Summer is here ñ but are your staff?

As summer gets underway, companies are experiencing rising absentee rates as staff phone in sick to enjoy the sunshine, say lawyers Brabners Chaffe Street.

As temperatures rise, it is common for less motivated employees to take odd days off work to spend a day in the garden or sleep off the hangover from last nightís barbecue. However the cost and business disruption caused by this type of absenteeism can be considerable, not least because of its unpredictability.

Employment law partner Kevin James says companies need to take note of absenteeism. ìEmployees are less likely to take time off work without proper cause if it is noted and enquired into. Management should make reasonable enquiries as soon as the employee returns. Absence records should be maintained and monitored, and a policy in place requiring them to ring in before a certain time in the morning.î

Where absenteeism is a continuing problem it should be dealt with under the disciplinary procedures introduced in October 2004. Employers are obliged by law to have a written disciplinary procedure in operation. Those who donít follow a proper procedure may face a successful claim for unfair dismissal, regardless of how much time the employee takes off sick.

Kevin James also warns employers against acting on impulse and sacking the employee on the spot. ëIn the majority of cases employees need to have a yearís service before they can claim unfair dismissal, but with some types of claim they do not, for example disability discrimination. Repeated short-term absences may indicate a health problem that would give them the protection of the Disability Discrimination Act. Employers should always investigate the absences and, if appropriate, start a disciplinary process in line with the law or pay out for the consequences.î