Sick Cert from Doctor - "Nature of Illness"

[podgerodge]

Is it ethical for Human Resources section to insist on knowing what is actually wrong with an individual rather than just trusting a doctor that the person is unfit for work?

If it is, does anyone consider it unfair (in the Public Service) that these details are passed on to low grades as opposed to at least confining it to Management.

 

[sluice44]

I'd imagine the Doctor's Cert would say, 'unfit to work because of X.'

It would be very bad form if this info left the HR dept.

Management may need to know that an employee will be absent for, say, 6 months because of, say, a bad back - because they'll have to arrange a replacement and maybe change the working conditions on H&S grounds. It may be unethical & illegal if one's colleague's found out (because of the data protection act).

 

[Magoo]

It's reasonable that a HR section should be aware of the medical condition of staff. In senstive cases, you could request that the nature of your illness be disclosed verbally to certain individual(s) and that no record of nature of illness be recorded.

In any event, a good HR department should be above the practice of disclosing this type of info to third parties. I accept, however, that this isn't always the case.