Have you been sick at home for more than three days?
Chances are, you’ll need to provide a doctor’s note to your employer.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, legislation allows businesses to demand the short-term medical certificate of its employees after three days. Even government workers are required to do so, something Jerry Earle says makes absolutely no sense.
“Just to produce a medical ceritificate to say that you’re ill requires you making a trip to, most often, the emergency department because you can’t get a doctor’s appointment on short notice,” Earle told The Telegram Monday.
Earle, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public Employees, admits it’s an age-old battle for workers in this province, but the union highlighted the issue again in a release Monday because the threat of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 throws a whole new light on it.
“Now, (it’s) exacerbated by the concerns over COVID-19, when all the recommendations are that when you have an infectious disease, what you should be doing is staying home and self-isolating,” he said.
NAPE’s concerns are backed up by medical professionals. And on Monday, even the health minister seemed sympathetic.
Doctors agree
In 2014, the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association (NLMA) caused a stir when its president advised doctor not to provide retroactive notes for patients – in other words, patients they didn’t assess at the time.
“It is the NLMA’s position that employers should encourage their employees to stay at home when they are sick to prevent the spread of infections to their co-workers and vulnerable populations who present at medical clinics and hospital emergency departments,” then president Yordan Karaivanov wrote in a statement. “Demanding that employees complete sick notes for short absences due to self-limiting illness is an inappropriate use of health care resources and contributes to increased wait times for patients requiring medically necessary services.”
The NLMA also raised the issue in 2018, pointing to the fact Ontario law at the time required employers to provide 10 “personal emergency days” to most workers in the province. Only the first two had to be paid leave, but sick notes were not required.
On Monday afternoon, the NLMA pressed the issue again.
“Employers should encourage their employees to stay at home when they are sick with self-limiting viral illnesses in order to prevent the spread of infections to other patients and their co-workers,” said NLMA President Dr. Charlene Fitzgerald said in a release. “Asking sick employees to go to a doctor’s office or an emergency department for the sole purpose of obtaining a sick note is not a responsible use of health resources and is a public health risk.”
She said the policy only benefits employers while compromising the health of others.
She also emphasized that anyone experiencing flu symptoms following out-of-province travel should call 811, the province’s Healthline. Patients should also call ahead of their medical appointments if they are experiencing flu symptoms, or if they have a travel history to an area where cases of coronavirus have been confirmed.
No sick leave
Many workers in Newfoundland and Labrador don’t even get paid sick leave, presenting another cause for alarm given the looming threat of COVID-19.
One woman contacted The Telegram to express worry about her boyfriend who works in the architectural industry. Employees there do not get any paid sick leave.
“My hope is that any of his sick co-workers would stay home,” said the woman, who did not want her name published. “The reality is, at his work, they do not. Because in that private industry, they are paid hourly, many have mortgages, and can't afford time off.
“Last winter the flu flew through their office because people were determined to go to work sick …,” she said. “So, I'm wondering, public health officials say one way to combat the spread of COVID-19 is simply to stay home when sick. But is that viable for many of today's workforce?”
In 2018, the CMA released an Ipsos poll that found 80 per cent of workers would return to work before they are well rather than go through the trouble of getting a note.
According to the pollster: “Those that oppose this plan do so because they believe people suffering from a simple illness should stay home to recover rather than expend energy waiting at a hospital or clinic (76 per cent), that it is not a good use of the limited resources of our health care system (74 per cent) and that we should make it easier for sick people to avoid infecting others (70 per cent).”
Meanwhile, Earle sees doctor’s notes as an unnecessary “control mechanism.” He said the number of people who abuse sick leave are few in number, and sick leave days are usually limited anyway.
“Most employees know when they feel unwell whether they require medical attention or whether they just need to stay away from making further personal contact at work or with the public,” he said.
Outside the House of Assembly Monday, Health Minister John Haggie said he has discussed the matter with the Human Resources Secretariat as recently as today with regards to government employees,
“This is a rapidly evolving situation,” he said.
But he said anything regarding private workers falls under the Labour Standards Act, and therefore the Department of Advanced Education, Skills and Labour.
“I personally would have little problem with alleviating the burden on physicians for short term sick notes,” he said.
The Newfoundland and Labrador Employers Council, which has supported the right to demand sick notes in the past, did not return a request for comment before deadline.
Peter Jackson is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter covering health care for The Telegram.
— with files from David Maher
