Cosmetic Surgery – Sick pay or holiday?
All businesses are used to dealing with absences due to illness. But the issue of how to handle attendance and performance issues caused by elective medical procedures is less clear cut.
With about 28,900 cosmetic procedures carried out in 2006, and one-in-seven couples with fertility problems, it’s an increasingly pertinent issue. Would you, for example, treat an employee undergoing chemotherapy in the same way as you would treat an employee undergoing a course of IVF? Similarly, is the employee recovering from their breast augmentation afforded the same rights as the employee recuperating from heart surgery?
Are employees who choose to have elective procedures entitled to sick pay?
An employee is entitled to statutory sick pay (SSP) when they are unfit to work, as the reason for their absence is essentially immaterial. Provided they follow the requisite notification requirements, then SSP is payable. Staff undergoing fertility treatment are, however, not entitled to SSP unless the effect of that treatment – such as stress or depression – means they are unfit for work.
full article http://www.contractjournal.com/Articles/2007/08/22/55991/legal+q.html
