WA medical certificates

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SamanthaF

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16 March 2019
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I have received a contract with a few things that I have concerns about what are your thoughts on this below statement??

“Submission of a medical certificate may not always be regarded as sufficient justification for accepting your absence. In deciding whether your absence is acceptable The Employer will not tolerate any non-genuine absences, and any such instances will result in disciplinary action being taken”
 

Rod

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27 May 2014
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I'd cross it out. The employer cannot overrule a doctor's certificate.
 
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Tim W

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28 April 2014
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Well...
  • Join your Union.

  • Lots of employers think they know better than doctors about whether or not an event of Sick Leave genuinely relates to an illness. And if that illness was "serious enough".

  • This employer may have a history of workers taking non-genuine sick leave ("taking a sickie").
    Don't be among them; and/or

  • In some fields of work, an employer needs to be sure that a worker is indeed medically fit for their job.
    And, for those kinds of work, they are (mostly) entitled to have you checked out by their own doctor for that.
    Understand that we can't tell from your post above if your job involves phones and computers and admin work, or involves driving a mile-long coal train; and/or

  • If your employer is a large corporate, then join your union. This is because you will need protection from your employer's ignorant over-reliance on the witchcraft inherent in the so-called profession of "Human Resources".

  • If your employer is not a large corporate, then they are probably too cheap to get proper IR advice,
    and (worse case scenario) may have just got some random document off the internet, or (heaven forbid)
    written it themselves.
    In which case, in anticipation of stuff ups in the future, join your union.
 

SamanthaF

Active Member
16 March 2019
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I work for a small Private Dental Clinic - My role is dental assistant with admin work. I don't believe we have a union.
 

Rod

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27 May 2014
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It is not worth jeopardising your job over. Try crossing it out, and if that fails, there's an excellent chance any refusal to accept any certificate would be deemed by a court to be unacceptable.
 
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Tim W

Lawyer
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28 April 2014
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