Unable to attend work

If you are scheduled to work, but unable to attend work for any reason then please call the Epwin Group Absence Line at least one hour prior to your scheduled start time on 0300 303 3984, quoting your employee number and reason for absence.

You are required to call the Epwin Group Absence Line in person and only in a genuine emergency will a call be accepted from another individual on your behalf.

Medical and non medical absences should be logged, however you do not need to ring the absence line for pre-approved holiday, or maternity/paternity leave.

When you contact the Absence Line you will be asked a series of questions by a fully trained operator who answers your call, and they will give you any relevant advice and will also log the details of your call. Please be open and honest when providing information about your absence so the company can offer the appropriate support should it be required.

The Epwin Group Absence Service will then notify your Manager/s immediately after receiving your call to advise them that you are unable to attend work.

To reduce the duration of your call, ensure that you have any relevant information to hand, for example;
– Employee number
– Details of any prescribed medication
– Dates of any medical appointments
– A contact number in the event you are referred
– Shift Pattern – please be specific as we are not interested in non-working days. Similarly, if you are expected to work overtime and cannot attend you must tell the call handler that your shift is an overtime shift.

Please note: Where possible, call the service from a landline as calls from mobiles may be more expensive.

It is your obligation to report your absence as this is the company procedure. If you do not report your absence this will be addressed with you by your manager as per the absence policy / or disciplinary policy.

The Group’s Health Occupational Health Advisor (OHA) may call you back if your absence hits a trigger on a pre-determined date and time. This call will be to discuss your absence, along with any relevant historic absence, and to provide recommendations both to you and the business to ensure that you are being supported and receiving appropriate medical treatment.

No, it is very important if you are unable to attend work for any reason you call the Epwin Group Absence Line. This includes all unplanned/unapproved absence, for example, transportation issues, doctor’s appointments, bereavement, time off to care for dependents, unable to work a pre-planned overtime shift, some other reason. All planned absences such as appointments over 2 hours or operations, should also be logged.

All information supplied with be treated in confidence and will only be shared with relevant parties, in accordance with the Group’s Data Protection policy and Employee Privacy statement.

If you have any questions or are unsure of what you should do then please raise this with your manager.

If you confirmed a return to work date but then are unable to return, you are required to call the Absence Line again and extend your absence.

When you are clear on your return to work date, you need to contact the Absence Line to confirm the return to work date in order to close down your absence.

It is really important that you do this at the very latest, one hour prior to your start time. Once your absence has been closed down it will send an alert to your line manager to inform them of your return to work and they will then complete your Return to Work interview.

You can self-certificate for up to 7 calendar days of absence and if your absence lasts for longer than 7 calendar days, you must also provide a doctor’s “FIT Note” to cover any absence from the eighth day onwards. This must be sent to your line manager as soon as possible.

The Company reserves the right to request you to provide a self-certification note to cover an absence lasting less than eight days. You are required to continue to supply copies of doctor’s FIT Notes even after company or statutory sick pay has expired.

Payment during this period will be made as per appropriate sick pay entitlement which will be outlined in your contract of employment.

Please note: a false entry on company sick forms or false information submitted is fraud and could lead to prosecution and/or disciplinary action.

If you are unable to work due to illness or injury for more than 2 weeks or 10 working days, this absence is viewed as long term.

In this case the HR Team or your manager will contact you to determine the nature of the illness or injury and to gather information about an appropriate return to work date.

Following this discussion, it may be recommended to refer you to occupational health for an independent medical opinion over and above what has been provided via your Doctors FIT Note

If a return to work date cannot be determined at this stage, regular contact will be maintained until expiry of Statutory Sick Pay when an assessment of the impact the absence is having on your contractual obligations will be made.

If a return to work date cannot be established this may result in your employment being terminated on the grounds of medical capability although this step is taken as an absolute last resort.

Provided you have notified the absence line that you have returned to work, your line manager will receive notification of your return and will conduct a return to work interview with you. This is to determine your fitness to be at work and also to explore if there are any underlying reasons that are causing you to take time off as we may be able to help.

The business recognises that there may be circumstances where you would prefer not to discuss the reason for your absence with your line manager. If this is the case, you should ask your manager if you can discuss your absence with a member of the HR Team.

The Company must be satisfied that the accident took place during normal working hours, on the Company’s premises or whilst carrying out authorised Company business and not attributed to personal negligence or misconduct.

• Certificates must be supplied.
• It must be accepted that any payment made whilst absent due to an injury at work does not constitute an admission of liability for the accident.
• Notification to the Absence Line must be made in the normal way.

Entitlement to any payment for absence due to sickness or injury will be as stated in the contract of employment or separate agreement. The Company reserves the right to withdraw this benefit, either in its entirety or in the case of individuals, if Management feel that there has been any abuse whatsoever of this benefit.

Where there is a contractual entitlement to Company sick pay for both sickness and injury, the two benefits are separate.

Where Company sick pay entitlement has been exhausted, you must have returned to work for a minimum of eight continuous weeks before you are entitled to receive any further Company sick pay, regardless of length of service.

All entitlements to sick payments, if applicable, are calculated on a 12-month rolling basis.

Non-production of doctor’s medical certificates will result in non-payment of sick pay.

Employees who become absent immediately after disciplinary proceedings are instigated or performance management steps are commenced, for a previously undisclosed condition or for a reason which the Company could reasonably conclude is related to the aforementioned, may be excluded from any Company sick pay that they may be entitled to receive.

Payment of Company sick pay will only be reinstated upon receipt of reports from both their own GP and Occupational Health confirming that it would be detrimental to the employee’s health to continue with such proceedings at the current time.

If absence has been caused by the negligence of a third party, employees must advise the Company of any claim or settlement. The Company may require reimbursement from the settlement for any remuneration paid during the period of absence.

The Group have a duty of care, at commencement of employment or during your employment to you and it is part of your contract that you may be required to undergo a medical examination via our Occupational Health Service, if a health concern is identified regarding your capability to perform your duties. This will be particularly likely during a period of absence, or after frequent short periods of absence due to sickness or injury, where an infectious disease is known or suspected or on return from a period of absence due to sickness or injury

A full medical statement and a meeting from a medical representative of the Company or a member of the HR Team may be necessary to review your absence.

The Group outsource support to a professional company to support you and the organisations management of absence. Medigold Health provides the Group with a robust absence management system, health surveillance and occupational health services.

Introduction

The Company seeks to promote high standards of attendance throughout its workforce, whilst at the same time operating in a fair, compassionate and consistent manner.

This policy is designed to provide an effective but fair absence control process to deal with situations that fall short of acceptable levels.

Policy Objectives

Management will regularly review attendance records to identify any problems.

Return to work interviews, following a period of absence, will be carried out by the line manager.

Where the level of absence reaches a trigger point, the manager will meet with the employee to discuss and review their absence and the reasons for this. Where there may be an underlying cause for the absences then the employee may be referred to a qualified Occupational Health Advisor/Doctor so that recommendations can be made to the employee and the business.

An absence review meeting may be triggered in a number of ways, these include

• The number of occasions absent in a period (3 occasions in 3 months or 4 occasion in 12 months)
• The percentage of time lost in a 12-month rolling period
• The pattern of absence
• The reasons for the absences
• Whether correct notification procedures were followed
• Whether correct certification was received

Stage Management

Whenever these triggers are reached, then action may be taken within the constraints of legislation and compassion for the individual employee.