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AitchArr
22-11-2012, 05:58 PM
Hi all,

Long time reader, first time poster here :)

I have an interesting case and am hoping to get some advice on how best to handle it. I work in a very large organisation that has recently gone through several restructures. As a result there have been quite a few employees, both staff and executives, made redundant.

One of the executive employees affected by the redundancies has been off work for the several months on paid sick leave (personal illness/injury not related to restructure), with no known date as to when they will return. The executive still has a few months worth of paid sick leave left, as they have been a long term (10 year) employee. This is the only period of lengthy sick leave taken by the executive during their employment.

There's no question that the role the executive does is redundant. The executive is above the high income threshold. In the employment contract there is a notice clause of 1 month. Should we wait until the executive returns from sick leave before providing notice of redundancy? The reason I ask is that the company has a policy of allowing redeployment during the notice period, if we give notice now, then could the executive argue that they didn't have the opportunity for redeployment due to their illness/injury?

Thanks in advance
AitchArr