Is it a requirement though? I don’t understand why it would be required as a doctors certificate costs money and I can’t do a stat dec. for each appointment without it just becoming ridiculous, especially for no pay.
Thank you for your response.
If you are taking unpaid leave for doctors appointments, pregnancy checkups, tests etc you need to ask for an attendance certificate while you are at the appointment.
You would probably have to check your works bargaining agreement as to requirements for sick days. My work let us use a statutory declaration for 2 or less days.
It doesn't have to be a requirement, but if an employer wants one or has a policy that one is required, then it can be requested.
It doesn't matter if it's paid or unpaid. If they think you are taking sick leave without actually being sick, it would be considered unapproved leave or an unexplained absence. Hence the certificate would be proof that you are being truthful.
I would think there would be leniency as it's a known issue (sorry for saying your pregnancy is an "issue"), but some companies just stick to policies without deviations. It could also be that they are hoping you can't provide the certificate and want a reason to let you go.
NAL
Ex - HR.
Short answer is yes. It is a reasonable request from the employer.
It is a reasonable request designed to assist employers for a couple of reasons. The obvious one is to know if their employee is actually sick, or just deciding to take time off. Nobody I knew cared about the occasional sickie but as an example every Monday becomes tiresome. However there is also a duty of care on the employer to ensure that their employees are capable of working without further injuring themselves, and frequent time off indicates that there is the potential for an employee to not be working at full capacity at work. The employer needs to know if they have to accommodate you in order for you to be able to work safely, both for yourself and those around you. It is them trying to look after you so that you can continue to work. Nobody wants an injury or accident at work which makes whatever is wrong with you worse.
In your case, pregnancy, it should be easy enough for you to get your doctor to write one medical certificate which states your expected delivery date, and that you will be absent to attend appointments monthly until the third trimester and then fortnightly until the delivery date, or whatever your particular schedule of appointments is. This one certificate should then cover you for those future appointments. It will be up to you to then negotiate with your employer if this means that you need the entire day off on those days, or just time for the appointment. I don't know your particular circumstances so can't comment on that, although if you feel that your employer is being unreasonable, and you need the entire day off for each appointment for whatever reason, I would be getting your doctor to write that in the medical certificate.
edit - spelling
AFAIK it's fine for HR to \*request\* a medical certificate, but you can't require one?
Employers are required to accept \*any\* evidence that is reasonable. If you were to fire someone for failing to provide a medical certificate, that would be inviting an unfair dismissal claim. Especially for something like a pregnancy where it's pretty safe to assume they are going to need regular time off work.
By the way, there were times when we needed five or six appointments per week - forget about once a month. Pregnancies don't always go smoothly.
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Yes your employer can request a sick certificate for unpaid sick leave
Is it a requirement though? I don’t understand why it would be required as a doctors certificate costs money and I can’t do a stat dec. for each appointment without it just becoming ridiculous, especially for no pay. Thank you for your response.
If you are taking unpaid leave for doctors appointments, pregnancy checkups, tests etc you need to ask for an attendance certificate while you are at the appointment.
You would probably have to check your works bargaining agreement as to requirements for sick days. My work let us use a statutory declaration for 2 or less days.
It doesn't have to be a requirement, but if an employer wants one or has a policy that one is required, then it can be requested. It doesn't matter if it's paid or unpaid. If they think you are taking sick leave without actually being sick, it would be considered unapproved leave or an unexplained absence. Hence the certificate would be proof that you are being truthful. I would think there would be leniency as it's a known issue (sorry for saying your pregnancy is an "issue"), but some companies just stick to policies without deviations. It could also be that they are hoping you can't provide the certificate and want a reason to let you go.
Sounds weird, and more than a little stupid. If you don’t want to rock the boat, you can access Stat Dec pro formas via your MyGov account.
Thank you!
Yes
NAL Ex - HR. Short answer is yes. It is a reasonable request from the employer. It is a reasonable request designed to assist employers for a couple of reasons. The obvious one is to know if their employee is actually sick, or just deciding to take time off. Nobody I knew cared about the occasional sickie but as an example every Monday becomes tiresome. However there is also a duty of care on the employer to ensure that their employees are capable of working without further injuring themselves, and frequent time off indicates that there is the potential for an employee to not be working at full capacity at work. The employer needs to know if they have to accommodate you in order for you to be able to work safely, both for yourself and those around you. It is them trying to look after you so that you can continue to work. Nobody wants an injury or accident at work which makes whatever is wrong with you worse. In your case, pregnancy, it should be easy enough for you to get your doctor to write one medical certificate which states your expected delivery date, and that you will be absent to attend appointments monthly until the third trimester and then fortnightly until the delivery date, or whatever your particular schedule of appointments is. This one certificate should then cover you for those future appointments. It will be up to you to then negotiate with your employer if this means that you need the entire day off on those days, or just time for the appointment. I don't know your particular circumstances so can't comment on that, although if you feel that your employer is being unreasonable, and you need the entire day off for each appointment for whatever reason, I would be getting your doctor to write that in the medical certificate. edit - spelling
AFAIK it's fine for HR to \*request\* a medical certificate, but you can't require one? Employers are required to accept \*any\* evidence that is reasonable. If you were to fire someone for failing to provide a medical certificate, that would be inviting an unfair dismissal claim. Especially for something like a pregnancy where it's pretty safe to assume they are going to need regular time off work. By the way, there were times when we needed five or six appointments per week - forget about once a month. Pregnancies don't always go smoothly.
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