Why have HR asked me this and can I say no?

[Hrrrrhr]

I started some medication recently. A side effect is drowsiness and on those occasions not driving. It’s supposed to settle over 8 weeks. I’ve therefore asked my employer whether I can work from home during this time. My job can completely be done from home and often is. I’ve been there a long time. They’re asking me if they can contact my gp and ask my gp a number of questions instead of going through occupational health as occupational health can take much longer (ie beyond the time I’m asking for to have the adjustment anyway). I’m not comfortable having direct questions sent to my gp as I’ve never heard of this before. I would prefer occupational health. Can anyone explain my rights? Thank you

If OP ticks the box and doesn’t get access to the report first then the employer is in breach of the data protection act so they’ll have a whole lot more to worry about than the OP working from home for a few weeks.

Your assumption is that her HR bod uses the form from the GP and is not typing up something themselves. Is there any legal obligation on a GP to not accept a letter from the OP and a inhouse form?
And if the OP gives blanket permission for unknown questions DP on collection and processing on the employer side is technically covered even if it may be excessive collection.
Which is why i suggested the OP get the questions off the employer and submit them to her GP herself.

I find the belief that HR are some kind of Machiavellian function within the business such a strange one.

This is very normal, and is a very normal part of working in HR. The company requires medical input to assess reasonable adjustments.
It’s a shame OH in this case are so ineffective and slow but OH are normally crap anyway, much better to have someone who understands your condition. The GP will charge the company for it.
This happens literally all the time. Why are people saying HR are not qualified to interpret a letter of advice from a doctor - who do you think interprets sick notes?

Can the GP not just give you a health certificate stating that you need to work from home for a period of time? I personally wouldn’t let them contact my GP.

We had a firm email us with an attached sick note asking if was genuine. We told them our patients details were private, if the patient gave us permission to talk to their employer fine otherwise sorry we aren't saying anything.

I am a Dr and I would suggest that your GP could provide you with a “to whom it may concern letter”, stating that you have been started on medication that can cause drowsiness to the point of making it unsafe to drive, should that occur. This would provide you with medical evidence to support your request to wfh- and I can understand them wanting some form of confirmation given a prolonged duration of change. If they know they will not get occupational health assessment in time to make changes, it seems unhelpful to both you and your employer to go down this route, surely? Perhaps the letter would be a halfway house?

my only other observation might be that if you will be fit to work- I.e. the medication will not render you too drowsy to work- your employer may not view that as a medical exemption from usual working practices. unless your role requires driving, which I assume from your post is not the case. My employer has no interest in how I get to and from work- it is my job to get there on time and whether I drive, use public transport, get a lift with a colleague or friend or use a taxi is not their concern or responsibility to facilitate in any way. If I can’t drive, for whatever reason, but am still fit to do my job then it remains up to me to arrange another way to get to work.

You don’t need to ‘interpret’ a sick note. It is a statement from a medical doctor on fitness for work or reasonable adjustments.

What interpretation are you suggesting is required?

You are asking your employer for flexibility due to a medical issue, so I would think it would be helpful to show cooperation. It could be that they are just exercising their duty of care to make sure you are safe to work like this rather than, perhaps, look to get signed off for 8 weeks and totally rest up. The employer can do nothing without your express permission, you would have the chance to ensure that any questions to the GP are kept to the narrow matter of the need for the medication and the possible extent of side effects. Your GP should look after your interests because of their duty of care to you. OH is a company purchased report, again with your permission, but the employer would probably look to broaden the scope of the questions to ensure it is thorough, and the OH consultant is working for the employer rather than 'siding' with you in the manner that you would hope your GP would.

As a Dr, on the basis of information given, I could not state the patient medically requires to work from home. I could state the medication prescribed may make them drowsy which may mean they are not fit to drive, or potentially too drowsy to work (but if too drowsy to work then they need signed off, full stop. Or perhaps altered hours). If driving is part of their job, then I could state they would not be able to carry out that part if their role, but may be fit for other duties.

As I said, you can’t sign a patient as unfit for work if the issue is that they won’t be able to drive to/from work- that is not a consideration when it comes to fitness to do your job. If you can’t drive- many people can’t- but are able to carry out the duties of your job, then it’s up to you to find alternative ways to get to work.

Your GP would probably ask your company to put the request via email, and attach some paperwork too with your authorisation/consent to disclose information.
Sometimes your company might need to pay a fee for this kind of questionnaire to be completed.
You have the right (and suggest you do) to see the request that your employer is sending to your Gp

Have they not heard of GDPR? This is an Occ Health issue.

As others have said - how you get to work is not your employer's issue. However, if your medication makes you unsafe to travel in any way, ie, drowsiness, confusion, balance issues then that's something else. And that's what Occ Health should be assessing.

S k to see the questions first, and if you're ok with those then put the list of questions you are authorising him to answer on the letter of authorisation....

I’m not assuming anything. The way employers can request information from an employee’s GP has changed since GDPR. They cannot just ‘type up’ any old form themselves - any request for confidential medical information has to comply with the law. GDPR requires a positive opt in, which means that the employer has to specify the information they will be requesting and the employee has to consent to it. The employee also has to be opted in to the decision as to whether or not they want to see the report before it’s sent to the employer - they also have the right to ask for it to be amended too. These are legal requirements and GP’s and other healthcare professionals are aware of their legal obligations when supplying the information.

Only if being able to drive was a required as part of OP’s duties. If it isn’t, it is not relevant to her fitness to work.

I am confused by posters who think that if OP is too drowsy to drive to work and back then she would be entitled to be off sick. This is despite the fact the OP has said she is capable of doing her job, just not ok to drive. If she is fit to do her job, she should not be off sick.

Not being able to drive to work does not mean she is not fit for work. If it were, then anyone who does not have a driver’s license, is temporarily unable to drive, or who does not have a car would be entitled to forego employment. Which is clearly not the case.

Her fitness to drive is irrelevant to her employer- they are probably only interested in whether she is fit to complete her duties at work, or not. How she gets there is not their concern or responsibility. If she cannot drive, she will need to look into other means of transport to and from work. Just like everyone else.

The only reason to be signed off as unfit to work is, well, being unfit to do your job. OP says she can do her job, she would prefer to wfh to avoid transport issues, which is categorically not the same as being unfit to work.

It’s fine to ask her employer for flexibility, and it’s fine to for her employer to want more information or proof before deciding what to do. It’s not fine to pretend to be too sick to work because not being able to drive is inconvenient when it comes to commuting.

If a patient asked me for a fit note to sign them off work on health grounds because they could not drive, where a requirement to drive/operate machinery/other safety critical responsibilities is not part of their duties, I would not be able to state they were too unwell to work. It would be a false assertion.

If the patient said that they were too drowsy to do the essential tasks for their job, I could sign them off sick for that reason. But those are two very different scenarios.

Because they suspect you are taking the proverbial I hazard to guess.

Why? The OP has already said in her OP that she can do her job from home so why the need for HR to speak to her GP? How bizarre and over the top. It sounds like they don’t believe her.

I was once off sick with work induced stress, my then employer contacted my GP to ask if there was any discussion or evidence of non-work stress (CFs!). I was in pretty bad shape, shaking and skittish, I had to take beta-blockers. My GP was incandescent with rage about it, he said he told them to go and take a running jump! He said he was absolutely sick of the inhumanity of employers and never was a department more aptly named than HR, because they just view everyone as resource and not the human behind the role.

I'd tell them to piss right off! That is SO personal and quite intrusive. Could you maybe give them the leaflet of the medication and then they can research it themselves or get someone from HR to look into it? I feel uncomfortable on your behalf, it's such a personal thing to go that far

I had to agree to my employer having access to my medical records as a condition of employment for my last job. I work at a desk, not in anything that involves extreme sport or fitness. I thought it was odd, but I agreed because I wanted the job and there was nothing I felt sensitive about in my medical records. It’s a bit much though.

Ask your employer which questions they wish to ask so you can then contact the GP directly. The GP can provide a "to whom it may concern" letter answering these questions. You then forward it in to your employer.

There will be a charge for the letter which your employer can pay.

What happens when the GP gets a letter saying here is a form from my employer which needs filling in, this is my premission for you to fill it in, so please answer these questions and put the document in the prepaid envelope and send it directly to my employer who is the addressee and I confirm that the agreed fee has been paid to Jane in reception.

So what is the GPs legal obligation under GDPR.
Can the GP accept that the letter gives permission to fill in the enclosed form and send it in the to the named addressee in the prepaid envelope?

They’re covering themselves, legally. Effectively you’ve told your employer that your are on medication which affects your cognitive function in some way. So it’s not just about accommodation: if you performed a task while working and something went wrong, and it could be attributed to the medication, and if your employer was aware of the medication, they might be liable for that. They need to confirm that it’s appropriate to ask you to work, instead of signing you off sick.

I have asked this very question on several occasions over the years, it’s usually to just determine if there are any additional controls needed while the person adjusts to the meds.
From memory - one on occasion it led to a person being taken off machinery and given a different job for a short period, on another it was a shift worker moved onto day shifts for 6 weeks. None of these were punitive, merely protecting the individual and keeping them employed versus sat at home worrying.

If you haven’t already, (haven’t read the whole thread) book an appointment with your GP & tell them you’re suffering the drowsiness and ask them to sign a note saying that you’re fit for work but need an adjustment of working from home as cannot drive. Work can not really dispute this