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Why this GP wants employers to stop asking for medical certificates (www.abc.net.au)

submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

16 comments fedilink hide all child comments

[Dr] Max Mollenkopf estimates he sees two or three patients each day at his GP practice in Mulubinba/Newcastle who don't need treatment but require a medical certificate for work.

For employees, a trip to the doctor for a medical certificate can be time-consuming and costly, especially if your appointment isn’t bulk-billed.

Meanwhile, these appointments can take clinical time from people who are genuinely sick, Dr Mollenkopf says.

"If someone is sick and they want to see me, every day of the week I want them to be able to come in," he says.

"I didn't sign up to do medicine to do HR policy on behalf of large corporations."

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (7 children)

I think its not really a problem to seek proof and still get paid. There needs to be an element of trust, but the few that abuse that trust ruin it for everyone.

What we shouldn't be doing is wasting tax payer money on these certs. It should be a private appointment paid for by the conpanybthwt wants it with no rebate. I assume they won't be as necessary then.

I also thi k we should look at benefits like sick pay to be paid by government rather than employer. For large companies, it cones out in the wash but small companies are dying off and cash flow is probably the biggest issue they have.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (6 children)

Nah, fuck that. Sick pay is literally built into your contract as an entitlement. If you get it, your yearly salary as presented to you as your employment already accomodates x days sick, same as x days holidays. You can't 'abuse' it, if you run out of sick leave then it comes out of annual, or you don't get paid. There is no rort, it's already part of your farking salary.

[+] [email protected] -7 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Yes, but you are not productive as an employee when unwell. Small business see their customers and employees face to face and for the most part treat them well. Some will fare better by lick as their employees will be less sick. Others will fare worse as they will have more sick employees. For a large company, it comes out in the wash.

What were doing is shifting the risk onto small businesses, which are already struggling to compete. Making it an even playing field is not the same as it being in your contract already. We could nationalize the risk and improve benefits. Its two different things. Its not like we need to have the taxpayer pay. We can already know the average cost and charge that through payroll tax or disability insuranfe which is already b required. So business is no worse off on average, no extra taxes and no fsffing with sock leave.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

I love hearing managers complain that managing people is difficult. That's your job and it costs what it costs. There's no need to subsidise all businesses.

It's the monopoly of large business that's screwing you, not sick leave.

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