Future Potential Employers Requesting Sick-Leave History

Saudade

Hi. I don't really know where to start here, but any advice or points in the right direction would be really appreciated.

I'm suffering from a mental illness and I feel like I need to take some time off work. I'm not really sure if it's depression, anxiety, or mental exhaustion possibly a combination of all three, I've had some problems in my personal life, and I am seriously thinking about going to see a doctor this week and asking for maybe 4 or 5 weeks off just to get my head in order. I'm having a few problems with daily life and losing concentration and focus in the workplace.

I work for a large multi-national company. My manager is a spiteful person and one to hold grudges, but I've never dealt with the HR department before. I've heard mixed reviews about them. Perhaps I'm over-thinking things, but my main concern is how my sick-leave will affect my career prospects in the future;

I can't imagine applying for a new job, getting on great with the interviewer, and then they call my current manager for a reference and learn that I had several weeks off with a mental health problem, and then of course losing that job opportunity.

Can my current employer disclose my medical / sick-leave history to any future employers during a reference request? Is this illegal? Or just a risk I will have to take?

I tried to Google for information, but nothing concrete about the laws in this situation. I would be very reluctant to take mental health sick leave if it will damage my future career and hold me back for the rest of my working life.

I guess I'm asking if there is any law which would protect my medical confidentiality?

-Whilst I'm here, I may as well also ask about sick-leave certs; do you need to get one on a weekly basis, or can a GP sign you off for any set period of time with just the one cert to cover the full period?

Many thanks. Enjoy the rest of your week :-)

bisounours

No, they cannot disclose your medical absences. Your GP can sign you off for the amount of time he/she deems necessary, however the company may request follow-up visits by their own company doctor.

The above being said, I note that Dublin can be quite small, and depending on the industry you're in - all it takes is someone who is a friend of someone to casually mention down in the pub - "that person was out for x amount of time"

davo10

bisounours wrote: »

No, they cannot disclose your medical absences. Your GP can sign you off for the amount of time he/she deems necessary, however the company may request follow-up visits by their own company doctor.

The above being said, I note that Dublin can be quite small, and depending on the industry you're in - all it takes is someone who is a friend of someone to casually mention down in the pub - "that person was out for x amount of time"

Not quite. I recently had a written reference request form from the HSE for a former member of staff, one of the questions was about absences due to illness over the previous 12 months, they did not request details about the illness itself, just the amount of time taken off.

Op your contract will outline the frequency with which you must provide certificates, typically this is required after the third day absent and weekly/fortnightly thereafter.

Stheno

davo10 wrote: »

Not quite. I recently had a written reference request form from the HSE for a former member of staff, one of the questions was about absences due to illness over the previous 12 months, they did not request details about the illness itself, just the amount of time taken off.

Op your contract will outline the frequency with which you must provide certificates, typically this is required after the third day absent and weekly/fortnightly thereafter.

Same here anytime I've had any detailed background checks they require me to disclose any sick leave time off

bisounours

Does the request have to come from the HSE ? Our company policy does not allow us to divulge any such information to other prospective employers - only confirm function and term of employment.

Manach

Offhand, I'd never been asked about illness/time off and it would seem unusual for future employers to ask such question, as the former firm would have no benefit to recall such records?

Stheno

Manach wrote: »

Offhand, I'd never been asked about illness/time off and it would seem unusual for future employers to ask such question, as the former firm would have no benefit to recall such records?

I've had four background checks over the years, and each time the information has been requested

Companies tend to keep it as part of HR/Payroll records especially since illness benefit became taxable.

JigglyMcJabs

Don't worry about that now OP, take the time you need and do go to see the doctor, might be worth getting a referral for some counselling to talk through how you're feeling. If you try to muddle through, it will just be harder to deal with down the road.

bisounours

Yes, I'd be a bit worried about that too especially when it came to being accused of discrimination down the line. Hence the policy to only confirm function and term of employment.

davo10

bisounours wrote: »

Yes, I'd be a bit worried about that too especially when it came to being accused of discrimination down the line. Hence the policy to only confirm function and term of employment.

Discrimination? The truth is a defence against discrimination and employee attendance records along with certification would confirm the absences. There is no requirement to provide a reference but nor is there anything preventing an employer giving a more detailed, truthful one. I see no issue at all in providing information regarding periods of absence, of course no info as to the reason for the absence would be given. I think all employers would like to know if the applicant has s tendency to take a lot of time off, this is different from discrimination due to a disability.

davo10

bisounours wrote: »

Does the request have to come from the HSE ? Our company policy does not allow us to divulge any such information to other prospective employers - only confirm function and term of employment.

No, my former employee applied for a job with the HSE, they were the perspective employer hence the request from them about my former employee's history of absence from work. The important point here is that it is standard for a state run public service to ask about absences due to illness in previous employment.

The_Conductor

Public sector and many private sector companies will request length of time on sick leave over a preceding period of time (in the public sector the previous 4 years rolling period would be normal). Its getting incredibly common in the banking sector too. General rule of thumb- over 90 days (incl. of weekends) in the preceding 4 years, rules a prospective employee out. Only exception- is if the person makes a request to be assessed outside of the number of sick day rules- in which case a doctor-to-doctor report is sent to the company doctor (or if in the public sector- the CMO) for assessment (the doctor to doctor report would be strictly confidential and not shared with personnel/hr).

Saudade

Many thanks to everybody for all the replies.

So the bottom line is, prospective employers are well within their legal rights to request medical length of absences history. That much seems clear in this thread.

But are prospective employers within their legal rights to request the reason of absence?

The reason of absence is something I would be more concerned about rather than length of absence, because of mental illness being unpredictable, I could understand the potential discrimination.

Thanks once again guys for taking a couple of minutes out of your day to answer.

gordongekko

i would have guessed there would be data protection issues giving out personal information like this.

penovine

Hi OP,

If you need time off work, you need it... these things have a habit of building up if they are not dealt with as I have learnt.
Your doc can sign you off with "x"... it does not have to be for mental health reasons...
Talk to him/her.
People get ill - you said you need a few weeks off.. that happens a lot of people, whether it be for a back problem, persistent kidney infections or what ever..

You have already got info on the legal aspects of your query; but to add to them, i'd say that a potential employer would look unfavourable on someone who say was out ill a lot of mondays or fridays; days here and there for no real reason.

A block of sick leave has more weight.. implies a real reason...

Youngblood.III

A quick email to the data protection commissioner would sort this one out...I for one would think this is excessive information,
You should get the job on suitability, qualifications, merits and interviews...what'll they fecking ask for next...a mind drill.

Youngblood.III

penovine wrote: »

Your doc can sign you off with "x"... it does not have to be for mental health reasons...

Depression is classed as a disability, so if a potential employers ruled you out over that, wouldn't they be a discriminating against you.

The_Conductor

In essence- an employer could ask for the length of absences due to sick leave in a preceding time period (4 years in the Public Sector- it probably differs elsewhere)- but not what the sick leave itself was. If a prospective employee wanted to know whether the sickleave was of a nature that it might impact on a prospective employee's ability to do the job they were applying for- the next step would be for them to request the employee attend a medical with the company doctor as part of the recruitment process (or with the CMO in the case of the public sector)- and there would be a strictly confidential doctor to doctor report sent from the person's consultant to the CMO or the company doctor- which under no circumstance would be shared with the company in question. The doctor would have to make a judgement call as to whether it materially affected the candidate's ability to do the job- and state yay or nay to the personnel officer. There may be mechanisms built into the job offer to mitigate any illness (such as an elongated probation period for example).

As to whether or not you were claiming that you were being discriminated against on the basis of a disability- thats a minefield that I really don't think any of us could even begin to discuss here (or indeed should attempt to).

Mrs OBumble

Youngblood.III wrote: »

You should get the job on suitability,...

Physical fitness and health status is an important aspect of suitability, for many jobs.