Notes act as a deterrent for those who would abuse the system
There’s a storm brewing over doctors’ notes, and it’s being fed by the H1N1 flu virus, which is ravaging most parts of Canada.
Doctors across the country are appealing to employers to drop the requirement — at least temporarily — for employees who take sick days to get a note from their physician explaining the absence. The logic of medical professionals is sound and pretty tough to argue with.
“Employers need to recognize that, by requiring a sick note, they are encouraging those who are experiencing their worst symptoms and are most infectious to go out, when they should be home in bed,” said Suzanne Strasberg, president of the Ontario Medical Association (OMA), adding the health-care system needs to focus on patients who need care, not those who “just need a note.”
Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer of health, echoed those concerns.
“We have a health-care system that needs to address serious issues,” he said. “We do not have the capacity to have a lot of people who are well going into doctors’ offices just to get a sick note.”
Read between the lines and it’s evident there is friction between employers and medical professionals over the use of doctors’ notes. Doctors apparently see them as a frivolous waste of time, while employers view them as a critical attendance-management tool.
The OMA is urging employers to trust the workforce and urging workers not to take advantage of this year’s flu situation to take a fake sick day. In theory, it’s a great idea. Most workers, after all, don’t abuse sick days and deserve their employers’ trust. But it’s not those workers employers are concerned with — it’s the ones who try to cheat the system at every turn.
Jay Lockley, a senior investigator with Windsor Investigation Services in Windsor, Ont., has spent the last decade conducting surveillance — often on behalf of employers and insurance companies that suspect a worker on disability leave is faking it.
“I’ve worked thousands of files over the years and for every 10 files I work, I would say a minimum of eight are scamming,” said Lockley. “At best, 20 per cent of the claims we investigate are legit.”
And that’s the dilemma facing employers. Clearly, some people will abuse the system. Doctors’ notes — even though they’re often vague and sometimes given to a patient when asked, without question — can act as a deterrent to the abuse of sick time and short- and long-term disability.
While employers should take the advice of doctors and temporarily suspend the requirement for a note for sick days, once this “unprecedented flu season” — as the OMA called it — is over, things should return to the status quo. It’s not perfect but it’s the best system we have at the moment.
