Rural doctors are being "overwhelmed" with patients wanting medical certificates for small-scale illnesses and it is time to streamline the sick leave system, according to one regional Queensland GP.
Dr Ewen McPhee is an Emerald-based GP and former president of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia and Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine.
He said amidst a nasty cold and flu season in Queensland, workplaces needed to develop "reasonable" policies to manage staff illness.
"The challenge for doctors and nurses and hospitals and GPs is we're overwhelmed with people's coughs, colds and runny noses, wanting medical certificates," Dr McPhee said.
"I appreciate employers like to see medical certificates, but it increases the burden on access for people who really need to see doctors.
"There needs to be some common sense around this sort of thing, in understanding that medical certificates are a burden on the system.
When do you need a certificate?
Sick leave policies vary depending on the workplace. Some employers require them for a Monday or Friday, before or after annual leave or public holidays, or when more than two days of sick leave are required.
Others may not require them at all.
According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, all employees except casuals are entitled to paid sick and carer's leave.
But under the Fair Work Act, an employee has to let their employer know they are going to take the leave, and an employer can request evidence for as little as one day or less off work.
The Act does not specify what type of evidence must be given.
"[However] the evidence has to convince a reasonable person that the employee was genuinely entitled to the sick leave," an Ombudsman spokesperson said.
"An employee's award or agreement might have extra rules about when they need to provide evidence and what type of evidence they have to give."
Michael O'Brien, Senior Industrial Relations specialist with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland, said there was flexibility for sick leave policies under the Act, and employers might not be aware there were multiple options for "evidence".
"The IR industrialisation systems are very complex, and I would advocate for employers and businesses to have better access to education to help better understand the system," Mr O'Brien said.
He said employers might also ask for evidence to ensure people were not coming back into the workplace while still unwell.
Council of Small Business Organisations Australia CEO Alexi Boyd said medical certificates were necessary for some workplaces, to ensure they were kept "fair and equitable".
"The system needs to be there to ensure that everybody is treated equally," she said.
"To have some guidance on what to do is crucial, while keeping flexibility within the system.
"All small businesses are different [and] there is sometimes the need for a certificate as a result of compliance ... small businesses are trying to do due diligence."
'An important entitlement'
Dr Maria Boulton, AMA Queensland President, said she was supportive of the "conversation" around workplace sick leave agreements relying less on medical certificates.
"I think it's time that we consider what burden we're placing on those practices, if we're only requesting a medical appointment just for a piece of paper," she said.
While obtaining a certificate has become somewhat easier, through online consultations and pharmacists being able to issue one, those services are often not bulk-billed, or available everywhere.
Godfrey Moase from the United Workers Union said requiring medical certificates was also a burden for employees.
"We've got to get to a space where we view sick leave as an important entitlement that is not just an individual right, but a measure in place for social protection and looking after our community," he said.
"We have seen the importance and the value on workers being able to take paid time off to recuperate, to isolate, and in order to turn up to work to be healthy and not spread any sort of disease or contagion amongst their co-workers."
