Sick pay for employee getting laser eye surgery

A distinction must be drawn between cosmetic surgery for cosmetic reasons, and cosmetic surgery carried out to restore normal appearance after an accident. In any event laser eye surgery is not cosmetic at all... it is more like dental work. Cosmetic surgery required after an accident is allowable, clearly.. it's not cosmetic, it's restorative surgery. But a boob job is elective and cosmetic, unless carried out after a masscetomy (spelling?), in which case it's perfectly allowable.

I wouldn't be paying this.

The doctor cannot have provided a 'sick' cert.. he has probably provided an 'unfit for work' cert, which is different. If the doctor is describing this as a sickness, in advance, I would question him on it.

The employee is choosing to have this procedure carried out, so it's elective. It's not a normal sickness. But it is similar to dental work in some respects.

Some examples..
if an employee sits on his bum all day, and decides to get a tattoo on his bum, and can't sit down until it heals, .. and his doctor provides an 'unfit for work sitting down' cert, should the company consider this a 'sick' cert and pay sick pay? Clearly I'd say no to this.

If a guy falls off his bike and must get extensive dental work.. I'd consider this a genuine sickness. But I would limit the amount of sick time off.. to prevent long illnesses breaking the company.

Eye surgery is somewhere in between, and would not qualify as a sickness in my view, it is a self imposed inability to work, due to elective surgery. Unless the guy can get a cert from his doctor stating that the eye surgery is essential, which I doubt.

So in short, I wouldn't pay for this, and certainly not for two weeks. I would allow unpaid time off, which doesn't affect holidays.. but I may not allow even that.