Absence due to poor mental health

This is a complicated question because most general practitioners are not qualified to deal with serious mental illness problems. This area sits in the field of psychology and psychiatry, therefore one thing that might be appropriate to do, with the employee's agreement, is to seek a full medical report.

One of the questions that you should ask the doctor is whether they intend to refer the individual to somebody that is psychiatrically qualified or if the doctor happens to be so themself. It may also be that, given the potentially key nature of your employee's role, you might believe that they should be seen by a specialist to speed up the process. Given the length of the waiting lists within the health service, it might be appropriate to have the employee see a private specialist to reduce the amount of time it will take for a diagnosis to be issued, for which you will have to pay.

The referral has to be followed up and from it you will receive information as to the likelihood of a full or partial recovery. From the findings, either you or an occupational health expert must determine what adjustments, if any, you need to make within the employee's role to allow them to cope.

The second issue is in employing someone else to cover the role during the employee's absence: you can employ someone under these circumstances. Consider if you wish to hire a replacement as someone employed directly by you, in which case it would be prudent that the cover is for a fixed term (to provide cover while the job holder is away). You may know the actual length of the absence and therefore need to inform the new employee that their services will be required only up until this date. You might consider that it would be easier to obtain an individual through the services of an employment agency.

If it does turn out that your employee cannot cope with the role upon their return and if the issue is that of disability then you are required to make reasonable adjustments where possible. Try not to worry too much about the issue of disability because if they have been an employee for some time then you would be expected to look at whether or not you can vary the job in some way to enable them to carry on in the same role or if you should reassign some of their duties.

Make reasonable adjustments when removing duties from an employee, for example by building up those tasks that they can do to create a full, rounded role. Your occupational health expert should be consulted about this.

If your employee is unable to cope with the duties dealt with in their role and you cannot make adjustments then you are in a position to consider terminating their employment by reason of capability, in this instance ill health.

You would need to consider very carefully, as part of this process, what is in your contracts of employment, following your capability procedures very carefully and informing them of the right to appeal should you reach a decision with which he disagrees. This subject is of such a sensitive nature that you might wish to seek professional advice to avoid a potential tribunal.