If one of your employees receives a medical statement from their GP indicating that they ‘may be fit for work’ What are your obligations?

From 6 April 2010 the old sick note changed to become a ‘’Statement of Fitness for Work’ form or ‘Fit Note’.

Under the sick note system, doctors could only advise their patient on whether their health condition meant that they should or should not work.

However, many people with health conditions can, with some basic support from their employer, work as they recover from their condition. To help more people get the support they need to get back to work the new fit note system means that doctors can advise whether employees are either:

• unfit for work; or
• may be fit for work

A doctor will give a ‘may be fit for work’ statement if they think that their patient’s health condition may allow them to work if they get suitable support from their employer. For example, a phased return to work, altered hours, amended duties or workplace adaptations. If it is not possible for employers to provide the support to enable employees to return to work then the statement should be treated as if the doctor had advised the employee was unfit for work. (Note – obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act have not changed). If, however an employee is too ill to work the doctor will advise this just like with the old sick note and will give a ‘unfit for work’ statement.

The new fit note system can provide real benefits to both employees and the business and should form a fundamental part of your sickness absence procedures.

What measures and controls can you put in place to help tackle work related stress?

Employers have general legal responsibilities for the health and safety of employees at work and should undertake occupational stress risk assessments.

Under most circumstances, an employer can assume that employees are able to withstand the normal pressures of work. However, where there are situations that indicate stress, for example, an employee being off sick or making it clear to the employer that they are under extreme pressure, then the employer should take "reasonably practicable" steps to investigate and take action as necessary. The actions must be of substance and could include work re-arrangement, training or counselling but might also include redeployment or even demotion or dismissal if these were the only reasonable steps that could be taken.

Prevention will always be better than cure and in order to manage and prevent work-related stress from happening, employers can look at the following six areas;

• demands
• control
• support
• relationships
• role
• change

Employees will be able to indicate that they are able to cope with the demands of their jobs and that they are able to have a say about the way they do their work. They will be able to indicate that they receive adequate information and support from their colleagues and superiors and are not subjected to unacceptable behaviours, eg bullying at work. They should be engaged with frequently when the organisation goes through any change and there must be systems in place locally to respond to any individual concerns.