Occupational Health Reports Employee Rights UK

What Not to Say to Occupational Health:

Occupational Health Employee Rights UK.

This webpage outlines the steps you should take if your employer refers you to occupational health and seeks an occupational health report.

This webpage was last updated 7.7.26.

Read This First!

Can I refuse to attend a sickness absence meeting?

My wife Amy and I have created this webpage to inform you of the steps you should take if you are invited by your employer to attend a sickness absence meeting or where your employer wants you to attend a keeping in touch meeting (KIT) day during your sickness absence from work. Please visit our attendance sickness absence meeting webpage to be better informed of your employee rights if you are being asked to attend a sickness absence meeting.

Can I refuse an occupational health assessment?

The question is can I refuse an occupational health assessment? The answer is yes, you can refuse an occupational health assessment.

In order for your employer to have you assessed by occupational health, your employer needs to obtain your consent under the auspices of The Access to Medical Reports Act 1988.

If you do not agree or give your consent to be assessed by occupational health, then your employer cannot force you to be assessed by occupational health.

However, your contract of employment may stipulate that you must be assessed by occupational health if your employer requests an occupational health assessment. If this is the case, you would need to agree to being assessed by occupational health, otherwise you run the risk of being in breach of your contract of employment.

That said, if you are contractually obliged to be assessed by occupational health, once you receive the occupational health report, you do not have to give your consent for the occupational health report to be released to your employer. As such, you can meet your employer’s contractual obligations and not risk being in breach of your contract of employment.

For the avoidance of doubt, if the occupational health report is not in your favour or if the occupational health report is not a true and accurate reflection of what was stated during the occupational health assessment, you are completely within your rights to refuse occupational health to release the occupational health report to your employer.

How long can you be off sick before you need a sick note?

Self Certification form / Self cert sick note / Self certification sick note:

The question is, how long can you be off sick before you need a sick note? The answer is 7 days.

You can self-certify as ‘unfit to work’ for 7 calendar days before you will need to furnish your employer with a sick note.

However, during your sickness absence, it is incumbent upon you to comply with your employer’s sickness absence procedures. When submitting a self certification sick note we would suggest reviewing your employers sickness absence procedures in your contract of employment.

Self certification form can be done via email to your employer. Again, when submitting a self certification form via email, make sure you follow your employer’s sickness absence procedures.

When submitting a sick note for work, we would suggest you outline your reasons for self certifying both verbally and via email to the HR Department and/or your manager depending on your employer’s sickness absence policy for self cert sick note.

Disability-related sick leave and disability-related sickness absence:

If you have a physical or mental impairment (check here) then your sickness absence from work should be disregarded as a reasonable adjustment.

In this regard, I would suggest your refer your employer to The Statutory Code of Practice on Employment 2011 as follows:

Chapter 17 Paragraph 6.16:

“Sickness and absence from work may be governed by contractual terms and conditions and/or may be the subject of non-contractual practices and procedures. Regardless of the nature of these policies, it is important to ensure that they are non-discriminatory in design, and applied to workers who are sick or absent for whatever reason without discrimination of any kind. This is particularly important when a policy has discretionary elements such as decisions about stopping sick pay or commencing attendance management procedures.”

Chapter 17 Paragraph 6.20:

“Employers are not automatically obliged to disregard all disability-related sickness absences, but they must disregard some or all of the absences by way of an adjustment if this is reasonable. If an employer takes action against a disabled worker for disability-related sickness absence, this may amount to discrimination arising from disability (see Chapter 5).”

If your employer omits to amend the sickness absence trigger point and you have a physical or mental impairment, reach out to Amy & I – myrightsuk@protonmail.com

Can occupational health sign you off work?

The question is can occupational health sign you off work? The answer is yes, occupational health can state within the occupational health report that you are unfit for work.

In the authority of Kapfunde v Abbey National and Daniel [1998] IRLR 583 (CA), the Court of Appeal held that the occupational health doctors / nurses ‘duty of care’ is to the employer, not to you as the employee.

However, your own GP’s ‘duty of care’ is to you.

Therefore, if you are signed off from work by occupational health and disagree with the occupational health report, you can consult your own GP regarding your fitness to work and attend work.

For example, your own GP (or occupational health) may suggest you can return to work with reasonable adjustments.

What to say to occupational health about stress:

The question is what to say to occupational health about stress? The answer is, be honest and outline to occupational health how work-related stressors have (and are) adversely affecting and impacting upon your physical and psychological health and wellbeing.

Occupational health may ask you to undertake a stress test called a PHQ9 or GAD7.

These questionnaires are to gather information about how stressed and anxious you actually are.

If you want to get signed off from work as ‘unfit to work’ by occupational health, then you want to tick the boxes in the far right column where it says ‘nearly every day’.

If you don’t want to be signed off from work as ‘unfit to work’ by occupational health, then tick the lefthand boxes.

As for the question on the PHQ9 where it asks you – “Thoughts that you would be better off dead or of hurting yourself in some way” answer ‘no’, otherwise you could very likely be sectioned under The Mental Health Act.

What to say to occupational health about anxiety:

The question is what to say to occupational health about anxiety? The answer is – just be honest.

If you are feeling anxious, stressed, distressed, or depressed, tell occupational health this is how you feel, and more importantly, the reason why you feel anxious, stressed, distressed, or depressed.

If parameters at work such as bullying, harassment, or discrimination are making you feel anxious and depressed about work, then make sure you inform occupational health this is how you are feeling.

If you are being subjected to bullying, harassment or discrimination, you may want to raise a letter of grievance to alert your employer about what is happening to you.

Occupational health assessment work / Occupational health assessment what to expect:

The question is Occupational health assessment what to expect? The answer is that most occupational health reports are usually fair.

However, as stated above, the occupational health doctor / nurses ‘duty of care’ is not to you as the employee, but rather to your employer.

My wife Amy and I are employment consultants with 26 years combined experience helping employees like you with workplace disputes. During this time, we have seen many occupational health reports, which are completely biased in the employer’s favour.

To this end, we suggest that when being assessed by occupational health, that you inform the occupational health doctor / nurse that you are recording the assessment. If occupational health object to you recording the occupational health assessment, ask them why?

Put shortly, why would an honest occupational health doctor or nurse object to you recording information about your own health and wellbeing?

Therefore, if occupational health object to your recording the occupational health assessment, I would say this is a red flag. On the balance of probabilities, if occupational health object to your recording the occupational health assessment, chances are the occupational health report is a bought and paid for opinion by your employer.

Firstly, if occupational health object to you recording the occupational health assessment, I would challenge occupational health and ask them why they are objecting (or why they would object) to you recording information about your own medical conditions.

Secondly, I would say that as a ‘service provider’ and in accordance with section 55 of The Equality Act 2010, that occupational health make a ‘reasonable adjustment’ to allow you to record the occupational health assessment. If occupational health refuse this adjustment, then you can complain to their governing body. You can also complain to your employer that occupational health refused to make a reasonable adjustment for you, and canceled the occupational health assessment. This way, you are putting the onus on occupational health for acting unreasonably.

Thirdly, if it were me, if occupational health object to you recording the occupational health assessment, I would be inclined to inform the occupational health doctor or nurse that if the occupational health report is not a true and accurate reflection of the occupational health assessment, and furthermore, that if the occupational health report leads to your employer or HR Department discriminating against you because of a disability you have, that you will be coerced to adjoin occupational health to any complaints you may bring in the Employment Tribunal.

Making the above statement will do one of two things; either, the occupational health doctor or nurse will refuse to assess you, or the occupational health report will no longer be a bought and paid for opinion.

Put shortly, the occupational health doctor or nurse is not going to risk you reporting them to the General Medical Council or suing them in the Employment Tribunal for the sake of a few hundred quid from your employer.

My wife Amy & I sometimes see that occupational health are not ‘neutral’. As in any profession, you always get a few bad apples.

It can sometimes be the case that occupational health will come across as being very amenable and appear to listen to everything you say during the occupational health assessment. However, when you get the occupational health report, the report will not tally up with what you have said during the occupational health assessment. If this is the case, you have the following options:

Refuse consent to release the occupational health report to your employer, which you are lawfully allowed to do under The Access to Medical Reports Act.
Inform occupational health that you believe the occupational health report is not a true and accurate reflection of the assessment. Do this in writing via email, not by telephone.
Write an email to occupational health disagreeing with the occupational health assessment, and outline the grounds and reasons why you disagree with the occupational health assessment and report.
Ask that a copy of your email is sent to your employer along with the occupational health report.

Whatever you do, do not allow the occupational health report to be released to your employer without undertaking one or more of the above steps. If you are not sure what to do if you disagree with an occupational health report, email us – myrightsuk@protonmail.com

Notwithstanding, do not be pressured to release the occupational health report to your employer at the end of the occupational health assessment. Sometimes occupational health will type up the report as they are undertaking the occupational health assessment and ask you to sign the report before you leave occupational health. Do not do this. Instead, ask for the occupational health report to be sent to you via email and inform the occupational health doctor / nurse that they must not send the occupational health report to your employer, without you written consent.

What questions are asked at an occupational health assessment / Occupational health telephone assessment questions:

The question is, what questions are asked at an occupational health assessment?

The answer is that you do not agree to being assessed by occupational health, until such time as your employer has sent you either (1) a copy of the referral, which your employer has made to occupational health in advance of the occupational health assessment being undertaken; or (2) your employer has provided you with a list of the specific questions, which your employer wants occupational health to answer, in advance of the occupational health assessment being undertaken.

For example, in order for you employer to ask you to be assessed by occupational health, your employer must first obtain your consent in accordance with The Access to Medical Reports Act. Therefore, if your employer has asked you to be assessed by occupational health, below is an email, which you can send to your employer in advance of the occupational health assessment:

Dear Sirs,

I understand my employer seeks my consent under the auspices of The Access to Medical Reports Act to be assessed by occupational health. Of course, I cannot reasonably be expected to provide my consent without first having sight of the specific questions, which my employer wants occupational health to answer. To this end, before agreeing to being assessed by occupational health, I will need to agree the specific questions, which my employer wants occupational health to answer. Therefore, I require sight of the specific questions, which my employer wants occupational health to answer in advance of an assessment by occupational health. Should I be amenable to the specific questions (as proposed by my employer), then I will give my consent under the Access to Medical Reports Act to being assessed by occupational health. It may be that we have to jointly agree the questions to occupational health to answer.

Yours faithfully,

This way, you will have advance sight of the specific questions, which your employer wants occupational health to answer before agreeing to being assessed by occupational health.

Below is a list of questions, which your employer will likely want occupational health to answer:

What is the cause of your sickness absence?
How long are you likely to be off from work?
Do you need reasonable adjustments?
Is The Equality Act 2010 likely to apply?
What can your employer do to accommodate your return to work?
Are you fit to attend sickness absence meetings?

Employee rights occupational health UK – fitness to attend capability and disciplinary meetings:

The question is you want to know your employee rights regarding your fitness to attend capability and disciplinary meetings? The answer is as already outlined in the above paragraphs.

Do not agree to being assessed by occupational health until your employer has sent you the specific questions, which your employer wants occupational health to answer about your fitness to attend capability and disciplinary meetings.

Once you have received those questions, email Amy & I at myrightsuk@protonmail.com so we can arrange a telephone consultation to assist you in the next steps.

If Amy & I were still employed, (thank God we are not), and our employers wanted to assess our fitness to attend capability, disciplinary, suspension, performance improvement plan meetings, these are the steps, which we would take:

Pre-empt the occupational health assessment and get an appointment with your GP asap i.e., before you agree to being assessed by occupational health.
Explain to your GP how attending a face to face capability or disciplinary meeting (or via video link) would put you in a heightened state of anxiety, which would affect your ability to answer any questions, which you are asked during the capability or disciplinary meeting in a meaningful way.
Ask for (and offer to pay your GP) for a letter to say that you are too stressed to attend a capability or disciplinary meeting, but in the alternative, you would be amenable to having any questions sent to you regarding your alleged conduct via written form.
Explain to your GP that undertaking the capability or disciplinary procedures via written form will allow you the breathing room to express what you want to say without feeling like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a car.
Explain to your GP that undertaking the capability or disciplinary procedures via written form will ameliorate the stress, anxiety, and distress of attending a face to face capability or disciplinary meeting.
If your GP does not agree to this, arrange to pay for a private doctor to write you a letter.
When consulting your GP burst into tears. If your GP is not buying what you are saying then crying and showing visible signs of distress caused by work-related stress will trigger your GP’s ‘duty of care’ to you.
Get in touch with Amy or myself 07775943414 (9-5) UK time or email us – myrightsuk@protonmail.com so we can arrange a consultation.

Can occupational health get me fired / Can occupational health get you sacked?

The question is, can occupational health get you fired or can occupational health get you sacked? The answer is yes.

The occupational health report may suggest ill-health retirement on grounds of ill-health capability.

In accordance with s.98 of The Employment Rights Act 1996, sacking an employee on grounds of ill-health capability is permissible:

“Capability, in relation to an employee, means his capability assessed by reference to skill, aptitude, health or any other physical or mental quality”

Of course, if occupational health does suggest to your employer sacking you, then under the auspices of The Access to Medical Reports Act, you can refuse occupational health sending the OH Report to your employer!

As such, you have complete control over whether or not allow the occupational health report to be sent to your employer.

You could even threaten to sue occupational health if you disagree with the occupational health report. You could tell occupational health that by making the recommendation to sack you on grounds of ill-health capability or ill-health retirement, that you will adjoin the occupational health doctor or nurse as an additional named respondent in any claims, which you may bring in the Employment Tribunal.

Thus, if you are concerned about being sacked by occupational health, then I would suggest your email Amy and I to arrange a telephone consultation at myrightsuk@protonmail.com.

Amy & I charge £35 for an initial telephone consultation up to one hour, and £50 an hour thereafter.

How long can you be on sick leave before dismissal uk? / How long can you be off sick before you get sacked?

The question is how long can you be on sick leave before dismissal uk and how long can you be off sick before you get sacked? The answer all depends on the size, scope, and resources of your employer.

Put shortly, if you work for a large employer let’s say like Tesco, the employer will have the resources to ameliorate the impact caused by your sickness absence. In circumstances like this, you would not usually be sacked until you have been off from work for a period of 12 months.

Notwithstanding, you would usually only be sacked once your employer has sought the advice of occupational health, and furthermore, your employer has established the likelihood of your return to work with occupational health.

The consequences of an employer sacking an employee on sick leave, without first obtaining up to date occupational health advice, is a no-no.

The Employment Tribunal has very much found that an employer who fails to obtain up to date occupational health advice before sacking an employee will likely lead to a claim for ‘unfair dismissal’. See S v A 2201874/2018 at paragraph 187:

“We have also, however, been mindful of the decision in O’Brien v Bolton St Catherine’s Academy [2017] EWCA Civ 145. The Court of Appeal held that an employment tribunal was entitled, on the facts in that case, to hold that a dismissal was unfair (and disproportionate) notwithstanding that the claimant had been absent for 15 months. In that case, described by the Court of Appeal as near the borderline, the tribunal found that, as there was some medical evidence presented at the appeal stage that the employee might be fit to return to work immediately, it was within the range of reasonable responses for the employer to have waited a little longer before making a final decision to enable a further medical assessment by its own occupational health advisers.”

However, if you work for a smaller employer, who does not have the resources to obviate the impact caused by your sickness absence, the period of dismissal could be 3-6 months.

Don’t forget, it amounts to disability discrimination if your employer omits to disregard disability-related sickness absence.

Each of the following can be regarded as a ‘disability’:

Agoraphobia: Mental Impairment

Arthritis: Physical Impairment

Asthma: Physical impairment

Autism or Autistic Spectrum Disorder: Mental impairment

Back Impairment: Physical Impairment

Cancer:

Cerebral Palsy: Physical Impairment

Depression: Mental Impairment

Diabetes: Physical Impairment

Disfigurement: Both

Dyslexia: Mental Impairment

Epilepsy: Physical Impairment

Hearing Impairment: Physical Impairment

Heart Impairment: Physical Impairment

HIV/AIDS

Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Physical Impairment

Learning Disability/Difficulties: Mental Impairment

M.E or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Both

Mental Health Issues / Mental Impairments: = Manic Depression, Bi-Polar Affective Disorder, Schizophrenia, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Paranoid Personality Disorder, Panic Attacks.

Migraine: Physical Impairment

Mobility Impairment: Physical Impairment

Multiple Sclerosis:

RSI: Physical Impairment

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) Both

Shoulder, Arm, Hand Impairment: Physical Impairment

Visual Impairment: Physical Impairment

If you are not sure if your sickness absence is ‘disability-related’ email Amy & I at myrightsuk@protonmail.com to arrange a telephone consultation.

Can occupational health overrule gp sick note?

The question is can occupational health overrule gp sick note? The answer to the questions is as follows:

Your own GP’s ‘duty of care’ is to you.
However, the occupational health doctors ‘duty of care’ is to your employer. See Kapfunde v Abbey National and Daniel[1998] IRLR 583 (CA).
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has stated that an employer can put “considerable weight” behind what the occupational health reports says, as held in the authority of Kelly v Royal Mail Group Ltd UKEAT/0262/18/RN (see paragraph 61).

The answer to the question is – it really does depend on the latest medical evidence and advice, which your employer is in receipt of.

For example, if the occupational health report or occupational health advice is received after a GP sick note, then the employer can generally assume that the occupational health advice is more up to date.

However, if your GP sick note is received by your employer after the occupational health report or occupational health advice, then your GP sick note would be the latest medical evidence.

In this regard, the employer should not go behind what the GP sick note says, as held in the authority of Merseyrail Electrics 2002 Ltd v Taylor UKEAT/0162/07 at paragraph 16, whereas the Employment Appeal Tribunal held as follows:

“The Court of Appeal made observations on the significance of a medical certificate, but in the absence of any contradictory medical evidence, the thrust of the decision is that in that case a tribunal should not go behind what appears on the face of the medical certificate. It was not open, once that medical certificate had come in, for the Respondent to maintain any doubt as to the reason for absence in the absence of any contradictory medical evidence.”

Thus, the most up to date medical advice is what the employer can usually rely upon.

It would, in my humble opinion, be a very risky move for occupational health to overrule a GP sick note, as the occupational health doctor or nurse will not have access to the same level of medical information, which your GP surgery holds on you. Therefore, unless you give consent for occupational health to access your medical records held by your GP, the occupational health department would be at risk of litigation for failing to act with ‘due diligence’.

Disagree with occupational health report?

The question is what to do if you disagree with occupational health report? The answers is you could do any of the following:

Do not give your permission for the occupational health practitioner to release the occupational health report to your employer. Make sure you do this by email.
Write to occupational health (via email) outlining why you disagree with the occupational health report.
Ask occupational health via email to amend the occupational health report. Occupational health may or may not agree to do so.
Put occupational health on notice, that if they send to the occupation health report to your employer, and that if the occupational health report leads to you being discriminated against by your employer, its management, or HR Department, that you will sue occupational health.
Inform occupational health that if they release the occupational health report to your employer without taking into consideration your observations, that you will report occupational health to the GMC or their governing body.
Outline your objections to the occupational health report in a letter (via email), and ask that a copy of your objections is sent at the same time as the occupational health report to your employer.
Show the occupational health report to your GP, and seek your GP’s advice.
Offer to pay your GP to write a medical report, which supersedes the occupational health report.

Do employers have to follow occupational health recommendations?

The question is do employers have to follow occupational health recommendations? The answer is no, the employer is not obligated to follow the recommendations as outlined within the occupational health report.

However, if your employer does not follow occupational health recommendations, your employer, its HR Department, and management, all put themselves at risk of litigation.

To this end, if your employer does not follow occupational health advice, you will need to raise a grievance letter.

My wife Amy and I are employment consultants with 26 years combined experience helping clients like you. If you want to arrange a telephone consultation to discuss your employment situation, then pick up the phone and call us! We work 7 days a week because we know all too well that your employment problems don’t just end on a Friday afternoon. So, go on, pick up the phone and call Sam and Amy on 07775943414 (9-5 UK). The cost of the initial is only £35 up to one hour, and £50 an hour thereafter.

This website has multiple webpages and templates for:

Visit our testimonials page.

Reach out to us at: myrightsuk@protonmail.com or call during working hours 9-5 on 07775943414.