Is an employer entitled to refuse to accept medical certificates from a particular doctor in circumstances where the employer has concerns that the doctor in question does not have proper procedures in place in relation to the issue of such certificates, e.g. the employer is aware that a doctor's surgery previously issued medical certificates to employees who were on holidays during the period covered by the certificates?
Posted in : First Tuesday Q&A ROI on 5 October 2010 Issues covered:It would be inadvisable to implement a blanket policy of refusing to accept certificates from a registered medical practitioner. Firstly, it would not be regarded as reasonable of an employer to interfere with its employees’ choice of general practitioner. In addition, were the employer to attempt to do so, on the basis that this practitioner’s professional ethics or skill are somehow in question, this could be deemed defamatory, which in turn, could lead to proceedings against the employer by the doctor himself.
Notwithstanding the above, any employer, as a matter of best practice, should have a comprehensive sickness absence policy in place, which permits it to have an employee medically
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Back to Q&A's This article is correct at 02/09/2015
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