When you're ill at work

If you are about to start or change medications, you may be worried about managing any side-effects when you are in the workplace. Planning ahead can be invaluable here.

Here are some things to consider:

• It may be possible for your doctor to sign you off or you could book some annual leave to avoid starting your new treatments at the same time as you are managing work. 
• Is it possible for you to reduce the amount of work you have for the period directly after you start on new drugs? This may be easier if you have disclosed your status to your employer. 
• Even when colleagues do know your status, managing side-effects like nausea and drowsiness can be difficult. If your employer doesn’t know your status, have a think about where you could get some support or who you could turn to for help. 
• Remember there are other professionals at your clinic apart from your doctor who can help. Dieticians, clinical nurse specialists and health advisors will all have experience of helping people manage side-effects and may have some useful tips.

For most people, any side-effects of HIV medication usually settle down and get less severe over the first few weeks. In the few cases where they don’t, you can always speak to your doctor about ways to manage the side-effects or even about changing treatments.

If you have a minor illness which means you need a few days off work, you should be treated in the same way as any other employee with a minor illness.

If you constantly need time off work for illness, you should be treated the same way as any other employee with a chronic illness. As HIV is considered a disability from the point of diagnosis, any absences related to your HIV should be recorded as 'disability-related' rather than a standard sick day.

The first seven days or less being off sick your employer can ask you to confirm that by filling in a self-certification when you return to work. Many employers have their own self-certification forms. If your employer doesn’t have their own form, they may use an Employee's Statement of Sickness form.

If you have exceeded the seven days you will need to get a Statement of Fitness to Work from your GP or the doctor that treated you. More guidance about time off for sickness.

• When you are off work due to sickness, how much pay you receive depends on both statute and the terms in your contract of employment. 
• The terms of your contract may be in the form of writing, orally agreed, implied by practice or a combination of all three.
• If the employer operates a company sick pay scheme (contractual sick pay), you should be paid what you are entitled to under that scheme. If you are not entitled to any contractual sick pay, you should still receive statutory sick pay (SSP) if you are eligible or if the terms are more favourable.
• Your employer can specify what processes you must follow when you take time off work when ill.

As HIV is considered a disability from the point of diagnosis, any absences related to your HIV should be dealt independently of your general sick leave. In order for this to apply you must let your employer know that you have a disability covered under the Equality Act 2010.

If you are an employee, your employer should not dismiss you for taking time off work unless they have first gone through a dismissal and disciplinary procedure.

The link below from the Equality and Human Rights Commission website looks at three issues based on the equality law: 

• reasons and procedures 
• if you are a disabled person and your employer wants to dismiss you 
• if you are a disabled person and your employer wants to dismiss you because they say you can no longer do the job

http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/advice-and-guidance/guidance-for-workers/dismissal-redundancy-retirement-and-after-you-have-left-a-job/dismissal/

There are other laws which your employer needs to follow to make sure a dismissal is fair and further guidance can be obtained from ACAS.

Check the parts of your contract that cover what happens if you’re sick. If you have any questions you can call THT Direct for information on your rights.

Employers have a legal duty to look after your mental and physical wellbeing. It is reasonable for them though, to expect you can cope with the day-to-day pressures of your job in most cases.

Once your employer becomes aware that you come within the definition of a disabled person under the Equality Act 2010, to avoid: 

• direct or indirect discrimination because of disability, or 
• discrimination arising from disability

and to make sure that they have met their duty to make reasonable adjustments your employer should: 

• Record your disability-related time off separately from general sick leave. This means that they are not considering bonuses or making other pay or employment decisions in a way that may unlawfully discriminate against you by putting you in disadvantage.
• Keep in touch with you if you are absent for an extended period to find out how you are and to inform you what’s happening at work but never put pressure for you to return to work before you are ready.
• Think about a return to work plan where you start work again gradually or if at all possible do some work at home before you return to the workplace.
• Consider reasonable adjustments by consulting you and where necessary, use expert advice, to determine what reasonable adjustments can be made for when you return to work. If an adjustment is reasonable, your employer must make it.

Your employer does not have to pay sick pay beyond what they normally pay just because your time off is related to your disability. But it may be a reasonable adjustment to:

• extend your sick pay
• offer you unpaid disability leave
• allow you to take the extra time off as annual leave