A friend of mine has been very sick in the last 2 weeks, probably with influenza. He has been at home, with fever, aches, and horrible coughing at night. He stayed home from work, appropriately, both to take care of himself, and also to not expose all of the rest of us to the infection. He was very sick. It was also almost certainly a virus, possibly influenza, and he already had an antibiotic Rx to use as needed. So, there was no need to see the doctor.
Now he is 90% recovered, up and about in the home, still coughing, but much better. He is ready to return to work.
But, wait............
His boss tells him that, because he was out longer than a week, he needs to have a "return to work' form filled out by his doctor, and that he can't return to work until something like 2 days after they receive the form? HUH??
So, he scrambles to schedule an appointment with the primary care physician, which is scheduled for 2 days from now.
The boss/ HR is to send the return to work form via email.
But, ironically, in this day and age of email culture, they are UNABLE to email the form!
Only part of it transmits. They try again, and fail again.
They also do not have the form on a website (nor is the "policy" indicated above posted on a website).
So, they have to send the form through the USPS.
It doesn't arrive in time for the doctor's appt, which was made only to have the doctor bless the return to work.
My friend downloads a standard FMLA form and takes it to the doctor. The doctor also writes a brief note indicating the diagnosis and permission to return to work.
Now there is a question if this will be good enough/ sufficient for the company/ HR policy?
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My friends calls HR. HE explains the above scenario. The HR robot responds only by reading him the policy, makes no effort to interpret, intercede or help.
What good is an HR person who can only read policy (we don't need a person to read us a policy, just post the policy) and not act as a human being to further the well being of employees and the company?
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Also, is this good use of the healthcare system?? Doctor as gate keeper for the employer.
Should sick patients have to compete for doctors attention/ schedules with people who are recovering and in need of having forms filled out? Should health care institutions have to hire individuals who only process the return to work forms for employers? What is the lowest level of training that the insurance company will accept to process these forms? Is this really physician work?
Yes, I realize there are those who would fake illnesses, and possibly you could detect this by involving physicians before the return to work.
Or, perhaps it is a company liability risk, that an ill worker returns and then something happens to them.
And, I recognize that it is unusual to be out for 2 weeks with a viral illness, but it is flu season, and it did happen, so it is clearly possible to happen.
But, it shouldn't be necessary to have the doctor write you a note for everything you do.
Its no wonder people don't take personal responsibility for things as they should.
They are treated as children.
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And where is the HR accountability in the following
a) email incompetence
b) not posting the policy that they read you when you call them
c) not having the forms available through their website
d) not helping the employee navigate the system. Is the sick employee the enemy? When you are sick its hard enough without having to look for forms and meet employment requirements.
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What is the institutional gain if an employee can't navigate the HR return to work forms properly? Do they deny the employee sick time paid salary that would have otherwise come?
What is the institutional gain to requiring a 2 day interval between the signing of the form and the return to work? It seems this would be a loss of valid eligible work by the employee.
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