We have an unlucky client/employee situation.
The employee has been on furlough and had just come back to work. They were cleaning in readiness for re-opening, and the employee falls off a ladder and breaks leg. The employee is therefore now off sick and unfit for work.
Can the employee be put back on furlough, or are they limited to SSP? We haven't found guidance that covers this unusual situation. HMRC helpline person says they weren't sure, but thought you could only furlough again if the new "sickness" was covid related.
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SSP - the employee is unable to work because of injury not because they have been furloughed. CJRS Direction 2 22nd May goes on to say that employees can't be furloughed until immediately after the end of the period of incapacity for work for which the Statutory Sick Pay is in payment or due to be paid (provided that the time of the end of that period of incapacity for work is determined by an agreement between the employer and employee). I hope the employer has dusted off their insurance policy.
Assuming there is no company sick pay (at full pay etc) then it is:
1) Lucky client - in that they will get all the SSP back and not have to contribute under the furlough easing (assuming this is a fairly long term sickness absence.
2) Unlucky employee - they aren't eligible for furlough so will presumably be taking an income hit.
3) Possibly unlucky client after all if, as suggested above, said employee decided to make a personal injury claim (depends if they were supposed to be up a ladder, trained in working 'at height' etc)
Why will they get all the SSP back? It is not Covid related and that would only give them two weeks' claw back anyway.
In normal times, would/could the employee have been given a desk-bound role in this situation?
I think it takes about 6 weeks for a broken bone to heal and, in many cases, after a couple of weeks, the employee could be brought back on 'reduced duties' depending on restricted mobility. In the current situation, those reduced duties may not be available hence the need for furloughing. Of course, the main point of furloughing is to avoid redundancies so you have to be a bit careful not to imply you would make someone redundant because they fell off a ladder, quite apart from the H&S issues (including RIDDOR which will certainly apply).
