Contact between employer and employee during leave

During the leave, an employer is entitled to take reasonable steps to keep in touch with the absent employee.

If a role is under threat of redundancy, the employer must keep the absent employee fully informed and consulted, just as if they were at work, and must update them with suitable available vacancies that arise during the leave period. They have a specific statutory right to be offered a suitable available vacancy if their role becomes redundant during leave (see page 356 of Chapter 11: Redundancy).

Even if there is no threat of redundancy, an employee on maternity, adoption leave or SPL has the same right to be kept informed of suitable internal job opportunities as a comparable employee who is at work, for example via access to the intranet. Failing to keep employees as up-to-date as their in-work colleagues on promotion and job opportunities is likely to be sex discrimination (Visa International Service Association v Paul [2004] IRLR 42).