How should we deal with a disabled employee who has frequent short-term absences?

Posted in : First Tuesday Q&A NI on 1 May 2018
Chris Fullerton
Arthur Cox
Issues covered:

Where absences are due to an employee’s disability, an employer will have to tread very carefully to avoid a claim of disability discrimination under The Disability Discrimination Act 1995. However, we appreciate that frequent absences can be very disruptive to an employer.

As a practical step, an employer should ensure that each absence is logged so that they can paint a reliable picture of the employee’s absences. This will enable the employer to gauge whether the absence is linked to the employee’s disability or if it is due to an unrelated reason. It is also prudent to refer the employee to Occupational Health in these circumstances.

All employers should have a sickness and absence

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Back to Q&A's This article is correct at 01/05/2018
Disclaimer:

The information in this article is provided as part of Legal-Island's Employment Law Hub. We regret we are not able to respond to requests for specific legal or HR queries and recommend that professional advice is obtained before relying on information supplied anywhere within this article.

Chris Fullerton
Arthur Cox

The main content of this article was provided by Chris Fullerton. Contact telephone number is 028 9023 0007 or email Chris.Fullerton@arthurcox.com

View all articles by Chris Fullerton