Is she contractually obliged to attend an OH appointment? If not, then you can only go off the information you have and follow your absence procedure. Have you explained that it is a supportive measure and that she will have the opportunity to see the report before you do? Although she doesn't see it as necessary, have you asked if she has any other worries about attending an OH appointment?

At the moment you only know that she has sporadic absences related to a number of different things? I would just follow your procedure and remind her that you can only use the information you have and decisions will be made on the information to hand (plus a reminder that the OH is a supportive measure).

Would she perhaps be open to you requesting a GP report?

Is she contractually obliged to attend an OH appointment?  If not, then you can only go off the information you have and follow your absence procedure.   Have you explained that it is a supportive measure and that she will have the opportunity to see the report before you do? Although she doesn't see it as necessary, have you asked if she has any other worries about attending an OH appointment?

At the moment you only know that she has sporadic absences related to a number of different things?  I would just follow your procedure and remind her that you can only use the information you have and decisions will be made on the information to hand (plus a reminder that the OH is a supportive measure).

Would she perhaps be open to you requesting a GP report?

In my view this is a reasonable request from an employer trying to comply with what the laws expects a company to do when the issue may be medical and the law doesn't expect employers to make decisions without medical advice.

That said, you can't force her. So what I always did was tell her why you want her to go, and explain that if she refuses then you will have to make decisions without medical opinion and that might not be to her advantage.

And a jolly good welcome to our communities too!

In reply to Jolene:

Hi Jolene,

No - this is a SME and had no HR department prior to my joining, the contractual changes regarding occupation health were bought in at the beginning of this year. The employee did not accept the changes to her contract.

We have explained all the benefits of occupation health, we have provided a fact sheet and proposed it in an extremely positive light. She has explicitly stated that she does not feel it is necessary and will not provide a GP report.

I remember reading about a claim of unfair dismissal where the employee had refused to cooperate with the employer and they had to take the decision on the limited information they had. One of the things they did was google the medical conditions. That might sound inadequate, but it was accepted as a genuine attempt by the employer to inform themselves before taking action and the claim was dismissed. Unfortunately, I can’t remember any names.

I suggest you also do your own research (reputable sites only such as NHS) and then call her to a meeting to discuss her absence history and the information you have managed to piece together. I would also try sending the absence history to your OH assessor and asking for any observations they can make In theory. If the response is that they cannot comment, that goes into your bundle of documents demonstrating that you took all reasonable steps to investigate.

I suspect the employee thinks that she has foiled you by her refusal to cooperate and you need to demonstrate that you will not back off from fair management of the situation. She needs to get the message that absences every week are not compatible with continuing employment and will be addressed. She may then agree to attend an OH appointment, but if she doesn’t you are proceeding in a reasonable manner.

In reply to Victoria:

Hi Victoria

When this type of situation arises there are limits to what a company can be reasonably expected to do, before it has to take a decision on how it will rectify the situation.

The preferred solution is usually to work with the person to help them address and solve a problem. However when people refuse to accept the help that is offered or, worse, refuse to recognise that there is a problem there is little that you can do to find a joint solution.

It's possibly time for someone she trusts to sit down and explain the realities of the situation.

• You are a company that needs work to be done for it to continue to operate
• Her absences are now at a level that cannot continue and a solution must be found
• You would prefer to find the solution with her, and would like specialist advice on the prognosis for her (as yet unclear) medical condition(s),
• Hopefully, this will help you to accomodate her medical problem and correct the situation in the interests of everyone

If she responds posiively, all well and good. If she dosn't the fallback solution is that she must be told 

• that with or without specialist advice you will need to act,
• that it is better to act with this advice than without it
• that if you cannot get the advice, because she refuses to cooperate, you will make a decision without it

Sometimes this will help focus minds and the situation can be moved foreward positively. If she remains resistant to cooperating, you must nonethless proceed with making a decision about how to put an end to the problem (which could involve dismissal)

Sorry to rain a little on your parade, but you need to assess if you have yet reached this stage, and then move forward

In reply to Victoria:

An employee cannot refuse to accept new terms and conditions if they stay in the employ of the company. Working under protest is not a legal concept. All you can do is resign and claim constructive dismissal, and the change would have to be a major breach of the employment contract for yan individual to succeed..

You do not have to put every expected duty of an employee in their contract. A reasonable request, cannot be reasonably refused. And if it was in their contract you can hardly 'make' someone visit OH.