More detail required on sick notes

News | HSW
01.03.2007

The Federation of Private Business (FPB) has called for more detail on doctors' sick notes so employers can better judge whether absences are justified. FPB campaigns manager Victoria Carson said sick notes are often of limited use in calculating sick pay because it is difficult to tell whether workers are actually capable of performing their jobs. "Unfortunately people seem to be getting signed off work for the vaguest of reasons," she said. "and hard-working business owners have to pay them Statutory Sick Pay when they don't really know if they should actually be off work."