Your employment rights when you're sick

Everyone feels under the weather or sick from time to time during their working career. Thankfully, most of the time, it is nothing serious, and we soon recover.

When you're feeling ill, regardless of the reason, work is often the last thing you want to think about. We have, therefore, set out a useful guide below to help you understand your rights and obligations during a period of sickness absence from work so when you do become unwell, you can focus on rest and recovery rather than worrying about figuring out what you need to do at that time.

Every employer should have policies and procedures in place covering sickness absence to clarify employees' rights and explain what employees must do to report any illness, and any necessary action throughout their absence. Policies are bespoke to each employer, but there are some general points to bear in mind:

Informing your employer you're off sick

The first step is to notify your employer that you are unwell so they know you will not be working and can plan for your absence and arrange appropriate cover, as necessary. You should try and do this as soon as possible, but no later than the start time of your working day. Often, your employment contract or the company's policy on sickness absence will confirm a time by which you must report your absence. If this is the case, be sure to comply with these timescales. You should also look in your contract of employment and company’s policy to establish who you should contact to report your absence; this is often your line manager but may not be the case for all businesses.

The method by which employees are expected to report their absence also varies across companies. Given that lots of companies now use platforms such as WhatsApp and Microsoft Teams for business communications, some employees may assume that it is permitted to use those platforms to report their sickness. However, it is common that employers will require an employee to call into work to report their sickness, rather than doing so by email or written message. This is often because a telephone call makes it easier for your employer to ask any questions they need to know in order to plan for your absence, which might include questions like:

1. How long do you expect to be unfit for work;
2. What the illness or injury is – so that if it relates to a health and safety issue then this can be addressed promptly;
3. How best to contact you whilst you are off sick, as there should no expectation that the employee would be checking any work emails during your time off sick even for limited correspondence relating to their ongoing absence; and
4. Any immediate matters or urgent work which needs to be picked up in your absence (including if there are any passwords or information required to access this work).

Therefore, employees should avoid assuming a simple message is sufficient, even if this method of communication is used frequently within the workplace. Again, it is important to check your contract of employment or company policy for information of whom to report your sickness absence, as this is commonly confirmed, and you do not want to be in breach of your obligations.

You must report your absence in line with the above for the first seven days of your sickness absence. This is known as "self-certification", whereby you effectively deem yourself unfit for work and inform your employer of the same, usually with a brief explanation of why you consider this to be the case and proving the employer with the information outlined in the questions above, where necessary.

If, after seven days (including non-working days), you still consider yourself too unwell to work, you will be required to provide a fit note (sometimes referred to as a sick note), which is an official written statement confirming that you are not fit for work. It was previously the case that fit notes could only be supplied by doctors however, this has now been widened and they can now be supplied by a broader range of healthcare professionals such as nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and in some cases, pharmacists.

The fit note should start from your eighth day of sickness absence, at the latest, and confirm for how long your doctor or registered healthcare professional expects you to be off work. If you are not fit to return to work at the expiry of a fit note, you will need to speak to your doctor or registered healthcare professional to obtain a further fit note to cover your ongoing absence.

If you do not provide a fit note, your employer can withhold your sick pay on the basis that they are not satisfied you are unwell and unable to attend work. An employer may also have grounds to treat your absence as unauthorised, without contrary information, instigating its disciplinary procedure.

Sick pay

The minimum pay an employee is entitled to during sickness absence is statutory sick pay ("SSP") – provided they are eligible for such pay.

The system in place for eligibility and payment of statutory sick pay can appear complex. In summary, it entitles employees absent from work due to incapacity, who meet three qualifying conditions, to receive a weekly statutory sick pay payment. Statutory sick pay is limited to a maximum of 28 weeks. Currently (as of April 2024), the weekly SSP rate is £116.75 however this is reviewed and often increased every April.

In most circumstances (other than where there are period of linked sickness absences), SSP is not payable in the first three day of your sickness absence including weekends and bank holidays and these are often referred to as the “waiting days”.

To qualify for SSP, you must:

1. Be classed as an employee and have done some work for your employer;
2. Earn an average of £123 per week (before deductions); and
3. Have been ill for more than 3 days in a row.

As noted above, it is your responsibility to ensure that you follow your company’s sickness absence reporting procedures as well as ensure that, if you are absent for longer than 7 calendar days, you obtain a fit note or notes to cover the whole period of your absence. In absence of this, your employer is entitled to withhold SSP from you.

SSP is the minimum which your employer must pay to you, and employees may very well be entitled to higher payments during periods of sickness absence. In line with section 1 Employment Rights Act 1996, it should be confirmed in your contract of employment what your sick pay entitlement is – i.e. whether you will be paid SSP, or an enhanced payment over and above SSP generally known as "company sick pay”. If employees are entitled to company sick pay, this will usually be stated as paid inclusive of statutory sick pay, not in addition.

When do medical appointments become sickness absences?

Your employer is not legally required to give you time off for a doctors or dentist appointment (paid or unpaid) unless you need to attend such appointments in connection with a disability. That being said, if it is confirmed within your contract of employment that you will be entitled to time off work to attend a doctor and/or dentist's appointment, your employer is obliged to let you do so and pay you in accordance with this clause, or they would be in breach of contract.

Despite no legal requirement for these situations, most employers allow employees time off for these appointments as a gesture of goodwill (paid or unpaid). Sometimes, employers will allow attendance during work hours on the provision this time off work is made up for elsewhere by you. Alternatively, employers can insist that the appointment is moved to outside working hours, that you take the time unpaid or, if the appointment needs to be during working hours, that you take this time off as annual leave.

It is also important to note that a medical appointment can sometimes be classed as a sickness absence, including emergency treatment. Moreover, antenatal and adoption appointments are given their own set of rules, with a statutory right for the time off work to attend such appointments and accompany those attending. There is also a statutory right for carers to take time off to give or arrange care for a dependent who has long term care needs. These situations should therefore be dealt with separately, and clearly excluded from any policy on general medical appointments (generally having their own specific policies).

There is no legal requirement for employees to give their employers proof of a medical appointment. However, this can be useful to help the employee and employer to agree the time off which is needed in order to attend an appointment. Employers should be aware that there may be sensitive reasons why an employee might not wish to share details of the appointment they need to attend. You should not be disciplined for attending a medical appointment if it has been agreed that you can attend.

This article has been updated October 2024.

The information provided in this article is provided for general information purposes only, and does not provide definitive advice. It does not amount to legal or other professional advice and so you should not rely on any information contained here as if it were such advice.

Wright Hassall does not accept any responsibility for any loss which may arise from reliance on any information published here. Definitive advice can only be given with full knowledge of all relevant facts.  If you need such advice please contact a member of our professional staff.

The information published across our Knowledge Base is correct at the time of going to press.