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In a recent case at the Employment Appeal Tribunal an employee who had been refused sick leave by her employer despite the fact that she had produced a medical certificate signing off work due to stress won a substantial award of compensation. The court rejected the employer’s argument that it could rely on a clause which stated that ‘Payment [of sick pay] may also be withheld if there is any doubt that the absence is due to reasons other than health or personal accident which prevents the employee from undertaking any duty for which they are competent to perform’.

The employer argued that they could rely on this clause as they thought the reason for her sick leave was because of personal argument that she had had with her manager. Significantly, the court held that once a medical certificate had been produced, it was not open to an employer to go behind what appeared on the face of that medical certificate in the absence of contradictory medical evidence.

This might mean that employers might have to re-think their policies on sick leave. With the numbers of unhappy employees going off on sick leave due to stress steadily increasing the impact of this case could have a dramatic impact on businesses trying to cope with these problems. Employers should be wary of questioning medical certificates themselves, but if they are really suspicious then they should get the employee to see a different doctor in order to get a second opinion.

Marie, Contributor