Tube workers who are sick while on annual leave have been shocked to find out that management are demanding medical certificates even for the first seven days of sickness. Excuse us, we thought we were allowed to self-certify for the first week.
Apparently, there is a new policy that doctor's notes are required during leave. Once again, management seem to think that we are all a bunch of skivers who feign sickness when we are off just so we can get the leave back and be off again later in the year. So they want proof of sickness. Charming.
The unions are all arguing against this new policy, but management have imposed it anyway. That's when the arguing stops and the dispute resolution begins, right?
And so we are. But management reckon they are within their rights to demand this, saying that self-certification counts in terms of verifying that you are sick, but for you to get Company Sick Pay instead of just Statutory Sick Pay, they demand a doctor's note. The problem is, of course, that doctors don't have to give you a certificate within the first seven days because you are legally allowed to self-certify! And even when they are willing, they charge.
To add insult to injury, as this is a new policy and neither management nor the unions have told us about it, people are being caught unawares, having a manager demand a medical certificate when it is too late to get one because the doc won't certify that you were ill last week because s/he didn't see you then and you're alright now!
What a farce. Sick system.
