There are many reasons employees are legitimately away from work, whether it be illness or injury. Often it is through misconduct where the employee claims a sick day purely to have the day off or do something unrelated to work.

However, absenteeism can also arise from personal or home issues, or poor work/life balance. There may be things in the workplace that cause the employee to be absent, such as bullying, high workloads, or a lack of job satisfaction.

 So, what can you do?

If you are concerned that the employee is not taking leave due to genuine illness (or to care for a family member with an illness) you should meet with the employee to discuss their absenteeism. If there is a genuine illness problem you can discuss ways to work around the illness. If there are issues at home the same applies. For example, if the employee is constantly late for work as they have to look after children then maybe changing their start time will work.

If the problem persists then it may be appropriate to take disciplinary action. But you are only able to take disciplinary action if the employee fails to comply with reasonable notice. This may be that you have requested them to obtain medical certificates and they don’t do so, or continue to take leave on days adjoining a weekend or public holiday.

 Whenever looking to take disciplinary action it is important to get advice beforehand. Members can contact Primary Employers Tasmania to ensure they take the right action.