They asked to be signed off with stress the day after I raised performance

26th August 2026

You sat down with someone on Tuesday and told them, carefully, that their work was not where it needed to be. On Wednesday a fit note arrived. Stress. Two weeks.

Most managers have the same two thoughts, in the same order. The timing is convenient. And then, quietly, have I done something wrong here.

Here is the useful part: what you privately think about the timing has almost no bearing on what you should do next. The steps are the same either way, and a tactical absence and a genuine one both end up in the same place. What sinks employers here is rarely the absence. It is what they do in the fortnight after it.

Take the fit note at face value

You do not get to second guess a fit note. A doctor has signed it, and for now that is the medical position. Record the absence, start sick pay, and do not tell anyone in the business that you find the timing interesting.

Two practical points. For the first seven days of absence nobody needs a fit note at all, and their own written confirmation is enough; a fit note is only required once the absence runs past a week (gov.uk). And sick pay works differently now from what most small employers remember. Since 6th April 2026 statutory sick pay is payable from the first full day of absence, the three waiting days are gone, and the lower earnings limit has been removed, so everybody qualifies (business.gov.uk).

You can ask why someone is off. You cannot demand a diagnosis. “Can you tell me anything about what is going on, and is anything at work making it worse?” is a fair question, and Acas is clear that where stress is caused by work the employer should find the cause and deal with it (Acas).

Pause the process, and put the pause in writing

People get this wrong in both directions. Some managers press on and schedule the review meeting anyway, which reads as pressure. Others let the whole thing quietly evaporate, then try to restart three months later and find the employee arguing that the concerns were plainly never serious.

Do neither. Pause it, and send a short email saying so. Something like: “I am putting the performance review on hold while you are unwell. Please focus on getting better. We will agree a date to pick it up when you are back, or once occupational health has advised.”

That email does a lot of work. It shows you responded to the illness rather than the inconvenience, it stops the clock without dropping the issue, and it is dated. If this is ever argued over, that record is most of your case.

Work out whether you are now in Equality Act territory

Stress is not automatically a disability. But a mental impairment counts as one under section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 where it has a substantial adverse effect on someone’s ability to do ordinary daily activities, and that effect has lasted or is likely to last twelve months or more. Anxiety and depression often clear that bar. A fortnight of stress usually does not. Three months of it might.

This matters before you know the answer, because if the person is disabled two duties bite. You have to make reasonable adjustments to remove any substantial disadvantage your normal way of doing things creates (section 20). And you must not treat someone unfavourably because of something arising from their disability unless you can justify it. Sickness absence is the textbook example of something arising, which is why absence triggers and warnings generate so many claims (Acas).

The practical version: adjustments can apply to your process, not just to the job. Discounting absence related to a disability from your trigger points is a recognised adjustment (Acas). So is allowing longer to improve, or letting someone bring a companion to a conversation where they have no legal right to one. Acas is blunt that where an employee is disabled, formal capability steps are a last resort, reached only once you have done everything you reasonably can to support them (Acas).

Refer to occupational health, and ask the right questions

This is the most useful thing you can do, and most small employers either skip it or ask it the wrong question. You need the employee’s consent, and you must get permission before approaching their own doctor (Acas).

Do not ask whether the illness is genuine. Ask three things. Is there an underlying condition, and is it likely to last twelve months or more? Are they fit to take part in a performance discussion, even if they are not fit to do the job? What adjustments would help, and over what timescale?

The second question unlocks everything, because being unfit for work and being unfit to attend a meeting are different states. Acas guidance on disciplinary hearings makes the point directly: where someone cannot attend, one option is to get a medical opinion on whether they are fit to attend (Acas).

Agree how you will keep in touch

Silence reads as abandonment. Daily calls read as harassment. Agree a frequency, agree who makes contact, and write it down. Acas says the right level depends entirely on the individual, and that with mental health absence it should be useful rather than overwhelming (Acas). If you delivered the performance message and they would rather hear from someone else, hand it over. It costs you nothing and removes an argument.

If they raise a grievance about you

There is a fair chance one arrives. Take it seriously, in writing, and get someone else to look at it if you possibly can. An employer refusing to look into a grievance is one of the examples Acas gives of a breach serious enough to support a constructive dismissal claim (Acas).

Treating someone badly because they complained about discrimination is victimisation, unlawful in its own right whether or not the original complaint had merit (Acas). In a small business it rarely looks dramatic. It looks like going cold, cutting someone out of things, quietly reallocating the interesting work. Watch for it in yourself.

When you can pick the process back up

When occupational health says they are fit to engage, or when they return. Not before. And restart from where you paused rather than from a clean sheet, because the concerns you raised on Tuesday are still the concerns.

If the absence runs long and the performance issue is never resolved, you are heading towards a capability question rather than a performance one. That is a different process, and dismissal has to be the last thing you try rather than the first (Acas).

Before you reach for they have not been here long

If your instinct is that they have only been here fourteen months so you can simply let them go, check the calendar. From 1st January 2027 the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal falls from two years to six months and the cap on the compensatory award goes, which we went through in unfair dismissal at six months.

Two things to add here. From 1st October 2026 the window for bringing most tribunal claims doubles from three months to six, so the notes you write this week must still make sense to you half a year from now. And discrimination claims never had a qualifying period at all, which is why the disability question above matters far more here than length of service does.

What to do on Monday

Send the email pausing the process. Log the absence and start sick pay from day one. Ask, in one line, whether anything at work is contributing and whether they will consent to an occupational health referral. Agree who makes contact and how often. Then write down what you did and the date you did it, and leave the performance conversation exactly where it is until you have the medical picture.

Tarn.hr provides HR guidance based on UK employment law and Acas codes of practice. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. Employment law is complex and turns on the facts of each case. For any situation involving significant legal risk, potential tribunal claims, or matters of particular sensitivity, you should seek advice from a qualified employment solicitor. Tarn.hr is not responsible for any decisions made on the basis of its guidance.