We can all appreciate the joy England fans feel as they wake up from Wednesday night’s football victory.
Fans may already be fantasising about their weekend football celebrations, but employees would be wise to think twice about evading work to watch England’s final on Sunday or recover on Monday.
With the Semi finals, it was reported that 1 in 3 Brits planned to pull a sickie or make an excuse to catch the England game. With 51% of fans in London saying they would most likely skip work to be on time for the kickoff.
Do I have to let my employee have the time off to watch the match?
Some workplaces may try to accommodate a football-crazy workforce, but this is not a statutory right for employees.
Employees wishing to watch the game when they are scheduled to work should plan accordingly and make appropriate annual leave requests, to approve their absence.
Employees and workers are entitled to take holiday but an employer can refuse holiday requests or cancel leave, but they must give twice as much notice as the amount of leave requested.
For example, if a worker asks for 1-day leave, they would need to give 2 days notice.
Should I monitor my employee performance?
Employers can find that match days can affect attendance and productivity with absences, sickness, and lateness being among the biggest causes.
Whilst the majority of working-from-home employees are productive, there can be a few employees prone to using “mouse juggler”. These employees appear to be working when they are leaving their desks for hours at a time without detection.
With home working requiring mutual trust between the employee and employer, if there is cause for concern employer may wish to monitor attendance and home working when big upcoming fixtures are scheduled such as the Euros finals or the Olympics.
Sickness absences and investigations
If employees do call in sick, and the employer has a reasonable belief that the sickness absences may not be genuine. The employer can investigate and potentially take disciplinary action over the unauthorised absence.
If an employee does lie about a sickness absence for the purpose of getting time off work this action could potentially amount to gross misconduct, which could give employers the option to potentially dismiss an employee.
This is not an unusual employer response, as in 2020 an England fan was sacked after she called in sick to attend the Three Lions’ semi-final against Denmark at Wembley.
If an employer does have grounds to believe an employee’s sickness is not genuine it would be best to investigate the matter fully before taking disciplinary action, to avoid claims such as unfair dismissal.
Ahead of the important Sunday game, employers and employees would be wise to be familiar with their sickness absence reporting and holiday request procedures.
For football fans and employers, it is important to take a sensible approach to dealing with sickness absences, hopefully avoiding any Monday Morning tears.
If you need advice on managing employees in the workplace and how to handle sickness absence confidently and fairly, please contact us at 0333 888 1360 or complete the enquiry form and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
