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Employee sickness and doctors note

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MikeB1977

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Apr 12, 2009
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Hello,
I have a member of staff who has regular time off with migrains and it seems that its becoming more and more frequent.

I am a little concerned as when he applied for the job role he told me he had no medical conditions which will effect his ability to perform his job role (which involves using a computer all day).

I would like to know if it is resonable for me to ask him for a doctors note confirming his illness and furthermore working with computers all day is not causing them in any way.

He claims he is taking medication for them so assume a doctor will have a note on file of this medical condition.

Do any other employers have experience of employees with this condition and any advice moving forward?

I would like to think he is not fabricating the illness but previously he has had them for a number of days before a planned holiday, so I am both suspicious and curious.
 
You need to refer him (at your cost) to an occupational health advisor
 
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Some migraine medication used to be available at the pharmacy to buy at the counter. My GP would have been unaware of what I took unless I told him.
 
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1, How long has he been employed by you
2, Do you conduct return to work interviews and record these
3, Have you carried out work placement risk assessments, ie screen usage, light, desk etc etc
 
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Thanks for this. We do carry out the work place risk assessments but he claims they do not effect his migraines.

He also claims to take medication to help him when he has them.

Would a request from his gp be unreasonable. He has told me his GP is aware of this problem.
 
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jurassic86 said:
Thanks for this. We do carry out the work place risk assessments but he claims they do not effect his migraines.

He also claims to take medication to help him when he has them.

Would a request from his gp be unreasonable. He has told me his GP is aware of this problem.
Click to expand...

Not all migraines have the same triggers.
Took me 15 years to work out all my triggers, no help from employers or private medical staff.
Migraleve helped me - doesn't prevent the things, does help when having one. Still needed a quiet dark room and several hours on occasion, other times was able to be functional after an hour or so.

Different people and different level of migraines.

Not sure what you want his GP to request.
 
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Maybe firstly confirm he suffers them and that it will or not effect his job?

I asked during interview if he had any ongoing medical conditions to which he said no. I feel that had I know he suffers with this condition it would have been a deciding factor in employing him or not.

If he's been to doctors who prescribe medication for this condition then his doctor can confirm he has them.
 
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I would suggest it you are sure you have all your 'ducks in a row' you need to be sitting down with him and taking the advice from Newchodge above.

But also as I mentioned make sure you are conducting formal return to work interviews when an employee returns from time off (sick). You need to instill a culture of your on the case, you are following things through, you will soon get a feel if someone is pulling the wool over your eyes as you suggest this particular employee maybe doing.

I am sure a lot of us have suffered from acute migraines bought on for all sorts of reason in a lot of cases stress, I know ive had to shut myself away in the odd dark room on occasion

The only times I have ever had to go down the info from doctor route was when people were off on very long term sickness. However at the same time we were offering a visit to our own company doctor............... now we are back to following Newchodge advice.
 
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jurassic86 said:
I asked during interview if he had any ongoing medical conditions to which he said no. I feel that had I know he suffers with this condition it would have been a deciding factor in employing him or not.
Click to expand...


You asked him during the interview whether he was disabled? And now you want to decide on what to do, based on this condition?


Some light bedtime reading for you, @jurassic86 .


Karl Limpert
 
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jurassic86 said:
Maybe firstly confirm he suffers them and that it will or not effect his job?

I asked during interview if he had any ongoing medical conditions to which he said no. I feel that had I know he suffers with this condition it would have been a deciding factor in employing him or not.

If he's been to doctors who prescribe medication for this condition then his doctor can confirm he has them.
Click to expand...

The GP won't know that it will or not affect his job.
First the GP doesn't know the person's job.
Second the GP should be concerned with medical matters.

Get occupational health report - not from his GP - and use that.

Could be something incredibly simple needed. Could be that you have to accept that some people will have migraines. Just like some people will have flu.
 
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jurassic86 said:
Maybe firstly confirm he suffers them and that it will or not effect his job?

I asked during interview if he had any ongoing medical conditions to which he said no. I feel that had I know he suffers with this condition it would have been a deciding factor in employing him or not.

If he's been to doctors who prescribe medication for this condition then his doctor can confirm he has them.
Click to expand...
You seem to imply that, had you known he had a disability, you would not have employed him. Be careful.
 
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It isn't the case that had he had a disability I would have not given him the job but when employing someone if the working conditions make them poorly you have a duty of care to ensure they are not making themselves ill.

Would you employ a pilot who is scared of heights
 
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You do not have a shred of evidence to suggest that the working conditions make him poorly.
 
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Yes exactly but my point is he's regularly having time off with a medical condition that I have no proof he has.

This in turn is leading to him having regular time off whereby he isn't able to fulfil his job role.
 
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jurassic86 said:
It isn't the case that had he had a disability I would have not given him the job but when employing someone if the working conditions make them poorly you have a duty of care to ensure they are not making themselves ill.

Would you employ a pilot who is scared of heights
Click to expand...

Strangely you can have a pilot scared of heights. The act of flying a plane does not necessarily trigger the terror reaction.
People can be scared of going up a ladder or being 10 feet in the air on a garage roof with a drop right in front of them and have no problem being hundreds of metres in the air within a plane. As a pilot.
 
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jurassic86 said:
Yes exactly but my point is he's regularly having time off with a medical condition that I have no proof he has.

This in turn is leading to him having regular time off whereby he isn't able to fulfil his job role.
Click to expand...

And you have no proof he hasn't got it.
Not as simple as 'blood test is positive, patient had a heart attack' - may well be diagnosed simply by doctor discussing the matter with the person. Or pharmacist discussing the matter...

So do as you were advised.
 
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Occupational health .. Any idea where I can start to find one? Is their a register I can search. Appreciate all your help and advice.
 
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Martyn Thompson said:
It's a tricky situation to be in... I had one person who was continuously sick and had to let them go. It hurts small companies a lot when staff don't pull through on things.
Click to expand...

It hurts the staff member too.
Not always something that can be done.

I had a great boss once in a small company - he had a heart attack then heart bypass op then when he got home and was walking (as you do) after the bypass he got run over on a zebra crossing. Broke his leg in several places - too much time off work sick so the company got rid of its single best employee.
Turnover dropped by over a million in the 12 months after he went off sick.

Heart attack can happen to anyone.
 
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Where in the country are you based?
 
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I have said this before:

1, Have we actually sat down with this employee and undertaken return to work interviews, have we established there is a pattern to there sickness. Are they off sick for a couple of days before every holiday, or have a couple of days off extra after every Bank Holiday

Do you have these meetings, do you record them, and is there a pattern to their attendance?

I would suggest as soon an employee realizes they are going to have to account for time off in a more regulated way anyone who is thinking of swinging the lead will quite well have second thoughts.

2, Ok we have sat down with this employee, there’s no pattern to the sickness, have you asked what is bringing on hi migraines, and is it issues at work, issues at home, do they actual need some help, have you asked?

I had a marketing Manager suddenly noticed performance had gone down, she was not her usual self making quite a few errors. Sat down over a cup off coffee. Turns out she’s going through a divorce she felt a failure and was keeping all to herself and was short of money.

A good company would be there to support her, we did, in fact, and strangely one thing that came out of the meeting was she needed her eyes tested, forgot she could get a free eye test on the company. In short I paid for her new glasses and that Marketing Manager had my back for the next fifteen years.

Don’t under estimate sitting down and talking to your employees ……….. Do you know what is bringing on these migraines, maybe he just needs a new pair of glass’s
 
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Hi guys spoke to occupational health today who were really helpful. Essentially told me I need to get him referred. They will then assess his medication and write a report based on the results.

What they said is that if he is suffering with these and has no proof he's on medication they will write to his gp and ask for confirmation he's on the said medication.

Sounds the right way to go. To ensure firstly he gets the correct support he needs and also to ensure I'm doing all I can to help.
 
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jurassic86 said:
Hi guys spoke to occupational health today who were really helpful. Essentially told me I need to get him referred. They will then assess his medication and write a report based on the results.

What they said is that if he is suffering with these and has no proof he's on medication they will write to his gp and ask for confirmation he's on the said medication.

Sounds the right way to go. To ensure firstly he gets the correct support he needs and also to ensure I'm doing all I can to help.
Click to expand...

And you will find his GP ringing him asking if he is on the particular medication....
If its not a prescription one.
 
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