Why are you using sick leave?

catbert8 · November 2003

I have a particular department that insists on asking their employees on their leave request form for the reason they are calling out sick. I understand how dangerous this is, but have found it difficult to find the exact place in employment laws (I've looked in ADA, FMLA, EEOC, HIPAA) where it states that employers should not ask for this information, unless it is providing to HR the certification for FMLA leave. Any ideas?

Don D · November 2003

You won't find it in a law. Nor can you ask for diagnoses for FMLA purposes. I would not ask a person to include this on a sick leave request form, but it is typically asked when people call in sick and can't report or say they need to leave for the day sick. 'Oh yeah, wazzamattah wit yous?'

deniseE · November 2003

We tend to ask as well....we do this under the guise of making sure that every employee eligible for FMLA receives it.

Some departments require gross detail, while others are satisfied with "it's contageous".

Personally, unless there is a question of leave abuse--I don't care and i don't want to know!!!

pecohr · November 2003

I think I would talk with the manager of that department and try to get a feel for why they feel they need that information. I suspect that it's a intimidation thing and they think that asking for details may make the ee change their mind and stick around. I would have a concern that they may be diagnosing who they feel is really sick and who might be just trying to go home early. Not a good idea in this litigious day and age.

just my .02

LindaS · November 2003

I would inform the manager of the department that they are not to ask the reason they are using their sick time but that they should inform HR if they believe that there is an FMLA qualifying situation (ie, alot of absences over a short period of time). Requiring employees to provide this information may open your company up to some significant problems especially if this information is shared, or perceived as shared, among others that don't NEED that information to get their jobs done.

moneyman · November 2003

In our case, we got rid of sick and vacation time and not just have one category of Paid Time Off. It has made some things easier. In the instance of schedule time away, as long as it is in 1-2 day increments, no explanation is required, same as if you had to call in. When you hit 3 days, then we require an explanation (as it might affect covering your responsibilities) and if it is for an illness, we require a doctors note. It has worked well and there has not been any trouble with this system.

deniseE · November 2003

Just a tip about the Dr's note thing....we've just run into a situation here (hearing is on Monday)...where an employee had the note signed by the front desk RN...our policy stated Dr's excuse...and she was termed.....her attorney is arguing that our company cannot dictate the Dr's office policy (I'm just waiting to hear the UC ruling)

Check the language of your policy and make sure it's something you can live with!!!

moneyman · November 2003

A good point, I am sure that we would accept a note from the physician office staff. It seems that more and more people are not seeing the physician anyway, they are seeing a Physician's Assisant or a Nurse Practioner (anything to get in quicker and cheaper). So, I guess we would accept this. The funny thing about this policy is that we are a physician's office (surgical only) and when we have a doctor/employee out, the HR office is requiring the same documentation, however, they just go to one of their co-workers and get a note. HR is trying to stop that because the policy says "attending" physician and most of our sick doctors will "self-attend" instead. So, we go round and round on this one.

marc · November 2003

Interesting dilemma. Maybe you should add some sort of 'Conflict of Interest' language to protect yourselves. Do they self-diagnose FML events? Seems to be a meaningless requirement in your case, unless you can get some independent third party to verify.

moneyman · November 2003

They are considered key employees and FMLA doesn't apply. Luckily there really hasn't been issues with this.

Why are you using sick leave?

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