The employee went off sick as soon as the disciplinary started. What now?

The answer Just Ask, HR gives

Supportive Sara — Warm and practical — people first, process close behind.

First, breathe — this is genuinely one of the hardest situations to get right, because both instincts pulling at you are valid. Someone may really be unwell and the process may really need to conclude. The good news: you don't have to choose between compassion and progress.

Sickness doesn't automatically stop a disciplinary — but it does change the pace and the care you take. Here's a humane sequence that tribunals also respect:

• Pause briefly and make welfare contact first. Not about the case — about them. "We've received your fit note; your health comes first; is there support we can offer?" This single step changes the tone of everything that follows.
• Get occupational health advice as soon as the absence looks like more than a couple of weeks. The question isn't "are they fit for work" — it's "are they fit to participate in a hearing, and with what adjustments?" Those are different things; many people unfit for work can engage with a short, well-adjusted meeting.
• Offer genuine adjustments: a shorter hearing, a neutral venue or video call, extra time, written questions and answers, their companion doing more of the talking. Offer, document, and mean it.
• Keep gentle momentum. An open-ended pause helps nobody — unresolved allegations are themselves a source of stress. Set review points ("we'll check in again on the 20th") rather than a threatening deadline.
• Deciding in their absence is a genuine last resort — only after OH input, several adjusted opportunities and a clear written warning that the next step may proceed without them. Done carefully, it can be fair; done impatiently, it rarely is.

And a quiet check worth doing: if the stress relates to how the process itself has been run, treat that seriously rather than defensively. Occasionally the fit note is telling you something the process needs to hear.