In the latest of Lindsays’ series of articles employment rights law, Daniel Gorry, Partner in Employment Law, explains the proposed changes to Sick Pay. Watch out for future articles on other key changes too.
Could hangovers and duvet days become a bigger issue for employers?
That’s one of the many questions that employment law specialists are asking, as polling results suggest that Labour will win the General Election. And we’re not just talking about people who over-imbibe as they watch the election results on the night of 4-5 July.
The question arises because the Labour Party is proposing a major overhaul of employment law if it comes into power, which will include increasing employers’ liabilities on sick pay. In its proposed New Deal for Working People, it pledges to strengthen statutory pay, remove the lower earnings limit to make it available to all workers and remove the waiting period.
Where do hangovers come in?
At the moment, employees (and some workers) qualify for statutory sick pay from the fourth day of absence onwards. Before that, they may or may not get paid by you, depending on what you agree in their contracts. Either way, in many jobs, it’s relatively easy and common for staff to take a day or two off because they have a hangover, want to catch up on sleep or do something else. They miss (or don’t miss) out on a day’s pay, and there’s minimal paperwork for them to complete.
Under Labour’s proposals, this would likely change, because they could be eligible for statutory sick pay from the very first day.
Better record-keeping required
Most small businesses and other organisations are already hard-pressed to deal with the paperwork around absences. In our work with employers of all sizes and in all sectors, our employment law team at Lindsays sees a wide spread of behaviours on this – with some firms being completely on top of absence management and record-keeping, and others’ records being limited to a collection of GP fit notes received.
While it’s totally understandable that some employers don’t have the time to institute a more strategic system of record-keeping, return to work meetings, monitoring and constructive engagement around absence, we’d advise employers to step up on this. Quickly.
As well as helping you manage any changes or risks related to Labour’s New Deal, good habit-forming on this is going to be good for business. After all, record-keeping and policies could bolster your ability to manage absence which in turn could feed into higher productivity.
How do you find the time?
Of course, time is the elephant in the room here. With so many other things to deal with right now, how do SME owners and others find the space to keep up with Labour’s (or another party’s) proposed changes on employment law? By letting others do the work for you.
Over the coming weeks, Lindsays’ fixed fee employment law service, prism, will become more valuable than ever for businesses, charities and others as you contemplate the possible consequences and risks of Labour’s New Deal for Working People.
If they come to power, they’ve committed to unveil their detailed proposals within 100 days, so at that point, we’ll have a much better idea of what it will involve and can update you on how it progresses through the parliamentary process.
Our employment team can keep you on top of any changes ahead of time – from providing bespoke up to date policies for absence and return to work reporting, to steering you away from pitfalls and empowering you to manage any risks created by the legislation.
As we write this, no-one yet knows the election results, but we do know that change is on its way – which is always the case in employment law anyway. It’s important to be prepared.
Daniel Gorry
Partner in Employment
Keep checking the Lindsays website for more articles on the proposed changes to employment law in the run-up to the election.
Published 26 June 2024
