Recording an absence

If an employee is ill and cannot attend work, they should contact you on the first day of sickness.  If an employee does not make contact within the first hour of their normal start time, you should contact them.

During the telephone call, you should take details of the absence reason and offer them appropriate support. In addition you should make arrangements for their work to be covered to minimise disruption to service delivery. 

If the employee is absent due to a psychological illness, you should advise them that an automatic referral will be made to the Employee Support Team who will contact them to discuss support options.

Employees who are absent due to musculoskeletal conditions, should be offered a referral for physiotherapy (although this may not be appropriate for all circumstances, such as absences due to broken bones or if their GP has deemed it to be unsuitable).

If a referral is suitable, complete the Physiotherapy Referral Form and issue the Physiotherapy Employee Declaration Form to the employee as early as possible.  You should keep the Employee Declaration Form and forward the Referral form to Personnel Services at physiotherapy@southlanarkshire.gov.uk. Please forward the referral form as a Word document attachment and not as a PDF or hard copy.  This is because the forms are encrypted before being forwarded to Physicare.

Remember, an employee doesn’t need to be absent before a referral can be made, as support is available for employees who are at work to prevent periods of sickness absence.

Following discussion with the employee, you must enter the absence details into Oracle Fusion.  Timely entry of absence information ensures that the employee will not be overpaid.

When the employee is ready to return to work you should enter the absence end date in Oracle Fusion and if relevant upload the Attendance Support Meeting outcome letter.