I have an employee who is about to have an operation and needs six weeks off to recover. They want to do some work at home after three weeks. Can they legally do this as I am under the impression that an employee cannot work while signed off?

There are several factors to consider with this situation. Firstly, you have not specified what type of operation the employee is having. If they are due to have a major operation or one that will have an impact on their job performance, returning to work early is not a viable option.

For example, if the employee is an accountant and is due to have some type of head surgery, they will clearly not be sufficiently recovered within three weeks to perform their job. If, however, this employee was to have surgery on their leg, they may be capable of performing their job to an acceptable standard after this period.

You should also consider what the nature of the job is and what the health & safety implications of the job are. If you expect a worker to return to your place of work and their job involves any manual labour or lifting, the fact they are not 100 per cent fit may impact on the safety of both themselves and the rest of the workforce.

If the employee wants to work from home, this may be a viable option due to technological advances. But you must conduct a health & safety risk assessment on their home first to make sure it is a safe working environment.

You should then check on your contracts of employment to see if they state an expressed term that prohibits staff from working when signed off sick. If this is the case, you must adhere to the clause and block the employee from returning early.

Ultimately, it will be down to the employee to decide if they are fit enough to return to work early. If they believe that they will be able to do part or their entire job after a three week recovery period, you may allow them to do so. It is worth meeting with them and re-iterating the point that you want the employee to return only when they are ready to do so and that if returning to work early will hamper their recovery in any way, it should not be done.

It is always worth seeking further advice in matters such as this, as specific rules may apply depending on the job and workplace.