Canadian Labour Reporter

CANADIAN LABOUR REPORTER 7 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2014 Continued from page 1 Photo: Jason Lee (Reuters) Chapman, director of health policy and promotion for Doctors Nova Scotia. "To have to go in to a physician's office strikes us as overly onerous for everybody involved." This includes doctors, Chapman said. The mandatory sub- mission of doctor's notes following sick leave — regardless of the time frame — is being called an unnecessary strain on the system. "We don't believe sick notes are necessarily an effective way of dealing with absenteeism," said Chapman. "The vast majority of workers who miss time do so because they're sick. Requiring them to get a sick note doesn't preclude them from missing time. All it does is introduce an administrative exer- cise that takes time away from physicians and their practice." And requiring a doctor's note in no way guarantees the benefit is only used for sick days, he said. The majority of employees are feeling significantly better by the time they seek out a physician for a sick note, meaning doctors are taking them at their word they were ever ill. "It doesn't serve anyone well," he explained, for an employee with the flu to visit the doctor for the sole purpose of obtaining a sick note. "If somebody does have the flu, they could be highly con- tagious in an environment where there are people who are perhaps immune-suppressed or more sus- ceptible to germs. We don't want those individuals at doctors' of- fices unless they really need to go see a physician. If you have the flu, the best place for you is to be home." Scott Wooder, president of the Ontario Medical Association, re- cently asked employers to forego asking for doctor's notes, saying they should be encouraging workers to stay home when they're sick. There is also a concern workers may forgo the available ben- efit for fear they won't be able to obtain a doctor's note in time, leading to employees reporting for work when they feel under the weather. In a statement regarding the policy change, Bob Kinnear, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, said the new requirements "will perhaps save the TTC a few dol- lars by discouraging workers from taking the occasional sick day off because it is so difficult to see one's family doctor on such short notice… it is no benefit to TTC passengers to have vehicle operators report for duty if they are feeling ill." The policy change was in no way intended to prevent employ- ees from taking sick days, Ross said. It was simply introduced in an attempt to prevent employees from misusing the benefit. "If somebody is sick, is unwell, is unable to perform their duty or unfit for duty because of illness of medication, then this is why we have this benefit," Ross said. "We don't want people working or operating vehicles or doing any work that may put themselves, the public or their coworkers at risk. If they are ill, they have every right to stay home and get better." What may have started as an effort to curb absenteeism rates could, Chapman argued, lead to even more serious loss- es in productivity. "The paradox is if you have somebody who is not feeling well and decides to go to work because of sick time, they may contaminate more people and actually make themselves worse. So instead of having an individual stay home for a few days and that's the cost to the system, you've actually introduced a whole new epidemic, if you will, and more people could get infected." The Health Council of Canada reported as many as 73 per cent of Canadians did not get a seasonal preventative flu shot last year. If more emphasis was placed on preventative measures, such as immunization and progressive HR practices, Chapman said, absenteeism could be reduced without doctor's notes. "I absolutely don't believe there would be a material increase in the incidence of absenteeism (without a requirement for doc- tor's notes)," Chapman said. "I hope we all believe in the innate goodness of people and that most people go to work and want to do a good job, and the individuals who don't go to work don't go because they are truly sick." The TTC reports absenteeism rates have decreased significantly since changes were made to its policy on mandatory doctor's notes following sick leave. Critics say the new requirements put unnecessary strain on the system by putting workers in the waiting room seeking a sick note when they should be at home. A doctor's note is no guarantee: Doctors N.S.

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