Returning to work (rehabilitation) - if you are an employer
If an employee is affected by an illness, support from managers and colleagues is essential for their return to work. It is extremely important that sickness absence is investigated as soon as possible and, where necessary, that suitable adjustments are made to the work to facilitate rehabilitation. It is the employer’s responsibility to adapt work and provide workplace rehabilitation as long as there is a term of employment. This is regulated by the Employment Protection Act (LAS), the Work Environment Act and the Swedish Social Insurance Code.
As department head/equivalent, you are responsible for providing adaptations and rehabilitation within or in connection to your own organisation. For more information about UU´s rehabilitationssystem Adato, permissions and log in.
Remember confidentiality prevails regarding information about an individual’s personal circumstances such as health etc.
As head of department/equivalent at Uppsala University you must:
- Initiate early contact and regularly keep in touch with your employee whilst they are on sick leave.
- Adapt work conditions to the best extent possible so the employee is able to work, for example by adapting tasks, working hours or workplace.
- For employees expected to have reduced work capacity for at least 60 days, devise a plan for returning to work (rehab plan) no later than day 30 from the start of the illness. In the system "Adato", you get support in the process.
- Maintain a dialogue with occupational health services regarding suitable measures and initiate the rehab meeting.
- Participate in a consolidation meeting with Försäkringskassan if called for.
If you need any advice and support regarding rehabilitation, heads of department/equivalent are to Contact your local HR as a first step. The Human Resources Division has HR specialists who work with healthy working life and act as support to operations-based HR and head of department/equivalent.
At Uppsala University, we follow this process for work with rehabilitation: Process map – Returning to work (rehabilitation)
Each link below will provide you with in-depth support for each phase of the rehabilitation process.
Here you will find information about what may be important to consider when talking to occupational health services, Rehabilitation with support from occupational health services.
If an employee appears to be sick but does not personally consider this to be the case
Leave because of a reduced capacity to work due to sickness is a workers’ right and therefore the employer cannot order an employee to go on leave because of sickness. In general, the employer can only urge the employee who appears to the employer to be ill to go on sick leave and go home so as not to infect others. If the employee does not comply with this request, the employer can order the employee to work remotely, if possible, receiving their usual pay. The employer can also temporarily suspend a person, by virtue of the right to direct work. The regulations on pay in this connection are given in Chapter 6, Section 10 of the General Agreements on Pay and Benefits
Manage/communicate information about illness
Information about employees’ health may be secret under Chapter 39, Section 2 of the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act if it can be assumed that it would harm the individual or someone close to them if the information were disclosed. Disclosure of information about an individual’s health therefore depends on individual assessment in each case. An employee can consent to the information being communicated at the workplace.
Contact
HR specialists at the Human Resources Division
Occupational health services
Försäkringskassan – returning to work (rehabilitation)
The Swedish Work Environment Authority: adaptations to work