The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Concerning doctor's notes and employment
squeefish
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm sixteen and work part time (fifteen to twenty hours a week) at a retail job. If someone takes a day off due to being sick, our employer insists that we get a doctor's note no matter what, despite the fact that the shift remains unpaid. I found this to be kind of strange considering all my other friends at retail jobs can take sick days whenever they want without written proof that they were actually sick (can you get a doctor's note for really bad menstrual cramps or that kind of thing?) Plus, doctor's notes can cost money, so...hm. And I mean, I don't have a car or driver's license yet, and if I'm puking or even just really not feeling well, I'm certainly not going to sit on a bus for up to an hour just to get a little doctor's certificate. If we don't get a doctor's note at this place, we're written up, and if you get written up three times for anything you're fired.
Are they allowed to do this? I've worked there for six months, taken tons of extra shifts when other people didn't show up, been an all around great employee, and yet after the one day I took off due to being sick (a three hour shift of putting clothes away) I was given a stern lecture and written up for not getting a sick note. I tried researching this stuff but didn't get very far on google, unfortunately.
Please note that I'm in Canada.
Are they allowed to do this? I've worked there for six months, taken tons of extra shifts when other people didn't show up, been an all around great employee, and yet after the one day I took off due to being sick (a three hour shift of putting clothes away) I was given a stern lecture and written up for not getting a sick note. I tried researching this stuff but didn't get very far on google, unfortunately.
Please note that I'm in Canada.
squeefish on
0
Posts
If he still insists on writing you up, you can either get the note in the future, or not. If you don't (and I think I probably wouldn't), just accept the fact that you're going to be written up. If you have to be written up a third time, instead of calling in sick, call in and say "well, I'd call in sick, but I don't have a doctor's note, so... I quit."
In the U.S., they can do this, you are hired based on being able to show up for work and having transportation. If you were unable to go to the doctor right away, they assume you will go when you are able to or if serious enough that you will call an ambulance. If you are a minor, then they assume that your parents will take you to the hospital or clinic.
Other people that get a sick day without a doctor's notice are probaly earning accrued sick days and can legally get the day off without being counted absent. In many cases, this still requires a doctor's notice.
Of course, there's also the old "buddy-buddy with the boss situation" and when it comes to menstrual cramps the old "I hear you, sister" or the old "I'm a guy and I'm really uncomfortable discussing this, so please just let me get off the phone and don't worry about coming in to work today" scenario.
On the other hand, most people just don't care and life is patently unfair.
As for the friends thing...well, I suppose it's possible that they're earning those sick days, but I have many who have just started jobs and can take a day off whenever they want. Like I said, it isn't like this is crucial stuff - I'm just putting clothes away or working at the till with several other cashiers. If I were getting paid for the shift the rule would make perfect sense, but as it is, why should I take time and/or money proving to them that I'm sick if I'm not getting anything from them? Like I said, it's not like I'm taking sick days off regularly - I constantly take shitty unscheduled shifts for them just to be nice and have only called in sick once in six months there.
Thanks for the advice so far.
Other people get to take sick time because they have a different contract. If it happens again, go into a walk in clinic. All the doctor needs to write is,
"Squeefish saw me today regarding an illness causing them to miss work, they will return on XX/XX date"
If you're boss asks for anything more, you can and should report them to the governement under Employment Standards Legislation. They have a right to know that you can't make it to work, they have no right to know why.
So yes, you can go for cramps. Tell the doctor you have them, they suck, but you know it will pass and you need a note saying you saw them. It shouldn't be a problem and most walk in clinics will provide notes such as these for free.
It's unfair for the employee personally, but it is necessary to maintain a good business and an organized schedule. Think about how your fellow employees might feel about having to cover your shitty shift.
To reiterate the point, if there was no requirement to get a doctor's note or a punishment system, people could just go about all willy nilly taking days off to go see that new movie or to drive up to Canada to smoke some hash (U.S. point of view, joking) and it would be chaos. Businesses wouldn't be able to trust in their employees, employees that did show up to work would have to work more to cover the absent employees, and customers would be shortchanged.
I know your boss is an ass, all bosses are one collective ass.
Life is unfair, but since this job is not that important to you, don't sweat it. When you're older and driving and need the job, it'll make more sense.
Just be glad you're not in the military. It sucks ass to get a sick day in the military and you end up doing double the work you would have if you didn't take one, once your better. And when you're at war, short of having a major injury, you don't get a sick day. I rode down the highways in Iraq, puking off the top of a humvee, felt bad for the guys behind me.
I know exactly how that feels, as I do it all the bloody time for them :P It's not fun, but it's extra money, and since I cover so many other peoples' shifts all the time, I figure they can do the same for me once in a while.
Also, like I said, most retail jobs in my city don't seem to have any sort of doctor's note policy; they depend on us teenagers wanting money, which works just fine for the most part. Hence my frustration when my friends go "Oh man I've already worked like twenty hours this week, I'm calling in sick today."
I do understand your point, I just find the whole thing frustrating.
It's a wholly unreasonable, nigh-fascist policy designed to make being sick as big of a pain in the ass as possible.
Personally, I'd keep working until I got a second sick day, then start looking for another job, and quit as soon as I found one. But I'm an asshole, and believe in sticking it to people who deserve it.
Ah, well. I would agree that all my bosses were crackheads.
I've worked everywhere from small business jobs in service to corporations like Old Navy, Gap, and XM Radio. They all had the same policies when it came to this.
I do believe it is almost fachist, but it was in the employee contract and there are laws on their side.
I've had a few jobs where my boss didn't care, but it was up to him to decide since he owned the business. My favorite was working as an electrician's assistant. The pay was excellent and my boss canceled often enough for me to enjoy life. He never gave me shit about not coming in to work wether I was sick, my car wouldn't start, or I wanted to do something else that day.
I was going to say the same thing, but Thanatos beat me to it. Even when I was an intern many years ago, I've never had to do something as asinine as get a doctor's note when I've been sick.
Yes, sometimes people will take advantage of it - even if it's just to take a "sick day" to interview at a different company - but decent employees won't. If someone continuously abuses their ability to take sick days, there are plenty of other potential employees out there.
Part of the reason I think this is dumb is that in most cases, going to the doctor is a waste of their time, your time, and your money. In the US, it also contributes to rising health insurance costs. Going to the doctor is for when you think you have something that might not go away on its own, not the flu, not cramps, not some random virus that your coworkers with kids brought in from the plague pit of preschool.
http://www.thelostworlds.net/
The next time you need to miss a shift for being sick, instead of going to your next scheduled shift after that, go to the doctor. When he asks why you missed the second shift, tell him you had to go to the doctor, and ask him if he'd like you to miss the next shift to get a note from the doctor about how you missed the last shift getting a note from the doctor.
If you can find a related labor law in Canada they have broken, you got them, but my guess is they are following the law, and making your life shitty.
Hourly retail work is really a high turnover position, and 99% of employers really couldn't give a shit if you leaver or not, there is always another body out there.
Librarians harbor a terrible secret. Find it.
Yeah, that *is* hella wrong, they have no right to know why you were gone. It's none of their business and that's covered under Employment Standards Legislation from many many years ago. (In Canada) If the doctor asks what kind of note. All that is required is a note saying you saw the doctor.
"Atheleron saw me today regarding an illness causing them to miss work, they will return on XX/XX date"
Your boss wants to know why, tell 'em it was your herpes, or your rectal warts, your hantavirus, or none of their damn business.
People try to pull this shit all the time and it bugs the crap out of me. The only time that you need to release your medical records to your employeer is if you get hurt on the job, then they have the right to know what's going on. Other than that, "I wasn't here, I got help, I'm better"
If you can't come to work because of a nervous breakdown and you go see your psychiatrist, they have no right to know that's why you went.
If you're raped and need to see a doctor at a hospital, they have no right to know why you saw the doctor.
If you have a sickle cell crisis and need to go get pain meds, they still have no right not know.
Employers use medical problems as a reason to fire people. But because that is against the law, they use them as a reason, to find a reason to fire people.
Sorry about the rant, this kinda thing really grinds my gears.