If a person is out of work on depression, fails to keep in touch with employer, can the employer force the issue - how do you go about this?

As with the failure to attend an OH meeting, a failure to notify and keep an employer updated during a long term absence may affect an employee’s entitlement to continue to receive sick pay. These situations by their nature tend to be very fact specific. Much will depend on the level of the employee, the exact nature and extent of the illness, whether they are expected to ever return to work, whether they are receiving sick pay or covered by a permanent health insurance (PHI) scheme. An employer can certainly impose conditions in a sick pay scheme and if those conditions are not satisfied it can examine withdrawing the benefit.

More generally, thought should be given by an employer on what