Do employers check with the GP after you submit a sick note?
By Nikhabele
@Nikhabele (166)
South Africa
April 8, 2012 3:11pm CST
Does the employer check with the GP when an employee submit a sick note? What if they do and doctor tells tem you are not sick but yo just needed rest and you then went to "buy" days because you wanted to rest. Don't we all sometimes need that rest? Why does an employer check if you are really sick? I think it's wrong for an employer to confirm and equally wrong for GP to disclose. What do you think?
1 person likes this
6 responses
@honest_efforts100 (1607)
• India
23 Jul 12
Fatigue can feel like actual sickness and an employee is likely not to perform as they would. Taking a day of may do the trick. Employers should be able to understand this and not follow up with the GP when their employee calls in sick. In any case, the employee is entitled to a couple of leave days every year. Why not use them to rejuvenate.
1 person likes this
@sparky3dfan (599)
•
9 Apr 12
A doctor here (in the UK) can't disclose the nature of your illness. All they can do is either confirm or deny you are ill. A dr wont or atleast shouldn't be giving any kind of 'sick note/certificate' if you are not ill in any way. So long as you have an authentic Drs certificate then you should be safe regardless of why you are ill/needing time off.
Why would it be wrong for an employer to confirm a person is genuinely ill? They still have to pay you for a 'sick period' so you are still earning and their now needing someone else to do your work. I find it perfectly acceptable if an employer wants to double check. Most wont unless they suspect your sickness certificate is a fake or something isn't right with it. They can also after an extended amount of time request you see their own appointed Dr if its ongoing for so long. Can't remember how long it needs to be going on but its over 6months I believe. If you were to refuse they can then seek legal help in getting you to either see a dr of their choice, return to work or obviously quit from the job or take a redundancy package. They can't however outright fire you unless they catch you working somewhere else while 'sick'.
@sparky3dfan (599)
•
10 Apr 12
No I'm not an employer. I actually had to deal with a situation with my partner in a job she had. Basically the other girl who worked there, (it was in a bar to give you an idea of the scenario and place) was on the sick for 4 and a half months almost whenever my partner started work there. The employer was getting tired of waiting for the other girl to come back. This was her third time on extended sick leave due to a Drs certificate and she had only been working there 3 years maybe 4. In total she had physically only worked there around 11 months in total. About a month after my partner started she heard that the girl was working somewhere else while being on the sick. This is actually illegal here atleast. So of course after some more rumors finally the employer found out and he was in the process of checking into it whenever she was suddenly '100% better'. Suddenly she wanted my partner to do a-lot less hours so she could do more hours than she was even contracted to. Talk about petty. The sad ting is this girl claimed to be heavily depressed and unfit for work. Depression isn't something that magically cures itself when rumors start flying. But those kind of people are the ones that will end up ill. Karma and all that. Truth is I think someone informed her that she was caught out in the act. The whole time the employer was paying her as thats the law with extended sick leave / dr certificate sick leave. So I can fully understand his issue with her being rumored that she was working elsewhere. It happens often, so its not always the employers that are at 'fault' for checking up on these people, especially if they have had bad experiences with said person previously or even other staff in general.
It's easy to find it wrong from an employee role, but think of yourself as an employer. If you had suspicions an employee was faking it / taking liberties for no reason other than not wanting to work then wouldn't you check it out with a dr and so on? I know I would
As for your tired comment in the first post. I do actually agree with that. We all get tired and so on. Some of us opt to just keep working through it while others need a break from it. If that's ever the case with me I would take a day or two from my holiday time (which is 21 days I think of the top of my head that im allowed off work and be paid for it). Paid or not though I wouldn't care, I'd just want to get my head rested for a day or two. There are some who do work through it and end up exhausted. I couldn't hold a grudge or ill will against those people as they tried to keep going.
@Nikhabele (166)
• South Africa
10 Apr 12
Hi Sparky, well in the scenario that you have related here, then the employer had the right to check what was going on. I was actually talking about "normal" circumstances.
Thanks for the argument though mate.
@Nikhabele (166)
• South Africa
9 Apr 12
I hear what you saying Sparky3dfan but then again why shouldn't they believe that you are sick? I find it disturbing to even think about it, mostly employers who do that is the ones who dictates employees.
But it's liberating to hea tha there's somebody who thinks there's nothing wrong with it, or are you an employer yourself? I know a lot of employees who share the same centiments as me.
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
4 Aug 12
Personally this does not sound Legal at all, and personally I would be filing a complaint if my Boss ever called my Doctor after they give me a note. I think it is every persons right to get a note in order to miss work, and if an employer is not wanting to accept the note, than it is time to go further with your complaint as for them not to believe you, and call the Doctor is unprofessional at best.
@celticeagle (164364)
• Boise, Idaho
9 Apr 12
No, the employer is not able to check with the GP when an employee submits a sick note. They would have to have a release of information(legal paper) to be able to get any personal information from the GP. It would be unlawful for the GP to disclose anything. They probably wish they could.
@yahnee (1243)
• Philippines
9 Apr 12
Employers don't normally check with the doctors if the medical certificate is authentic and you are really sick. However, if you are a habitual absentee from work, the HR has every reason to call the doctor for confirmation. Confirmation is also important if you have filed for a sick leave for a good number of days. If it is only for a day or two it would not really matter but not if it were a week and more. Don't forget that there are companies who have policies on malingering or feigning sickness when there really isn't none just to avoid reporting for work.
@Nikhabele (166)
• South Africa
9 Apr 12
I agree Yahnee, obviously if a person is forever absent, it cost the company and colleagues equally as they now have to always fill in and do this person's job.
Thanks.
@SarahAlyx (181)
• United States
8 Apr 12
I too think it's wrong for employers to check sick notes but think about how many people abuse these notes and call into work when they reallly aren't sick. They ruin it for the people who are really sick. But I always thought a doctor couldn't tell them that you aren't sick but that yes you don't need to be at work. I may be under the wrong impression but Ive always been close to my doctor. So Ive never had a problem with it.
@Nikhabele (166)
• South Africa
9 Apr 12
I know what you mean SarahAlyx, and I also agree that some people do abuse them sick notes. I think an average person who'd go out of his/her way to do such an irresponsible act of always going to the doctor even when they are not sick, unfit to be an employee in he first place. And I'm not saying I haven't done it myself, but I mean maybe once in 12 months not every month.
