Attendance Management – HR Guide
Introduction
This guide covers a range of information which includes:
- Time off work
- Managing sickness
- Annual leave
- Sick leave pay
- Guaranteed pay
- Special leave
- Working time
Time off work
Employees are entitled to a range of paid and unpaid time off during working hours i.e. any time when, in accordance with the Contract of Employment, an employee is required to be at work.
The right to time off with some form of payment is applicable in the following situations:
- For a pregnant employee to attend ante-natal care
- For an employee representative or candidate in an election in a redundancy situation to perform their duties
- For safety representatives and representatives of employee safety bodies to perform their duties
- For trade union representatives to perform certain trade union duties
- For a union learning representative to train and perform duties
- For employees under notice of redundancy to look for new employment or training
- For employee in active company approved holiday/leave status
- For a young person to attend study or training
The right to time off without any payment is applicable to the following situations:
- For public officials to perform certain public duties
- For trade union members to take part in certain trade union activities
- For employees to care for their dependants within the family
The extent of time off granted depends on the individual situation and is based in general on the requirement for the employer to act reasonably in considering requests of all types of time off.
Managing sickness
Statistics show that the total annual cost to Nigerian businesses of absence from work is about approximately N320,000 per employee. The vast majority of employers expect and accept a certain amount of absenteeism before deciding to take any action as a consequence.
Before an employer decides if and what action could be taken, the employee’s absence record should be reviewed, taking their personal details into account and comparing them to other employees across the business.
If on reviewing the data, the level of absence has dramatically increased or the reasons for the absence are unconnected or the employer can see no underlying reason connected to the employee’s employment for the periods of absence, or the absence record as a whole of the employee is unsatisfactory, an employer is entitled to consider the implementation of the Company Disciplinary Procedure.
If however, the absences are connected, employers are advised to obtain consent from the employee to contact their doctor and obtain a medical report. Once permission has been granted, the employer would then need to write to the doctor requesting a prognosis. This will enable an employer to gain information relating to any potential disability and by doing so to minimize the risk of a successful claim under the Disability Act.
On receiving a report from the Medical Professional, you should discuss the contents with an employment law adviser before deciding on what action to take. On all occasions, regardless of an employee’s length of service (and because of the risk of claims under the Disability Act) the employer should treat each individual circumstance with caution. If the underlying reason for absence is connected to the employee’s work, the employer should of course make every attempt to resolve the issue with the same considerations in mind.
Annual leave
The statutory written statement of main terms and conditions of employment must include confirmation of the amount of annual leave to which an employee is entitled. This amount will then become a contractual right.
The statutory statement should also include the conditions, if any, that apply to the taking of the holiday entitlement.
In the absence of any written confirmation of the holiday entitlement, a verbal commitment may however be relied upon by the employee.
The labor law stipulates that all employees are entitled after 12 months of service to the employer, to full pay of at least 6 working days.
Contracts of Employment can amend the holiday entitlement and specify fixed days that have to be taken as holiday. Such contracts cannot however provide for less holiday than the statutory minimum laid down by the regulations.
Sick leave pay
Employees are entitled be paid for at least 12 working days in a year during absence from work caused by temporary illness and certified by a registered medical practitioner. There is no qualifying period of service before sick pay is payable, However, the employee must have actually commenced working for the organization. The sick pay scheme is only open to full time employees and people holding elective offices for example, directors of companies.
Where sick pay is paid, there is no obligation upon employers to pay any additional company sick pay. However, where there is an amount of contractual sick pay agreed between employer and the employee, sick pay will form part of the total sickness payment of the employee’s normal wage or salary for the period of sickness. It is clearly inappropriate and unnecessary to pay sick pay in addition to a normal wage or salary for a period of sickness.
Guaranteed payment
Employees who are given no work on any day they would normally be required to work are entitled to a statutory payment i.e. a guarantee payment at the end of each period for which the contract is expressed to subsist.
An employer wishing to use a statutory lay off period must have either the contractual right or the custom and practice right to do so.
Certain categories of employment are excluded from the right to receive guarantee payments. These include anyone who has no normal working hours prescribed by a Contract of Employment, for example, some insurance agents and sales representatives;
Employees who have not been paid the guarantee payments to which they are entitled, may bring a complaint to an Employment Tribunal for a remedy.
Special leave
Employees are entitled to be allowed to attend to what may be described as family emergencies involving their dependants during working hours.
An employee is obligated to inform the employer why they need the time off and how long they are likely to away from work. They are also obligated to keep the employer regularly updated.
The amount of time off to be granted by the employer is that which is reasonable in the circumstances. There is currently no statutory right to be paid for the time off under this heading.
Working time
There is a range of obligations relating to the hours of work of employees and the rest breaks between periods of working time. There are provisions in the current legislation for the following areas:
The principal regulations for workers are:
- Limit on night working hours for women and young persons above 16 and below 21 years (7)
- The right for night workers to receive a health assessment
- A right to 11 hours rest each day between periods of work
- The right to one day off work in each week
- The right to a paid rest break of at least 1 hour where an adult worker works for more than six hours a day
- Time off for a meal may be substituted for the rest interval
- The right to at least 6 working days paid holiday each year
For non-workers, the above could be used as a benchmark, but ultimately, what should be adhered to are the contents of the contract of employment.