Good Morning

I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend, and appreciated, or at least acknowledged the fact that we live in a country in which celebrates our Human Rights.

I’m sure today, though, you’re wishing a stress-free life as an employer was a right too! Why do I say this? Because I’m pretty sure you have at least one or two employees who haven’t arrived at work today…some are genuinely ill, but others might have just wanted that one extra day at the end of the long weekend. You need to keep your business running and productive, and you can’t afford to carry these employees.

One of our subscribers faced the same problem about sick leave. Here’s what our experts advised.

Question

I would like to understand when the employer has the right to accept or refuse sick leave.

Answer

An employee is entitled to 30 days’ sick leave over a three-year period.

If an employee’s absent from work for more than two consecutive days or on more than two occasions during an eight-week period, the employer only has to give the employee paid sick leave on those days if the employee can prove that he was sick by producing a medical certificate. 

The medical certificate must be issued and signed by a medical practitioner or any other person who is certified to diagnose and treat patients and who is registered with a professional council established by and Act of Parliament.

If the employee doesn’t produce a medical certificate where the employee has been absent for two consecutive days or on more than two occasions during an eight-week period, or if the medical certificate doesn’t comply with the above requirements, the employer doesn’t have to grant the employee paid sick leave and the leave may be treated as unpaid leave. 

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You can protect yourself in your policy

Don’t forget you can add in your company policies that you expect a medical certificate if an employee is absent on a Monday or Friday, or a day before or after a public holiday. This’ll help protect you from those employees who just award themselves another day off!

Don’t forget to turn to you copy of the Labour Law for Managers Loose Leaf to get all the information you need to keep employees in line. Not a subscriber? I suggest you start protecting your rights as employer right now...simply click here.

Until next time...

Kind Regards

Sarah-Jane Bosch
Managing Editor: Personnel Division

P.S. I hope you’re as excited as we are about your new ‘one-stop-shop’ for all your business needs. Remember, it’s just under a week until we launch our fantastic new development...

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