WARNING: chucking a sickie now more risky
Ever contemplated chucking a sickie at your day job to get some extra hours in on your own business?
A recent ruling by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission has thrown a spanner in the works, with the commission ruling that an employer does not have to treat a medical certificate as binding.
It followed the case of a baggage handler who surfed while on sick leave.
McCullough Robertson Special Counsel Cameron Dean said if an employer could prove the sickness claim was fraudulent they could take disciplinary action.
“An employer is not required to accept a medical certificate as reflecting the truth,” he explained.
“If they have suspicions they have the right to make further enquiries.
“Employers have many more ways to gather evidence now such as Facebook, Twitter and text messages, so those taking a ‘sickie’ can be caught out when boasting to their friends or co-workers about what they are doing. If an employee has a company mobile phone, invoice records can also be examined to see where calls were made from on the day the employee was supposed to be sick at home.”
Around 270,000 Australians are absent from work on average each day – costing the economy billions in lost productivity – according to a report by the University of Western Australia.
