Home | News | FIRM DEMANDS PRESCRIPTION WITH SICK NOTE - EMPLOYEES

FIRM DEMANDS PRESCRIPTION WITH SICK NOTE - EMPLOYEES

Font size: Decrease font Enlarge font

NHLANGANO – A textile company is rejecting sick notes and demanding that employees should also produce prescription documentation, which has been viewed by employees as divulging the exact nature of their illness.   


Employees of Ho’s Enterprise, a garment factory based in Nhlangano, are increasingly complaining about the problem and there has been a general concern that their employers could misuse highly sensitive medical information they receive. In the latest incident, an employee of the company was suspended by management after she produced a sick note, which the employer refused to accept without scrutinising the employee’s prescription form in order to be satisfied that indeed she was attended to by a genuine medical practitioner.

The employee refused to bring the prescription card and, instead, returned to the hospital to report the problem she had encountered at her workplace. In a bid to assist her, a medical practitioner based at the Nhlangano Health Centre wrote a letter confirming that the employee had been to the hospital and was given a day off duty.


In the letter, the medical practitioner explained that the law prohibited them to disclose the employee’s illness ‘as it is confidential and not allowed by law’. “If there is anything specific you require, please indicate it in writing,” read the correspondence from the hospital, which was directed to the company.


The company, however, would hear none of it as it went ahead and suspended the employee for alleged misconduct, which was specified as ‘fraud (medical certificate)’. This is contained in a notice to attend a disciplinary hearing directed to the employee.
                                                                                                       

Comments (0 posted):

Post your comment comment

Please enter the code you see in the image: