Increasingly, employees at the nursery are signed off sick for mental health issues. Absences are dealt with under the usual procedures. Are there any other obligations to consider?
Employers have mental health related duties under the Equality Act 2010 and health and safety legislation. There is also a risk of personal injury claims where the work may cause or exacerbate the problem.
The act will protect a worker if they have a mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal activities. A mental health illness will be treated as having a substantial adverse effect if, but for treatment (such as anti-depressants), it would be likely to have that effect. Little evidence may be required to come to the conclusion that a person would be likely to be suffering from an impairment, but for the treatment.
The act prohibits disability discrimination and also means employers must make reasonable adjustments for disabled workers/job applicants. Health and safety legislation requires employers to assess the risk of ill-health arising from work activities, including mental health, and to take measures to control that risk.
Successful reasonable adjustments help employees to stay in work. Typically, they involve the adjustment of workplace relationships and organisation – a worker’s duties, work location, hours of work, breaks, how they are supervised. Being guided by the worker with the mental health problem and expert medical opinion, where appropriate, is important.
Where the nursery has made a non-contractual payment in lieu of notice when an employee leaves, it has been paid tax-free. I’ve heard there will be changes in April next year that may change this. Is this correct?
Draft legislation aims to simplify the taxation of termination payments from 6 April 2018. The differing tax treatment that currently applies to contractual and non-contractual payments in lieu of notice will be removed.
The key principle is that, with limited exceptions, any termination payment made to an employee who has not worked their full notice period (or otherwise received a fully taxable contractual payment in lieu of notice) will be re-characterised as fully taxable and subject to NI contributions. Only the amount of the termination payment in excess of basic pay for the unworked notice period will benefi t from tax exemption provisions.