LRD guides and handbook October 2010

Sickness absence and sick pay - a guide for union reps

Further help and information

Legal publications

Regulations

All regulations made since 1987 can be downladed from the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website at: www.opsi.gov.uk using the Statutory Instrument (SI) number or code and the year the regulations were made.

Employment Appeal Tribunal cases

Employment Appeal Tribunal cases can be found at www.employmentappeals.gov.uk

High Court and Court of Appeal cases

High Court and Court of Appeal cases can be found on the British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII) website at: www.bailli.org.uk

House of Lords

House of Lords decisions can be found at: www.publications.parliament.uk

Information from public bodies

This guide refers to guidance and reports that are freely available on the websites of various public bodies.

Acas

Acas publishes a number of useful resources including the revised Acas non-statutory suplementary guide: Dealing with absence, and the Acas advisory handbook Discipline and grievances at work: How should longer-term absence through ill-health be handled available at www.acas.org.uk

Health and Safety Executive

HSE publications include: Working together to prevent sickness absence becoming job loss: Practical advice for safety and other trade union representatives available at: www.hse.gov.uk; and Best practice in rehabilitating employees following absence due to workplace stress available at: www.employment-studies.co.uk

Information Commissioner’s Office

The Information Commissioner’s Code of Practice: Part 3: Monitoring at work is available at: www.ico.gov.uk

Information from trade unions

A number of trade unions publish freely available guidance and research, as well as offering training to reps relating to sickness absence. Much of the current research is referred to in this guide as well as the guidance to safety reps published by the TUC.

TUC

The truth about sickness absence (March 2010); Sicknote Britain? (2005); Preparing for the new fit note: Guidance for union representatives (2010); the TUC biennial survey of safety reps was published by the TUC in October 2010 — all available to download at: www.tuc.org.uk. Information on the TUC’s Work your Proper Hours campaign is available at: www.worksmart.org.uk as is the TUC’s guide Privacy at work. Information on Unionlearn courses is available at: www.unionlearn.org.uk.

Chartered Society of Physiotherapists

The Chartered Society of Physiotherapists report Sickness costs: How healthy is the UK workforce? (2010) is available at: www.csp.org.uk.

UNISON

The interim UNISON report Absence agreements in the UK public sector: A bitter pill to swallow (2006) and the final report Making us better: Sickness absence agreements: A guide for branches and safety representatives (2007) are available from the Unison website at: www.unison.org.uk.

Unite

The Unite guide Privacy at work is available at: www.unitetheunion.org/pdf/PrivacyatWork.pdf

Survey evidence from employer bodies

The various absence surveys referred to in this guide published by the CBI, EEF and the CIPD can be downloaded from the organisations’ websites at: www.cbi.org.uk; www.eef.org.uk and www.cipd.co.uk.

Additional research material

The 2010 report by the Work Foundation Why do employees come to work ill? An investigation into sickness presence in the workplace is available at: www.theworkfoundation.com

Waddell and Burton (2006): Is work good for your health and wellbeing? can be downloaded at: www.kendallburton.com

The independent think-tank the Work Foundation is engaged in an on-going investigation into the health of Britain’s workplaces, and various reports can be found on their website at: www.theworkfoundation.com