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Posted By Andrew Beveridge
Dear All,
Please can I ask your advice?
An employee who has been off for a number of weeks and whos doctors note ran out 3 weeks ago has now presented us with a doctors note issued today that his doctor has signed with a date 3 weeks ago 19th April.
How does this sit with you?
Can the doctor do this?
Any advice/guidance greatly appreciated.
Best regards
Andy
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Rank: Guest
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Posted By Joe Paterson
Andy
In the Doctors opinion the Patient was unfit for work on those dates,
As ridiculous as it may seem backdated sick notes are not uncommon,
Employees Contract should include timescales as to when notes should be sent to the employer,
Timescales should be reasonable and allowing for difficulty in arranging GP appointments etc,
If the employee is long term sick then there is basically no excuse,
He/She would have return appointment with his GP pre arranged to assess his condition, this appointment would coincide with the note lapsing,
Three weeks does seem excessive,
Perhaps look at the reason behind the delay in the first instance
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Rank: Guest
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Posted By Robert K Lewis
Are you sure the employee did not already have it and not bother to present it until now? Very few doctors are willing to backdate certificates even when they have provided continuous treatment.
Bob
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Posted By Joe Paterson
Bob
That in itself is a different scenario,
Hence the reason I raised the Contractual contents,
If the employee is in "continual" breach of procedure then that under absence management (or similar) could be addressed
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Rank: Guest
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Posted By Robert K Lewis
Provided there is a contractual specific beyond the statements made for a 1st note
Bob
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Posted By Joe Paterson
Cant disagree with you there Bob,
Terms and conditions tend to cover such procedures but there is the possibility that it could have been omitted,
generally custom and practice within the Organisation would suffice, but leaves the door wide open for any half decent Trade Union Rep to argue,(possibly successfully) that his/her member is being victimised due to their illness/ailment,
First time it happened could and should be taken as an oversight,anything after that is surely questionable,
As an ex shop steward I would have to admit that it would be difficult to defend/explain any recurring trend
Joe
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Posted By Robert K Lewis
Joe
And as an ex one myself back in the good old 70s I can well remember this occuring but personnel depts, not HR note, in those days were notoriously slow and several occurrences were needed before the loophole was closed. After all we need expliciit language to ensure the required performance objective.
Interesting side track here - Many supervisors make their instructions so vague that it is all too easy for an employee to say "well you never told me". An example could be - Go and change the light bulb on the third floor outside room 35. - A valid instruction most would say. But it could be omitting to say the fitting is adjacent to the atrium edge and requires the mobile tower from the store. What is the operative going to do when he has been issued with a set of stepladders for light bulb changes? The workplace is replete with such instructions and the real art is to develop techniques to overcome them and ensure safe working.
Sorry for the digression folks
Bob
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Posted By Joe Paterson
So the consensus is?
Yes the Dr can issue the backdated note,
Organisation should have a written procedure for acceptable timescales,
If that is not adhered to then its an HR/Personnel issue
Thanks for this guys enjoyed it
Joe
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Rank: Guest
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Posted By Andrew Beveridge
Many thanks for all the responses, both on forum and directly!
The issue now sits with HR as amendments to the policies are required!!
Best regards
Andy
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Rank: Guest
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Posted By Lynne Ratcliffe
Sorry chaps and chappesses but I believe from experience that the rules for acceptance etc are above our own HR depts.
I have recently been in this position myself and my employer 'demanded' copies of my sick note when there was a delay and break in sequence.
I asked at my health centre and was told that the issue of sick notes (Med3) is to strict DSS/DWP rules and the issuer is not bound to give one at intervals, and that we (the waking sick) are not bound to produce to our employer until the end of sick period!
Thankfully my GP did issue a note backdated for the days concerned toplacate my employer even though all they have to do is issue a 'continued from' note on Med3.
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