employer contacting gp for a sick note

rainyrun

hope you can help..

My husband was very unwell and has been out sick since last Wednesday . He had a telephone consultation with his GP and they issued a sick certificate last week and sent to my husband by email.

He was in touch with his workplace and he fwd the sick cert to his employer. His employer did not accept the cert as it was electronic and not signed..which is fair enough( my husband didnt realise this, he is rarely ill and assumed as the gp sent it it was ok. My husband went to the gp to get a signed copy of the cert on Friday( he was too ill to drive before that day and the surgery is 40km away).

He spoke to his workplace yesterday and confirmed he would be back to work today( he starts late in the day)he was going to provide the signed cert today.

About an hour ago his gp called him to tell him someone from his workplace called the surgery looking for his work cert.. The gp of course did not provide this information as it is a breach of data protection but they called my husband to inform him.

My husband and I were in shock at this invasion of privacy. Is this illegal for an employer to contact an employees GP without his consent even if it is for a sick cert?

My husband has nothing to hide and is rarely ill.. he never pulls a sick day...so he was very shocked and taken aback that they called his gp without his knowledge or consent.

He wants to raise it as an issue ..he is not in a union, yet.....

I was quite shocked too. I have never heard of this happening and my thinking is that it is illegal and a breach of privacy.

would appreciate someone who has knowledge regarding this

SharkMX

Thats very bad form on the employers part. I wonder what other personal details they are delving into.

I had a serious medical event a few years back. Doctor signed me off for a month. When the month was up he signed me off for another month as i wasnt recovering fast enough.

My employer TOLD me that I needed to go to their doctor. I just told them to Foff. They could pay for my own GP if they wanted but i wasnt going to see their doctor. They protested but they were in the wrong.

Jim2007

Probably someone being over enthusiastic in the company or possibly even trying to be helpful so your husband would not have to track it down. In any case the doctor did as he is expected to do in such a situation.

So what do you want to do? file some kind of complaint, seek compensation, do something else?

dennyk

It's acceptable for your employer to contact your GP to verify a sick certificate (i.e. make sure it was actually issued by the GP in question and that the details provided in it regarding the date you can return to work are correct), but asking for the GP to provide a certificate directly to them or pressing them for additional information about you or your medical condition is not acceptable. Your husband's GP did the right thing in refusing that request.

That said, if they really did just ask for a copy of the existing certificate, I wouldn't necessarily assume malicious intent; someone there might have just been trying to save your husband some work or finish up processing their sick leave payment and honestly didn't realise that it wouldn't be appropriate to contact the GP to ask for the cert directly (or that the GP wouldn't be allowed to give said certificate to a third party in any case). Might just be a case of better training being required for your husband's HR staff rather than your employer deliberately trying to interfere with your husband's leave.

cml387

Given that the sick note is intended for the company anyway I can't see it's a big deal (but I wouldn't have done it).

skallywag

Your husband provided a sick cert from his GP to his company, but it was not in the format which they accept, as it was not signed. Your husband accepts that this is the case. His company subsequently contacted the same GP to acquire a copy of the exact same cert, but assumedly in a form which is indeed acceptable to them, e.g. with the required signature etc. No more information would be present that was anyway on the original cert.

Does this sum the situation up correctly OP?

If so, I am at a loss as to what you are shocked at an invasion of privacy? What part of his privacy was invaded, considering he had already sent the exact same cert to the employer, but without the required signature, etc. I do agree that the employer should not have contacted the doctor directly without your consent. However, it sounds to me that you are looking for a reason to be outraged, rather than thinking practically.