In a situation where a person on work-related stress leave is asked to contact the employer but refuses to do so because they are too upset, but offers to get in touch in a few weeks’ time, what should the employer do?

For the purposes of responding to this question, we assume that the employee in question is providing medical certificates which state that the reason for his/her absence is work place stress. 

Provided the period of absence is not significant, and provided that there is no urgent business need to contact the employee, the employer should refrain from contacting the employee if he/she is on certified sick leave for work place stress, and has requested reasonable time to recover.

Thereafter, if the employee has been on leave for two/three weeks, the employer should refer the employee to its occupational health specialist to obtain an opinion on (a) the nature of the employee’s illness;