence for this reason might be understandable, repeated sickness absence occurrences due to relationship breakups or turbulence can and ought to be challenged.

Poor performance

What’s more, an employee’s personal life should not unnecessarily affect their performance at work.

Tip. In the event an employee’s performance deteriorates in conjunction with a relationship breakup, you can treat this as a misconduct issue. But do be mindful of the situation if they’re going through a particularly nasty or difficult relationship breakup, such as an acrimonious divorce or separation, and be prepared to give them support.

Tip. If the employee continues to struggle emotionally, it’s worth suggesting that they contact both their GP and a trained counsellor.

For a return to work interview form, visit https://www.tips-and-advice.co.uk , Download Zone, year 24, issue 18.