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HIPPA rules say that the nature of your medical procedure is not necessary to be shared with ANYONE other than staff at your doctors or insurance company personnel. Given the situation that the OP is posting about, in which someone else already was taking a day off and his taking off would apparently leave them shorthanded, I would say that simply stating that you had a doctor's appt would be sufficient. If there were more questions all one has to say is "It's a private matter, I'll bring you confirmation from my doctor's office if that's necessary". End of conversation.
It does? This is directly from the HHS.Gov website:
Requests from your employer
The Privacy Rule does not prevent your supervisor, human resources worker or others from asking you for a doctor’s note or other information about your health if your employer needs the information to administer sick leave, workers’ compensation, wellness programs, or health insurance.
A doctors note seems a bit extreme but then again you guys make the rules and your employees can vote with their feet.
My guess is that you work with a lot of dubious quality personnell, maybe manufacturing etc. and you have to weed through a lot of people with low skills and often shaking work habits paid low wages. It's easier to just run off some with stiff rules than have to deal with their constant BS.
My dad was a foreman for years and eventually the 3rd shift plant manager before he retired and I heard *a lot* of stories from him about jag-offs he had to deal with over the years.
I think some of the posters here are personalizing the doctors note thing because they are responsible, work in a professional environment and so forth....and have never had the experience of working with a segment of society that ditches work frequently, shows up drunk or high to work, tries to stab co-workers, drinks a 6-pk of beer in their car over lunch etc etc etc.
With that said, unless you've worked in certain parts of the labor pool, I think you should cut Convextech some slack because I don't think you quite understand what it can be like.
Probably. And low wages and stiff rules are directly correlated with bad attitudes and slacking off at work. There will always be people who take advantage of the system no matter what, but that's how it usually goes. (See Walmart for details).
there's sick time like PTO (I used my allocated days)
and there's sick time like aye, I'm throwing up from bad/cheap Chinese food, can't make into work today. Are you paid or not paid for these episodes? (salary or hourly) I dont work for a-holes, so 1 or 2 days here and there nobody notices, but if you consistently call in sick every other friday, expect to be fired. Because that's fair too.
most places have formal paid vs unpaid leave, and anything longer like short-term disability or long-term have very specific rules about the paperwork. But nowhere does the specifics cause, or the 'managers judgement' of the need/worthiness come into play. HR is not exactly your friend, but they do provide a perspective and clarification about some of these issues, away from your immediate manager. Call them.
Just practice saying "something medical..." and "I'm not really comfortable talking to you about something kinda personal... I'll get you a doctor's note if that's what you need".
Mgr might object if and only if, multiple people want the same day off. I can't have 25%-50% of the crew not showing up for work the friday before a 3 day holiday - unless you give enough notice so things can be juggled around ahead of time.
Quickie hand written note from doctor's office, saying generic 'procedure on day X, recovery time of Y, expectation to return to work on Z, restricted/unrestricted status' has always satisfied 99.999% of cases.
Reading this forum.... and this thread in particular..... makes me SO glad I never went back into the corporate world after I left Southwestern Bell in 1981 to complete my college education...... I remember then, even as a 21 year old, HATING being treated like a kindergartener.... Oh, I understand the reasons, rules that apply to all employees in all situations must be made and adhered to... but geeesh.....
I will admit there have been times over the years when I thought that the (pre 2008) job and pay and benefits stability would be nice.... but I have done alright over the years as a small business owner and now self-employed....
a doctor's note to prove I was sick or having a minor procedure?? wow!!
Thanks for all the responses, it's nice to hear both sides of a discussion. I let my boss know it was an outpatient procedure, I'll only be missing one day but I had to tell her it was a medical procedure rather than just a day off or just using PTO because my request would have been denied since another employee was off on this day as well. It was the only day I could get it done which is why I had to let her know it was a medical day off, otherwise, I think she has no right to know and most occasions I do not let her have any details of my life unless I tell her. She's just being nosey but I want her to realize she's crossing the line. We are rarely notified when she is out of the office for a day or if she's having a procedure done, not even one of her employees ask her any details of her life or why is she taking a day off. We simply don't care. We actually work better when she is gone! I want managers to act like adults not like babysitters and let me be a responsible adult that I am.
But I'll bet her boss knows...
Information like sick leave requets etc. go UP not DOWN the chain.
So is the issue about why a boss needs to know what medical procedure is being done, or is the issue about why a boss needs to know anything about what an employee does on his own time?
The last there goes right back to a boss telling you that you can't do so and so when you work for them. My take on it is that unless you signed a specific contract forbidding you to do such and such on your own time, the boss can't dictate your behavior on your time off unless he pays you 24/7. But let's not forget how many people have been fired from their jobs because of something they did on their own private time because the boss didn't like it.
My experience in the past would have me be the office pariah nowdays. I would never tell my boss or my coworkers anything about my home life, my problems, my hobbies, my politics, or my religion, and if I needed surgery or something, I'd call in sick or just pretend it came on suddenly. Yeah, I know that's a rotten thing to do to a boss, but I've had way too many bosses who have made employees come to work with flu or tell another employee she had to reschedule her cancer treatments to fit the work schedule and if she missed a critical one, too bad.
If you're a decent boss and work with your employees, they'll reward you. I remember one great boss I had who suddenly found herself short of help and three of us took turns working two to three shifts in a row to cover her store for her. But I've had other bosses refuse an employee time off (three days) to go to Mexico with her dance troop to perform, something she had trained for for years. I did Search and Rescue and emergency disaster work, and was told no one better need me except on a weekend (think serious fires, earthquakes, and massive rainstorms that led to hills sliding). I just shrugged and found another place to work. The kicker is, when you work for businesses like this, they make you think you're indispensable, but will fire you at the drop of a hat. So, until I know how my boss is going to react, not only do I not tell them I'm going for surgery, they're certainly not going to know what kind of surgery it would be. Besides, if your boss knows this info, chances are everyone in the office will too.
There has to be some sort of privacy law out there that protects employees from having their boss hound them as to why a day off is needed for an outpatient procedure. I'm pretty sure that crosses way over the line to ask that question and I feel it is a violation of MY privacy. If there isn't, then there should be because there is no reason my boss needs to know what I do on my days off or how I spend my days off. I really like to see her fired for this because I'm tired of it.
They may have a right to know that you are having surgery. The nature of the operation is none of his business.
Have the doctor write a note that says that you are under his care and that you are having a surgical procedure on -date-. You will be able to return to work on -date.
Suppose you don't want the company to know the reason and type of your illness, yet your required doctor's note is coming from a specialist. Do you really want to bring a note in from your oncologist, your gynecologist, your psychologist, your urologist, your proctologist or any specialist for which the title gives some information?
Or maybe because you want to hide this very personal information, does this mean that in addition to your specialist, you now also go see your GP in order to get a 'cover' excuse?
This is all too much because some company or manager feels the need to stick their nose in your business?
Privacy stops being private the minute you tell one person who has no medical need to know.
Companies should just give sick time and leave it up to their adult employees to take care of their own day to day medical needs - privately. If someone comes in with a need for extended leave then it is relatively easy for a GP to write that note saying nothing except that the employee will be out for x days/weeks.
Better yet, companies should make general policies regarding specific time ranges and the consequences of being out for each period without the need for a specific note.
The federal government took care of the majority of that with FMLA.
I think the best course of action for you should you need/want to keep this job is to let the supervisor know that you will bring a Dr note excusing you from work on that day for a necessary medical procedure and leave it at that. Why get in a pissing contest with your boss unnecessarily. ANYTIME you feel ANYONE is asking your something that is not their business and you don't want to answer directly, I have found the response "Why do you ask?" normally shuts them up as it puts them on the defensive about their right/need to know info that they may be asking about that I feel is none of their business....works for friends and bosses/coworkers.
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