- Conference
- 2019 National Black Members' Conference
- Date
- 12 September 2018
- Decision
- Carried
Black members continue to be disproportionately affected by ongoing austerity, attacks to public services and the welfare state which can, in turn, impact on their health.
Individuals can suffer from physical or mental health issues which make it difficult for them to work without reasonable adjustment being put in place. In recent years some of these are not being provided, or individuals are worried about their financial situation so continue to work when they are unwell which causes further problems to their health.
Managing sickness absence is a part of the employer’s general duty to secure the health, safety and welfare of their employees. It is in everyone’s interests to have as many workers as possible fit, healthy and in work. UNISON has a key role to play in negotiating sickness management policies and procedures which recognise that the key to managing absence is about creating healthy workplaces and supporting rather than punishing those with ill health and commit to ensure its absence procedures are compliant with its equality obligations under law and assist in creating an anti-discriminatory culture. Furthermore we must be proactive in negotiating reasonable adjustments alongside disabled members.
Where individuals continue to work, inspite of being unwell, this can result in them being diagnosed with a long term illness or suffering an accident or incident. When this occurs, depending on the employers policies, it may be possible to get ‘Early Retirement’ (may have a different name) before reaching the age of 55 yrs, although it must be recognised that not all members will be fortunate enough to have this option.
Whether you would be able to do this will depend on your employer and their definition of what ill health might be. Normally, the usual definition is where “your physical or mental health is bad enough to stop you from carrying on working, or which seriously reduces the amount you can earn.”
This National Black Members Conferences calls on the National Black Members Committee:
1)To survey UNISON Black members to find out the numbers who work when sick because of the fear of losing their job or reducing their income;
2)To use Black Action and other UNISON communications to provide information on early retirement;
3)To look at what support and training is available for steward when negotiating sickness absence policies and representing members with issues under sickness policies.