My Employer Wants a Medical Certificate for One Day off Work

Windows7forever on 02/07/2017 - 07:07
Last edited 02/07/2017 - 09:33 by 1 other user

I work for a large corporation. This week my boss made it very clear to our team that we must supply a medical certificate for any time off work, even if it is only one day. I suspect that someone in my team might have had "one too many sickies" or was pretending to be sick to get off work, which has made the company clamp down on this.

I am not one to capriciously take a random "sickie" off work when I don't feel like coming in and haven't used any of my sick leave as of yet. I don't condone this "chuck a sickie" mentality and understand the company's intentions to protect itself. However, I feel this policy may come back to bite them in the back side.

When an employee genuinely gets sick and needs a day off work they will now need to spend half a day at the doctor's getting a certificate. Therefore, they are more inclined to ask for two or even three days off work "to make it worthwhile". Knowing how most doctors err on the side of caution and how highly contagious certain infections and flues can be at this time of the year, they will invariably get these extra days off. This can end up costing the company more money and lost hours.

I feel that my old job had the right balance. You were only required to supply a medical certificate if you took more than one consecutive day off work in a week, more than six days per year, or there was a pattern of unusual leave for so-called 'medical reasons'(abusing the system).

What are your thoughts on the one day off medical certificate policy?

Education & Work

Comments

      • [Deactivated] on 03/07/2017 - 18:21

        Even worse, go to work sick make bad decisions, have bad meetings productivity =-2

  • [Deactivated] on 02/07/2017 - 21:38

    Reminds me of this: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/10/23/1224351397415.html

  • nobarginsarehere on 03/07/2017 - 03:21

    Google Australian medical cert, you can buy them online for $20-40

    I'm not sure what it's like in other states, but in QLD they are now called 'personal days' and can be taken for almost any reason you want

    i.e. write an email saying you were over worked and needed a day off
    or you had a personal family matter to attend
    almost anything stratifies expect 'i didnt want to work'

  • drprox on 03/07/2017 - 07:28
    +2

    Didn't realise employers were so tough these days. Mine have always been 5 days without a certificate per calendar year. After that certificates required.

  • Wiede on 03/07/2017 - 07:31
    +10

    I think it is dumb. My old boss used to tell us "if you are sick then you are sick, if I dont trust you then you won't be working here".

    Corporate 101: Companies that are stingy with their employees will result in lower engagement resulting in lower productivity.

  • ruddiger7 on 03/07/2017 - 08:30
    +1

    That is lame, in some government departments you have 5 days a year to use for absence without medical evidence and 9 days you can use with evidence.

    • Davo1111 on 04/07/2017 - 08:17
      -2

      Every day in government is a holiday, so "sick days" are rarely required

      • ruddiger7 on 04/07/2017 - 09:59
        +1

        Haha, depends what area you work in. There are some areas just as busy if not busier than private sector, while there are some that do sweet FA.

  • shaybisc on 03/07/2017 - 08:47
    +1

    If you are going to the trouble of hauling yourself off your sick bed to go to the doctor you may as well ask for a week long med cert. Probably get it, in my experience.

  • smux on 03/07/2017 - 08:58

    Go to the pharmacy as others have suggested to save time.

    Other than that, organise your fellow employees to protest this, in appropriate ways of course (taking in to account any potential blow back from that, ie don't stick your neck out too much). That might entail just ensuring each of your colleagues raises the issue in their one on ones with their managers.

    If the employer feels like there will be consequences to their overbearing behaviour perhaps they will reconsider the policy. I've worked in a work place where they tried to change their sick leave and annual leave policy and protests from everyone did have some effect. Depending on the size of the company and how much they value their employees, they may be more or less receptive to the idea of an exodus occurring if employees are too dissatisfied.

  • myusername on 03/07/2017 - 09:53
    -2

    you've obviously done something leading up to this to make your boss question the legitimacy of your recent absence

    • nickj on 03/07/2017 - 10:08

      Op wrote : "boss made it very clear to our team". So I don't think the op necessarily did anything, it most likely someone else did something, and so his workplace has brought in a blanket rule, and the op is experiencing collateral damage.

  • imahapyboy on 03/07/2017 - 10:01
    -2

    tell your boss you fxxx oxx and ask him to supply his medical certificate as well!

    • dbun1 on 03/07/2017 - 11:19
      +2

      Boss doesn't have to answer to his employee - I'm sure he will supply the relevant certificate to his direct manager if and when required.

  • cupcake on 03/07/2017 - 10:40

    We only have to have a doctor's certificate if we take two days off in a row or more and if it is a day before or after a public holiday. Check your certified agreement.

  • [Deactivated] on 03/07/2017 - 10:54
    +3

    I do condone the mentality of chuck a sickie: for a company to protect itself, its workers need to protect themselves; if people feel like they need a day off badly enough to pretend to feel ill, then maybe it's their mental health that actually needs the sickie. If companies don't understand that workers need to protect their minds from burning out, by taking days off when necessary, what choice does the worker have but to take a sickie and lie about it?

  • prinsenhof on 03/07/2017 - 11:14
    +2

    The best way to handle this is to fill your drink bottle with salt water and take a walk to your bosses office to "discuss" work. Then throw up in his bin, put it back and walk away.

    When questioned, just say that the doctor didn't think you were sick and refused you a doctors certificate, so you had to come in to work.

    • shaybisc on 03/07/2017 - 12:10

      That reminds me. A friend once asked me many years ago how he could powerfully convince his workplace that he was sick and needed time off- he wanted to go to the Bathurst easter bike races. Do they still have them? I had heard of this stuff called Ipecac and told him about it. He gave a very dramatic portrayal of a sick man while he was on duty- 6 or 7 times ha ha ha.

  • zond on 03/07/2017 - 14:58

    When me/ a family member is slightly sick (upto a tolerable extent) I work from home. I make sure my day off isn't costing the employer much even I am contributing around 60-80% of my otherwise full efforts, meanwhile the time not travelling to and from work or visiting a doctor to get a flue certificate is not wasted.
    I guess it all depends on what you do and how you deliver. Bringing in some viruses from home to co-workers just for the sake of company rule seems more damaging.

  • Dack Smith on 03/07/2017 - 15:40

    Abuse of sick leave is so prevalent and pervasive that innocents get caught up.

    However since the sickie is now an Aussie tradition, employers really need to just let it go.

    No matter what, nobody wants to work all the time anyway and a workplace with high sick leave means it is run poorly by incompetent management

  • Brendoo on 03/07/2017 - 17:03

    Silly employer with what seems to be little experience managing staff in Australia. Two things will happen with that policy.
    1) People will come to work sick, coughing and making everyone else sick, thus reducing productivity when all these other people get sick and…. see "2";
    2) Take more than one day off seeing they have gone to the doctor anyway.

    Staff morale will also reduce for multiple reasons, thus reducing productivity even further.

    Let me guess, the manager who did this just became the manager and is wielding his/her power.

    At my work (company with 70,000+ employees) there is no such thing as sick leave any longer (maybe that was a legislative change last year, not sure) it's just "personal leave" now, which is sick, kids sick so need to stay home to look after them, help Grandma, support a relative etc. 1 day needs no proof, most humans know how sick they are and if a day of rest will make them feel better tomorrow and they don't need to go to the doctor (which can make them worse, out in the cold for hours) then that's fine. 2 days or more needs some documentation. Many people, myself included, will provide proof of one day off if it's not for sick reasons - such as support a young family member in Court or some other official event which they would not be able to easily cope with on their own.

  • luffyex2010 on 03/07/2017 - 17:09
    -3

    There is always the cause and effect.

    Take too many sick leave=
    could be you are a very sick person…

    End result: its time you see a specialist could prevent an early death bed.

    Or

    You just want to avoid work for whatever reason,

    End result: time to change job….you will never progress at doing what you hate.

    Sooner or later even with all the dr 's certs that you have been abuse its going to become obvious.

    "The boy will eventually get eaten by the wolves as nobody will believe his lies"

    Or on the more civilized outcome you just get no bonus for the effort not turning up to work or a warning letter or 2 before you get dismissed….3 to be exact… 3 strikes and ur out.

    Will be bad for your next job hunt too

  • gcdollar on 03/07/2017 - 18:30

    Is this IBM?

  • Ivan Krazy on 03/07/2017 - 19:40
    -1

    My workplace allows 8 days per anniversary work year without a medical certificate/statutory declaration. However it only allows for up to 3 consecutive working days at a maximum without documentation. I always make every effort to get a medical certificate as documentary evidence anyway.

  • Lucky13 on 03/07/2017 - 19:57

    *Flus not flues. A-

  • Cluster on 04/07/2017 - 02:03

    Get a certificate from a GP. If that's not possible, then go to a chemist and get a standard form from them. Failing that, if your employer kicks up a fuss about you taking a day off then offer to come in to work coughing and sneezing. You may well infect the whole office. Any rational employer should come to the obvious conclusion.

  • darkmattersunB6c0MV on 04/07/2017 - 06:46
    -1

    As someone working for two decades, and not even one sick day off, difficult to see the issue.
    IMHO ( my views only) there should be a fixed number of leaves- say 30 days- all inclusive.

    Anything else, should be leave without pay.
    If you are not even working 200 days, then it is unfair to expect the employer to pay for it.

    Let the negs roll in
    😀

  • gumcheap on 04/07/2017 - 07:58
    -3

    We get screwed for crappy pay rises and bonus. Take fake sickies is our way to claim back our low pay rises! Stand up and be a man!

  • Davo1111 on 04/07/2017 - 08:18

    Is your boss paying for the doctor?

  • djmm on 04/07/2017 - 09:16

    If ure sick how can you go to doctor
    If you go when you're alrrady well enough to leave the house it would be weird

  • syousef on 04/07/2017 - 10:47

    Does it have to be a medical certificate or do you just have to provide evidence of being sick?

    Will video of you straining on the toilet for 2 hours do? Or going through a box of tissues filling them with mucus? Now your boss will need stress leave.

    I hate cold and flu season. Everyone comes in and ends up making everyone else sick. Shift work doesn't help because it means people have to greatly inconvenience others to take their sick leave when legitimately ill.

    • barcer on 04/07/2017 - 12:58

      Haha I did something like this once when I couldn't get to the doctor (they were too busy/no appointments), I had vomiting so I took a photo of my puke in the toilet bowl each time I MMSed it to the boss, he didn't ask any questions when I came into work the day after next and told him I was unable to get a doctor's certificate.

      • syousef on 04/07/2017 - 15:27

        If it weren't so unfair to the co-workers I'd just go in to work.

  • [Deactivated] on 04/07/2017 - 14:25

    Just a random thought….

    Does anyone know if nurses need a medical certificate?

  • gstfree on 04/07/2017 - 14:42
    -3

    If you work at a large corporation and you have HR policy about sick leave medical certificate, please just follow it.

    It's subject to both internal and external audit and generally the rule is less flexible within large corporations.

  • PaulieDx02 on 04/07/2017 - 15:51

    What I do when they start with this is instead of having just the 1 day off I ask the Dr for another day or 2 off to make it worth my while.

  • ro0sta on 05/07/2017 - 07:52

    Half a day to obtain a certificate… Are you nuts? Maybe 2 hours at most for overbooked and extremely busy clinics. GPs sign anything willy nilly these days My employer and my team are required to provide one if sick on:

    Monday
    Friday
    After public holiday
    2 consecutive sick days

    Although I personally encourage to get one each time so you are covered on any occasion.

  • Kempe on 05/07/2017 - 12:03

    A place I used to work at started this sick certificate from day one, but being quite a militant workforce we soon stopped it, as it ended in 3 days off and only a certificate for one day.

    Day one you are too sick to make an appointment.
    Day two you phoned the doctor and couldn't get in till day 3
    Day 3 you went to the doctor but of course they cant backdate so you only got a certificate for day 3

    It soon stopped the nonsense, it was just some over enthusiastic HR person, then common sense prevailed

  • nakahanap on 08/07/2017 - 16:20

    Sometimes it all gets crazy and hard for genuinely sick people to take time off.

    My EBA stipulates that a medical certificate stating unfitness for work is required. Certificates of attendance for medical procedures are not considered acceptable.

    Such a waste of time…having to get both to access sick leave in this instance. Waste of the GP's time, too.

    While I get that there are people milking the system, there needs to be sone reasonableness too.

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