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Ask the expert: Off sick but on Facebook

Posted by Adam Partington, Esther Smith in Employment law on Tue, 16/03/2010 - 09:58

One of our employees is on sick leave but still manages to go out drinking and update Facebook. Where do we stand? Adam Partington and Esther Smith advise.

The question: Off sick with work related stress - but seen out clubbing and has Facebook evidence of being out drinking.

I have a member of staff who has submitted a sick note for three weeks for work-related stress and I had been told by my other members of staff that she has been seen out in the nightclubs and had written all over Facebook that she no longer works for us.

I went on to Facebook and have seen that she has been out most nights drinking and has updated her status with things such as I don't work at ********* anymore etc etc. I want to invite her in for an investigation meeting. Is this right?

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Editor's Welcome

Hello! And welcome back as we enter 2012, with a busy year ahead of us all. With talk of double-dip recessions, a possible partial or even full break-up of the Eurozone and unemployment rates set to hit nearly 9%, topics such as organisational streamlining, staff resilience and talent management are likely to be on many an HR professional's lips over the next 12 months.

But to lighten the gloom here in the UK, we also have the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and its attendant public holidays to look forward to at the start of June. Followed by two weeks of Olympic Games from 27 July to 12 August and the Paralympics from 29 August to 9 September, each generating their own excitement, but also issues to work through for hard-pressed HR departments trying to sort out the multifarious staffing issues in advance.

So with an interesting but challenging year to come, HRZone promises to be with you, supporting you all the way and providing our usual insightful blend of news, analysis, community blogs and expert comment to help you sort the wheat from the chaff. As ever, we love to hear from you too so feel free to either post your words of wisdom to our blog section yourself or, in the case of longer, more in-depth ‘expert voice’ articles, drop me a line with any ideas to cath.everett@siftmedia.co.uk.....

Cath Everett

HRZone Editor

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