Employee Off Sick During a Disciplinary? What to Do

The short answer: Don't press on regardless, and don't quietly drop it either.  When an employee is signed off sick partway through a disciplinary, the process pauses but it doesn't disappear.  Your job is to handle it fairly and at a reasonable pace: get medical guidance on whether they're well enough to take part, offer sensible adjustments, and keep things moving without rushing.  Get that balance right and you stay on solid ground.  Get it wrong in either direction and you hand them a tribunal claim.

It's one of the most common curveballs an employer faces and one of the easiest to fumble because the natural reactions (push it through, or let it quietly die) are both the wrong ones.  Here's how to handle it properly.

 

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At a glance

• Does sickness stop the disciplinary? It pauses it. It doesn't cancel it and it isn't a permanent shield.
• Can you just carry on? Not automatically. You need to act reasonably and get medical input first.
• Suspicious about the timing? Understandable - but treat the fit note as genuine unless you have real evidence otherwise.
• Your best move: seek an occupational health or GP opinion on whether they're well enough to take part, and what would help.
• The big risk: rushing ahead in their absence, or dragging it out with no end, both point straight at an unfair dismissal claim.

First, the honest bit: yes, the timing looks suspicious

Let's say the thing you're actually thinking. You started a disciplinary, and within days a fit note appeared citing stress or anxiety. It's hard not to conclude the sickness is convenient - a way to stall the process or avoid the hearing altogether.

You might even be right. But here's the trap: acting on that suspicion, without evidence, is exactly how a defensible disciplinary becomes an indefensible one. A fit note is medical evidence. If you treat it with visible scepticism - accusing the employee of faking, or ploughing ahead to “call their bluff” - a tribunal won't be looking at whether they were really ill. It'll be looking at whether you behaved reasonably. And you won't have.

The good news: you don't have to choose between being a pushover and being reckless. There's a proper way through that protects your process whether the sickness is genuine or tactical - and it works the same either way.

Can you continue a disciplinary while someone's signed off?

Sometimes, yes - but not on autopilot. Being signed off sick doesn't automatically freeze a disciplinary forever, and it doesn't automatically entitle you to carry on without them. What it does is raise the bar on acting reasonably. Before you take another step, you need to understand whether the person is well enough to take part, and what would help them do so. That usually means getting a medical view, which we come to below.

Why you can't just push on (and can't just drop it)

Two opposite instincts, both wrong.

Pushing on regardless - holding the hearing in their absence because you're annoyed or suspicious - risks a finding that you denied them a fair chance to respond. That's textbook unfair dismissal territory, and it's the most common way employers lose cases they'd otherwise have won.

Quietly dropping it - letting the disciplinary fade away because it's got awkward - feels safer but isn't. It undermines your ability to deal with the original issue, sends a signal to the rest of your team, and can leave a genuine problem unresolved. Unreasonable delay is itself something a tribunal will criticise.

The right path runs between the two: pause, get medical guidance, make adjustments, and move forward fairly.

What to do, step by step

• Acknowledge the sickness properly. Treat the fit note as genuine. Confirm you've received it and that you want to deal with the process in a way that's fair to them.
• Pause the process - briefly and openly. Put the hearing on hold rather than cancelling it. Tell the employee the process remains open and you'll pick it up once you understand their situation.
• Seek a medical opinion. With their consent, get an occupational health or GP report on whether they're well enough to take part and what adjustments would help. This is the single most useful thing you can do.
• Offer reasonable adjustments. Depending on the advice: a hearing at home with video, or a neutral venue, written questions and answers instead of a meeting, a longer timescale, or allowing a companion to speak on their behalf.
• Keep in reasonable contact. Stay in touch without pestering. Silence from you can look like you've either given up or gone cold; over-contact can look like pressure. Aim for calm and periodic.
• Keep records of everything. Every letter, every offer of an adjustment, every response. If it isn't written down, a tribunal treats it as if it never happened.
• Only consider proceeding in absence as a genuine last resort. And take advice before you do - see below.

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Getting a medical opinion - your most useful move

If you take one thing from this article, make it this. A medical opinion - usually via occupational health, sometimes via the employee's GP with their consent - answers the exact question you're stuck on: is this person well enough to take part in the process, and if not yet, what would help and when might they be?

It does three things at once. It protects the employee, so you're clearly acting fairly. It protects you, because you're now making decisions on medical advice rather than on a hunch. And, it resolves the “is this genuine?” question far more effectively than any amount of suspicion - because if someone is signed off with stress but the medical view is that they can take part with adjustments, the process moves forward on a proper footing.

Can you ever hold the hearing without them?

Yes - but only as a genuine last resort, and only after you've made real, documented efforts to accommodate them. If, over a reasonable period and despite adjustments, an employee remains unable or simply unwilling to engage, it may become reasonable to proceed in their absence, on the papers, allowing them to make written representations.

This is the highest-risk moment in the whole process, and it's where well-meaning employers most often trip into a claim. The line between “we gave them every fair chance” and “we denied them a fair hearing” is genuinely fine, and it depends on the specifics. Take advice before you take this step - it's exactly the kind of judgement call that's cheap to get right and very expensive to get wrong.

Pay, timing and how long this can go on

Do you still pay them?

If they're genuinely off sick, normal sick pay rules apply - contractual sick pay if their contract provides it, otherwise Statutory Sick Pay if they qualify. Don't be tempted to withhold sick pay to pressure someone back into the process. That's an unlawful deduction and it turns a disciplinary problem into a wages claim on top.

How long can it drag on?

There's no fixed limit, but “indefinitely” isn't the answer either. Being signed off is not a permanent shield. You're expected to keep the process moving at a reasonable pace, with medical input, and to make proportionate decisions if someone can't or won't engage over a long period. The watchword throughout is reasonableness - not speed, not stalling.

The mistakes that turn this into an unfair dismissal claim

• Calling their bluff. Pushing ahead to “prove” the sickness is fake, without medical evidence.
• Holding the hearing in their absence too soon. Before you've genuinely tried to accommodate them.
• Letting it drift. No contact, no plan, no end - until everyone's forgotten where it got to.
• Treating them coldly. Anything that looks like punishing them for being off sick can add a separate claim.
• Skipping the medical opinion. Making judgement calls about someone's health on a hunch rather than advice.
• No paper trail. Not documenting the offers and adjustments that prove you acted fairly.

 

When to get help

This is one of the most tricky situations in HR, because it turns on judgement rather than a checklist. It's worth picking up the phone when:

• you're being told the sickness is stress or anxiety linked to the disciplinary itself
• you're weighing up whether to proceed in the employee's absence
• the underlying disciplinary is serious, or the person is senior
• there's any hint of a disability, discrimination or whistleblowing angle
• it's been going on for weeks and you can't see how it ends

Getting the balance right - fair, but not frozen - is exactly the kind of call that benefits from someone who's handled it many times before.

 

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Frequently asked questions

Can you continue a disciplinary if the employee is signed off sick?

Sometimes, but not automatically. You can't simply press on regardless, and you can't abandon the process either. Act reasonably: get medical guidance on whether the employee is well enough to take part, consider adjustments such as written submissions or a home or neutral venue, and only proceed in their absence as a last resort where there's clear evidence they're avoiding a fair process.

What if I think the sick note is just to avoid the disciplinary?

It's a common suspicion, but acting on it without evidence is where employers get into trouble. A fit note is medical evidence and you should treat it as genuine unless you have solid grounds to question it. The right response is to follow a fair process and gather medical guidance, not to accuse the employee or push ahead in a way a tribunal would see as unfair.

Can I get a medical opinion on whether the employee can attend?

Yes, and you usually should. With the employee's consent you can seek an occupational health or GP report on whether they're well enough to take part and what adjustments would help. This protects both the employee and the fairness of your process.

Can I hold a disciplinary hearing without the employee being there?

Only as a genuine last resort, and only after real efforts to accommodate them. If someone remains unable or unwilling to engage over a reasonable period despite adjustments, you may be able to proceed in their absence - but take advice first, because getting this wrong is a common route to an unfair dismissal claim.

Does going off sick pause the disciplinary indefinitely?

No. Being signed off doesn't give an employee a permanent shield. It means you must handle the process fairly and at a reasonable pace, with medical input, rather than either rushing it through or letting it drift with no end in sight. Unreasonable delay is itself a risk.

Should the employee be paid during this time?

If they're genuinely off sick, normal sick pay rules apply: contractual sick pay if their contract provides it, otherwise Statutory Sick Pay if they qualify. You shouldn't withhold sick pay as a way of pressuring someone back into the disciplinary process.

Stuck with a stalled disciplinary right now?

A sick note mid-disciplinary is one of those problems that feels like it has no good move - push on and you look unfair, pause and you feel powerless. There is a right way through, and it's more straightforward than it looks once someone's shown you the path.

That's what we do. Plain-English HR support for SME owners and leaders - no jargon, no scare tactics - so you can deal with the messy, human situations confidently and stay on the right side of the law.

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