MacFarlane pushes for end to doctor’s notes for sick days
Green MLA argues medical providers slowed down by note requests
Green MLA Matt MacFarlane is urging the the Dennis King government to do away with a requirement that civil servants obtain a doctor's note when calling in sick.
Doing so, he said, would ease some of the administrative burden facing the province's doctors.
In recent days, MacFarlane has questioned both the province's health minister and finance minister on the subject of doctors notes for sick workers.
MacFarlane has argued that the valuable time of physicians is often taken up by writing sick notes to patients due to provisions in labour laws that allow employers to require proof of illness.
The current collective agreement between the Public Service Commission and the Union of Public Sector Employees sets out a requirement that staff to produce a sick note after their fifth consecutive day of sick leave.
On April 9 during question period in the P.E.I. legislature, MacFarlane urged Finance Minister Jill Burridge to review this policy.
MacFarlane acknowledged that some might see five days as a lengthy period of absence from work due to illness.
But he raised an example of a single mother who was required to obtain a sick note.
“Last year she got the flu and took a few days off. And as so often happens, her young child caught the same flu,” MacFarlane said.
“After the five-day mark, the payroll department demanded a sick note. And she had no option but to take her sick child around for three days to five different walk-in clinics to accommodate the needs of the payroll department."
MacFarlane argued many employees might be in a similar situation, particularly during recent respiratory illness seasons.
"Will you do your part, minister, to reduce the burden on our primary care and emergency room doctors and immediately review that policy?" MacFarlane asked Burridge.
Burridge said she would look into the matter.
"Absolutely. Yeah, we'll take a review of that,” Burridge said.
In an interview after question period, Burridge clarified that new union negotiations are expected next year. She said this could be looked at at that point.
"The UPSE civil collective agreement expires next year. So I think that is a great opportunity to really look at this," Burridge said.
HEALTH MINISTER SUPPORTS REMOVAL
The province's Employment Standards Act also allows employers to require employees who take three days of sick leave in a row to provide a sick note signed by a medical professional.
In the legislature on April 5, MacFarlane asked Health Minister Mark McLane if he would support changes to employment laws that allow employers to require the notes. MacFarlane said he has spoken to one ER doctor who said they “never go through a shift without someone asking for a sick note.”
“Is this an issue that has been discussed with the frontline folks who are called on to write these notes – doctors and nurse practitioners – or around the cabinet table with your colleagues?” MacFarlane asked.
McLane said he agreed with the premise of MacFarlane's question, noting that overstretched doctors should face fewer unnecessary demands on their time.
“I don't believe sick notes are probably required in this day and age, with the pressures on our health-care system,” McLane said.
When asked about changes to the Employment Standards Act provisions around sick notes, McLane said he “would support anything to reduce administrative burden for our physicians anywhere in our system.”