By Peter Done on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
Changing the terms and conditions under which your employees work, which is essentially what you would be doing making changes to a company sickness policy, should be done with careful consideration.
Firstly, your approach is dependent upon whether your sickness policy is contractual or not.
If the policy is clearly non-contractual and reserves the right to be amended from time to time, then you are generally able to simply make the changes you want to make and make your staff aware of this.
>See also: Can I dismiss an employee for sending threatening text?
If the policy is contractual and therefore constitutes part of your employees’ terms and conditions, then you need to tread more carefully. Introducing changes to an employee’s terms and conditions requires agreement by both parties because unilateral changes are not permitted – this means that you cannot simply impose a change unless it is required by law, as was the case when the indoor smoking ban was introduced.
A consultation process is required during which all affected employees should be informed of the intended changes, with an explanation of the reason why the changes are required.