Posted By CFT
Alan

Being signed off sick means you are signed off for a reason and you would almost certainly be in breach of your current employer liability insurance; this not withsatnding, means it is a ticking time bomb hoping nothing is to go wrong.

I can only offer one example; a client from many years ago was approached by an employee who was off sick with a broken ankle. The lad asked if it would be OK to ride around in the vans with his co workers as he was bored. The client agreed. First couple of days no problem, the vehicle however he was a passenger in, had an accident; the front was stoved in and further fractured the lads ankle, the damage was so excessive that he will never walk properly again, through various litigational representation the client was sued and the insurers refused to pay out because the client had breached the terms of the policy. The sum as far as I remember was in excess of one million pounds and the client was later declared a bankrupt.

One must also adopt a cautionary approach when someone has been signed off for a while; I always recommend 'considering' an independent medical to establish that the GP was in fact correct in the diagnosis for 'return to work', it also gives you the chance to assess whether the person should be on lighter duties or reduced hours; it helps greatly in establishing true DOC.

CFT