Work demanding Dr's note for 1 day off

FBaby

We have been told by our employer that any sick day taken just during the Christmas, NY, and Easter period would require a sick note from a doctor. It is only after staff confronted them about legality of it that they resented to paying the fee if charged, however, the request remains.

mountainofdebt

Noble

I wasn't having a go at you or your friend......I was merely stating that people tend to phone in sick alot more easily when their pay packet isn't affected than when it is.

My sickness record (touch wood) is pretty good but I know I, myself, was much more likely to phone in sick when I was employed by firms who offered a decent sickness pay package as opposed to just SSP.

Tygermoth

FBaby,

Could you advised what the 'legality' argument you co-workers used? I would help the OP.

To be frank i would be surprised if there was a legal 'loophole' as stated before sick pay (not SSP) is in most cases discretionary and they can request what they like to agree the top up from SSP.

PlymouthMaid

If there is no sick pay then I think one day absences are actually more common as although a person may well feel lousy for 3 days,they will struggle in for most if not all of those days and infect everybody else rather then lose pay. When I am ill with a virus or something I may take the worst day off as just cannot manage work but have to cope badly for the other days as can't afford not to.

It is ridiculous to ask for a sick note for one day and employers should get a grip as the NHS is stretched enough.

Takeaway_Addict

PlymouthMaid wrote: »

If there is no sick pay then I think one day absences are actually more common as although a person may well feel lousy for 3 days,they will struggle in for most if not all of those days and infect everybody else rather then lose pay. When I am ill with a virus or something I may take the worst day off as just cannot manage work but have to cope badly for the other days as can't afford not to.

It is ridiculous to ask for a sick note for one day and employers should get a grip as the NHS is stretched enough.

Swings in roundabouts, less likely to get odd days taken of for very minor things.

All employers should get a grip...nice generalisation.

It's quite a clear and concise rule and if you want paying the extra money over and above SSP then demz da rulez

SeduLOUs

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

It's quite a clear and concise rule and if you want paying the extra money over and above SSP then demz da rulez

I accept that.

I might write to my MP though about this one. The employer could easily write a policy that has the same effect they desire without placing yet another unnecessary burden on the NHS, and perhaps in an ideal future they will have to.

Nicki

SeduLOUs wrote: »

I accept that.

I might write to my MP though about this one. The employer could easily write a policy that has the same effect they desire without placing yet another unnecessary burden on the NHS, and perhaps in an ideal future they will have to.

As you can't get an NHS sick note for one day's absence how exactly is this putting a burden on the NHS? Either you phone the surgery on the day you are ill and request the doctor write one as part of their private workload, or you visit a GP who only does private work (which are quite common in London but I don't know about other parts of the country.

All GPs do a mixture of NHS funded and privately funded work because the NHS does not pay for medico-legal reports, DLA reports, private medical certificates, referrals to private doctors, signing insurance forms, etc, etc

Takeaway_Addict

SeduLOUs wrote: »

I accept that.

I might write to my MP though about this one. The employer could easily write a policy that has the same effect they desire without placing yet another unnecessary burden on the NHS, and perhaps in an ideal future they will have to.

Waste...of....paper.

SeduLOUs

Nicki wrote: »

All GPs do a mixture of NHS funded and privately funded work because the NHS does not pay for medico-legal reports, DLA reports, private medical certificates, referrals to private doctors, signing insurance forms, etc, etc

I doubt you realise just how overloaded GP practices already are. I appreciate that a private fee would be paid 'for the service' but it doesn't change the fact that an appointment slot or admin time has been used which inevitably results in less available 'NHS' appointments for the people who need them.

GPs do not want to work any more overtime as they are already massively overworked, and the cost of a locum GP to help pick up the slack usually costs substantially more than the private fees charged for typing letters.

Some 'private' services are inevitable and necessary, but a 1 day sicknote for an employer is not. The employer could very write sickness policy that avoids this, and have the same effect they desire without wasting GP time i.e. by not paying contractual sick pay for the first 3 days of absence.

Poppie68

SeduLOUs wrote: »

I doubt you realise just how overloaded GP practices already are. I appreciate that a private fee would be paid 'for the service' but it doesn't change the fact that an appointment slot or admin time has been used which inevitably results in less available 'NHS' appointments for the people who need them.

GPs do not want to work any more overtime as they are already massively overworked, and the cost of a locum GP to help pick up the slack usually costs substantially more than the private fees charged for typing letters.

Some 'private' services are inevitable and necessary, but a 1 day sicknote for an employer is not. The employer could very write sickness policy that avoids this, and have the same effect they desire without wasting GP time i.e. by not paying contractual sick pay for the first 3 days of absence.

Private work including sick notes helps pay the bills. The majority of patients requiring a private sick note would obtain one during an appointment they have made because they are unwell and it really is rather rare a GP is asked to complete one. Expecting companies that pay contractual sick pay from day 1 to change their policies that allows sick pay from day 3 would only serve to cause trouble in the work place as the time taken for a GP to deal with the request is negligible.