Avoiding Harassment While on Sick Leave in the UK

Employers can consider contacting employees when they’re on sick leave. The question is how much contact and in what ways are permissible. 

There are no laws that expressly forbid employers from contacting their employees on sick leave. To avoid it becoming harassment, though, employers should seek to establish a few things with employees on sick leave: 

• How often should the employer contact the employee? Employers should contact their employees to provide support. How much depends on the type of leave. 

• What type of medium will be used for contact? Employers need to consider whether to make contact via phone, email or face-to-face.

• Who will be the contact person? There needs to be an established point of contact for the employee on leave. Most often, this will be their line manager.

Yes, employees can contact employers during their sick leave. Again, the amount of contact will depend on multiple things, such as the type and the urgency of information that the employee needs to transfer. 

It’s difficult for a person to jump on a quick call if they have the flu. Or, if they’re a senior employee who has a lot of know-how in the company, they will probably seek to contact their employer more often. 

There are three good times to contact your employee when they’re on sick leave:

A good time to contact your employee on sick leave would be when they need to receive a welfare check. You can contact your employee to get all of their details and ensure that they receive the check on time.

When the company is doing risk assessment in the office, it’s a good idea to contact your employees that are on sick leave to inform them about it. The employees should be aware of any changes to the workplace that can impact them, like risks to pregnant women. 

When your employees are on sick leave, you should support them. How much support will depend on the type of sick leave. If they were in an accident and broke their leg, you can provide them with more support and have contact more often. 

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There are a couple of things that employers should be wary of when contacting their employees on sick leave. 

If an employee took sick leave because of their mental health or wellbeing, it’s probably a good idea not to contact them too often. It may have the unintended consequence of enhancing the problem and causing unneeded stress.

If an employer may be seen as pressuring the employee for an early return, this would be considered harassment. Give your employees enough time and don’t pressure them for an early return. 

In general, contacting employees after working hours isn’t something to be taken lightly. And if the employee is on sick leave, they have an “off time” where they take care of themselves. Respect the boundaries of this time off.

When talking with your employees who are on sick leave, it’s always a good idea to ask them how they’re doing. They will tell you themselves when they’re ready to return to the workplace. 

An employee takes a sick leave because they need that time to get better. Don’t pressure them during that time. They will get better during that time and return to work when they’re fully operational. So give them enough time to rest and they will come back 100% ready. 

Here are the three most asked questions about harassment while on sick leave:

Yes, you can contact employees while they’re on sick leave. But, you need to be mindful of the employee’s needs, how much they truly want you to contact them and how easily contact can sometimes slip into the realm of harassment. 

The employee and the employer will establish how often they will have contact during the sick leave. This needs to be mutually agreed upon for harassment to be avoided. 

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