Sending Sick Employees Home: A Manager’s Guide
This is a conversation many managers dread — asking a visibly unwell employee to leave. Handled well, it protects the rest of the team without making the employee feel singled out or penalised.
A practical approach
Do
Speak to them privately, reference the policy rather than personal judgement, and frame it as protecting them and their colleagues — not as a disciplinary matter.
Don’t
Diagnose their condition, make the conversation public, or leave the impression that leaving early will affect how they’re viewed.
This works best when the ground rules are already established in a written sick leave policy before the situation arises — that way, the conversation is about applying a known standard, not making an on-the-spot call.
A manager who handles this well — consistently, fairly, without stigma — is one employees trust more, not less. That trust compounds over time into the kind of workplace people want to stay in.
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