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Doctor's Note
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An employee recently missed a shift and called in to let us know. Employee was told to bring in a doctors note and he complied. The note was brought in next scheduled shift and was given to a shift su
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Doctor's Note
posted at 11/21/2010 10:36 AM EST
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Posts: 4
First: 11/21/2010 Last: 11/23/2010 |
An employee recently missed a shift and called in to let us know. Employee was told to bring in a doctors note and he complied. The note was brought in next scheduled shift and was given to a shift supervisor. The employee told the shift supervisor not to look at his information, citing medical confidentiality. The shift supervisor ignored the request, since she was instructed by the assistant manager to verify the note. The employee then mentioned something about HIPAA and how the shift supervisor has no authority regarding the note, discipline for missing work, etc., only the managers do. Was the employee correct? |
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Doctor's Note
posted at 11/22/2010 3:08 AM EST
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Posts: 1771
First: 10/24/2002 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Your employee is wrong - HIPAA legislation has nothing whatsoever to do with employers and medical information. HIPAA legislation requires doctors and others in the medical field maintain strict confidentiality around their patients' medical information. Period.
If your employee didn't want his medical information to be released to his employer, he shouldn't have given his doctor permission to include said medical information in the note. As far as who (managers, supervisors, whoever) at your organization gets to see, and take action upon, employee medical information, that's for your organization to decide. HIPAA doesn't address this issue (not even close!), and I somehow suspect that it's not within your employee's scope of responsibility to make this determination. |
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Doctor's Note
posted at 11/22/2010 4:19 AM EST
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Posts: 1103
First: 3/16/2007 Last: 8/19/2011 |
I'm not a lawyer and I don't think hrbth is either. I can't give legal advice. However, based upon my experience there shouldn't be a problem. At the extreme he could whine and cause a stink, perhaps he could threaten with an attorney. I'd simply give him the number of your corporate counsel.
Now, with that said, you also might want to caution his leadership about any undue attention, etc that they might inadvertently give him so that he cannot claim harassment. Just treat him like you do any other employee. |
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Doctor's Note
posted at 11/22/2010 4:29 AM EST
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Posts: 4
First: 11/21/2010 Last: 11/23/2010 |
Great thanks. He was suspended for a week for threatening the supervisor since he stated that "looking at medical records without permission is a federal offense." Hopefully this situation will be resolved when he returns to work. |
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Doctor's Note
posted at 11/22/2010 7:26 AM EST
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
"looking at medical records without permission is a federal offense."
Umm, if the employee gave his supervisor the note, it was WITH permission. So I am not seeing a "federal offense" here. Not sure how bright this employee is.... And I agree that HIPAA does not apply. Don't know that I would have suspended him. But then again, we don't ask for doctor's notes for every sickness either. But it is the employer's perogative to do so as long as the policy is consistently applied. I would consider reviewing policies to make sure (1) that the company policy is working the way that you want it to -- that is slowing unexcused absences and (2) that the information truly only goes to those who truly need it, just to respect employee's privacy. That may be the supervisor if they are tasked with keeping track of unexcused time. But at this point, it is up to the company policy how far you want to go. |
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Doctor's Note
posted at 11/22/2010 2:02 PM EST
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Posts: 32
First: 11/16/2010 Last: 1/3/2011 |
Hi =
The employee has some definite concerns regarding the privacy of his health information. We could guess at what those concerns might be: that the information might be used against her/him and ultimately affect her/his employment; that if others in the workplace find out about these health issues, he/she will be treated differently; and/or the person may be anxious and fearful about a medical condition. However, rather than guess, I would ask the employee in a confidential setting what his/her concerns are. You may be able to alleviate the situation by reviewing your organization's confidentiality policies regarding protected health information with the employee and assuring him/her that employee medical information is used only for the purposes outlined in your policy. If this approach isn't helpful, there may be other things going on that the employee is uncomfortable discussing with you. If this happens, you may at least by this point have enough information to begin to formulate a "Plan B." Unfortunately, the situation has already escalated and has resulted in an adverse action against the employee. However, I don't believe it's too late to take a remedial approach. For the employee to take this issue to a level of "threatening" a supervisor, and thereby risking employment, indicates to me that there's likely a lot more going on. Good luck with this situation. It would be great if you could update us (without giving out any confidential information). Take care. Debra |
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Doctor's Note
posted at 11/23/2010 11:48 AM EST
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Posts: 544
First: 9/27/2004 Last: 9/13/2011 |
This is what happens when everything under the sun is legislated, people think they are protected by laws that don't exist because most of us are not attorneys. Maybe there wasn't a violation, but the employee thinks there was one. Why can't people just behave reasonably?
I've been a supervisor, if an employee came to me and asked me not to look at the note I would have explained that I had a need to validate it and ask what we could do to solve that dilemma - could I call the doctor, could the employee have the doctor rewrite the note with no sensative information, would the employee be willing to trust me to not disclose the information - whatever. It was very rare that I ever needed to send anyone home for insubordination and when I did we were always able to overcome the conflict. |
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Doctor's Note
posted at 11/23/2010 12:28 PM EST
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Posts: 32
First: 11/16/2010 Last: 1/3/2011 |
Hi, deltac -
I really appreciate your response to this situation. I think approaching it from the perspective of the employee can be very helpful. For such a strong reaction, the employee clearly has deep concerns - concerns that may not be obvious. Developing trust in these under sensitive circumstances is so important. If you immediately reach in your toolkit and pull out a hammer, you may be missing an opportunity to discover a more durable resolution. Thanks for your insights. Debra |
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