Posted By Laurie Yes I know of similar cases,and no, we haven't worked out a solution either! Laurie

Posted By Karen Rogers I am assuming that you are using your own Doctor. Have you asked that if the employee is no able to perform their normal duties if they are able to perform alternative duties. In a past employment they rehabilitated people after sickness by placing them to do computer work, training, admin tasks or paper chasing. We even had people coming back to work on a part time basis. One example kept a shop floor guy with a bad back in work for a further 12 months - which otherwise would have been taken as sick as we used him in an office environment. If you are using your own doctor, how about looking for an alternative practice to give second opinions? Karen

Posted By Robert Woods Insist that they see a company GP before they return to work. Find one who's realy sympathetic to people with stress to ensure that he doesn't give them the all clear to return to work for at least three months. This way the slackers will leave the company or committ suicide because of poverty and having their houses reposessed thus solving the problem of work related stress and high absence rates. I am only joking even so I expect a few robust responses.

Posted By John Murphy I would commend any organisation/company to have adequate procedures for managing sickness absence in their workplace. (It is nothing to do with OH&S, just good management practise). A (SICKNESS ABSENCE) procedure introduced (by Personnel Managers) for use by both managers and employees would include advice and guidance for managers and employees on "return to work interviews" following sickness, advice on rehabilitation and of course guidance on when and how to refer where necessary to OH services (it need not be exclusively one provided by your employer). In addition an ill-health referral procedure is essential (especially for a public sector body). The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 makes it unlawful to discriminate against anyone who has "a physical or mental impairment". In these cases, an employer has a statutory duty to make a "reasonable adjustment" to enable a disabled employee to be kept in employment. The sickness absence procedure facilitates referal into a ill-health process where judgements are made by OH specialists and others about whether an emoployee can continue in their current work following reasonable adjustment (if DDA applies), ill-health retirement is appropriate or, it is clearly not an ill-health issue and should therefore be dealt with under capability or disciplinary procedures. Providing an OH service in-house is expensive so you may need to buy the ill-health referral service externally. (If you are a public sector organisation note that retirement law changes on April 1st, this requires independent assessment for all casesesulting in a recommendation for ill-health retirements). I have recently taken responsibility for managing the OH Unit in my Council and I know I still have a lot to learn but in my opinion OH and H&S are best managed jointly as they share the common aim to enhance and maintain the health, safety and welfare of our employees and others. However, I would say that if your organisation does not have access to adequate OH services, properly resourced, my best advice to a health and safety adviser is think long and hard before you get involved. Finally, there are "lead swingers" out there but CAUTION, treat them all as if they are unwell. I know of a recent case(in a government office) where the GP refused to sign an employee as fit for work, not because she was unwell, she was not, it was on the basis of her relationship with her immediate line manager which gave her a real fear of being made unwell (and one her GP supported) if she returned at work (we may call it bullying). Try not to pre-judge!!

Posted By Mark Jarman Another alternative here is to consider using the occupation health / rehabilitation services of your (employers liability) insurance company. They should have procedures and programmes to be able to provide an assessment of the employee and successfully manage them back to work. This will also prove to be beneficial should employees decide to pursue a civil claim, which is an increasingly popular decision after the period of full sick pay runs out! Regards Mark

Posted By Paul Elliott Many thanks to all who have responded, your views were much appreciated.

Posted By Diane Warne I thought that this might be of interest to people who took part in this discussion thread. It's at http://www.workplacelaw....lay.php?resource_id=2140 "The Government has launched a new 'desk aid' for GPs to help them decide whether a patient is fit for work. It contains the following guidelines, that GPs should consider: - the nature of the patients medical condition and how long the condition is expected to last - the functional limitations which result from the patients condition, particularly in relation to the type of tasks they actually perform at work - any reasonable adjustments which might enable the patient to continue working - in relation to the workplace it is worth noting that under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 an employer may be required to make reasonable adjustments for an employee with a long term disability - any appropriate clinical guidelines - for example the Royal College of General Practitioners has produced clinical guidelines on the management of acute low back pain - clinical management of the condition which is in the patients best interest regarding work fitness It continues: "you should always bear in mind that a patient may not be well served in the longer term by medical advice to refrain from work, if more appropriate clinical management would allow them to stay in work or return to work." " There is a link to the guide itself.