Caoimhe Heery, Associate Solicitor of Ronan Daly Jermyn’s Employment Group addresses a query that was raised following Jennifer Cashman’s ‘How Do I Handle It?’ article last month on employee incapacity.

We have an employee who has been on long-term sick leave and wishes to return to work on Monday.  We are concerned about their fitness to return to normal duties and wish to delay their return.  Can we do this and if so do we need to pay them their normal salary? How do we handle it?

The above is a common problem for employers, in particular, where there has been underlying disputes as to reasonable accommodation and/or the employee’s fitness to return to work. The primary concern for