The BCEA Section 23(1) states that an employer is not required to pay an employee if the employee has been absent from work for more than two consecutive days OR on more than two occasions during an eight-week period and, on request of the employer, does not produce a medical certificate….

The question we often get is about ‘sick’ employees on Fridays or Mondays…

While the Act is silent on the specific days, it is normal business practice to ‘count’ these days before and after a weekend that it adds up to more than 2 consecutive days.

So, if someone is off sick on the Monday, we can rightfully ‘assume’ they were sick the whole weekend! Same with the days before and after long weekends. If we as employers do not establish clear guidelines for this procedure, there is a high risk of inconsistency or abuse of this entitlement.

With the matter of the ‘more than 2 occasions during an 8-week period: it is vital to check, when an employee is off sick on, for example, a Wednesday, when last were they off sick?? This could, potentially be the start of a trend of taking that 1 day every few weeks. It is often easily missed by those who manage leave and when employees realise this is not managed or recorded accurately, can become a culture and/or a way of manipulating paid sick leave!

We have attached an example of a ‘Return to Work’ questionnaire again – very valuable to do these on the day the ‘sick’ employee is back at work. It is important that all employees realise that sick leave is being monitored and managed!

Next week we will deal with medical certificates!

Have a good (non-rainy) weekend!

Uluma HR Team