Dealing with sick employees

When dealing with an employee on sick leave, an employer has to follow due process.

As an employer, it pays not to let situations drift over sick leave. Deal
with any absence in a timely manner and use a fair and careful process. In this
way, employers can hopefully avoid long-term absences and ensure they are
working pro- actively with ill employees to either encourage a return to work or
end employment in a fair way.

If decisions are arbitrary, the employer will fall foul of the law.