FURTHER REFORMS TO SICKNESS ABSENCE RULES

An independent report commissioned by the Government has come up with proposals for yet more reform to the sickness absence system as follows:

• The current obligations on employers to keep records in respect of Statutory Sick Pay should go.
• The Percentage Threshold Scheme which allows the recovery of Statutory Sick Pay costs by employers to go.
• Money spent by employers on keeping sick employees at work at aiding their return to work would attract tax relief.
• Easier financial settlements doing away with the fiction of fault required in Compromise Agreements.
• The Equality Act 2010 to be reigned back by removing the prohibition on pre-employment health questionnaires.

The above are only recommendations but will, we are sure, resonate with the expressed wishes of the Government to bring in reform and reduce red tape for businesses, particularly small and medium enterprises.

Hand Morgan & Owen can provide advice and assistance to employers and employees alike in the ever changing field of Employment Law.

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13 December 2011

Disclaimer

The contents of this article are for the purposes of generally awareness only.  They do not purport to constitute legal or professional advice.  The law may have changed since this article was published.  Readers should not act on the basis of the information included and should take appropriate professional advice upon their own particular circumstances.