The following areas of employment law have been subjected to change; GP sick notes, paternity leave allowances, maternity; paternity and adoption pay awards, pension age, data protection, requesting study leave and trade union blacklisting. This article provides important information for employers on these topics.
Sick Notes
Sick notes obtained from a GP are changing from 06 April 2010 to become 'fit notes'. The difference in the law is that now the GP can make occupational health suggestions to the employer which may help the employee and stop them having future absences.
The suggestions are not legally binding on the employer. This can give an insight into things that are happening at work which cause employees to go off sick which can be fixed thus preventing further absences. If the employer chooses not to implement the changes recommended on the fit note, then the employee can automatically be assumed as not being 'fit for work'. If this is the situation then it is up to the employer to advise the employee to go back to the doctors or see an occupational health therapist if they think necessary.
The requirement that an employer must see a GP note of 7 days off, still is the same. If an employee fails to do so then they are not entitled to statutory sick pay. Not only this, but the requirement for an employee to produce a fit note should be implemented within your internal sickness policy just as a normal GP sick note would have been. This means that an employee must produce a fit note in order to receive occupational sick pay, or must do so to avoid a disciplinary action under unauthorised absence.
Increase in Paternity Leave
From 06 April 2010 fathers are now able to share the maternity leave period with the mother of a child under 1 year old. Fathers can now take up to 26 weeks leave, which enables the mother to return to work after taking 6 months of their allocated maternity leave.
Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Pay
There will be an increase in the amount of statutory maternity, paternity and adoption pay awarded from 04 April 2010. The weekly pay for all parties will increase from