Staff on sick leave can visit pubs, judge rules
Employees on sick leave are able to go to the pub, a judge has ruled in an employment tribunal.
A tribunal in Newcastle was told staff can visit their local even if they’re off sick. Judge Andrea Pitt ruled that an employee was unfairly dismissed after he was seen drinking at a social club while off sick.
Colin Kane, a driver for a company that lays tarmac, reportedly called in sick one morning last March and was sacked after a colleague reported seeing him smoking and drinking in the afternoon.
The tribunal was told the company had launched disciplinary proceedings against Kane for dishonesty and breaching company rules.
Kane had reportedly admitted going to the social club for 15 minutes on one occasion and for half an hour on another. He was dismissed for gross misconduct but is now in line to receive damages.
The judge said the investigation into Kane’s behaviour was flawed and she upheld the claim of unfair dismisall.
She said the company’s rules did not ban staff from socialising while taking sick leave and said the company had “made a gross assumption, without evidence, [that] the claimant should not be at the social club because of the nature of his condition”.