Dh's employer is asking to see his medical records!! Can she do this?

[Narketta]

In the last 2yrs DH has had to has had 3 instances of long term sickness.

The first his employer knew about in advance as DH needed to have surgery on his wrist resulting in 5wks recovery time.

The second he had bronchial pneumonia was very ill and in a lot of pain and had to have 6wks off.

The third he had pleurisy and again had to have 6wks off.

All sicknesses have been covered by sick notes and Dh has always shown his employer any letters for follow up appointments because she has made it very clear that she doesn't believe him. On one occasion DH asked our GP if he could write a letter to his employer because she had taken him into the office on his return to work and told him he was going to be disciplined for absence.

Then unfortunately a month ago we all came down with a sick bug, DH is a chef so had to stay away from work for 48 hours after the last time he was sick, when he phoned to let his boss know about the sickness she asked him if he had been to the doctors which he hadn't but who goes to the doctors for a sick bug??

She is now saying that head office want to have access to his medical records and it could potentially end with him being disciplined or dismissed.

Although me and DH can obviously see things from his employers POV and we know it can't have been easy for her to find cover he has always been totally honest and upfront.

So can she ask him to give access to his medical records or if it's head office that wants to see them would DH be within his rights to ask that head office writes to him directly to request them rather than this coming from his boss?

This may help you

At our work if we have more than three instances of sickness in six months we lose the right to selfcertificate and have to go to the gp for a sicknote

Thanks waitingforbedtime some very useful info there.

they can request, but yout DH would have to sign a permission form before his Doctor would send a report (they wouldn't send the actual records). given the instances seem unconnected it will probably be a short report! ask for a copy of the absence management procedure so you know what to expect.

compo isnt that illegal and all sicknesses are self cert for first 7 days.

employer should have a written procedure that they are sticking to, this proves that they deal with everyone fairly.

typically, this will involve return to work interviews, discussions with line manager/hr, medical report or occupational health if it is a long term problem such as depression/rsi.

where i work several bouts of long term sick which are backed up by sick notes are viewed more favourably( ie seen as genuine) than those that take odd self certified days off every couple of weeks.

i honestly do not think that they can see his medical records- most reasonable employers would ask for a medical report from an independent gp. After all- they are not doctors- anything they concluded from the notes would have no legal bearing at all

Medical records are confidential and employers have no right to see them, or ask to see them.

The employer's occupational health service do have the right to ask for a medical report from the employee's GP, and can then advise the employer as to whether there is justification for HR intervention or not.

Ok quick update!!

DH has just come in from work and his boss has asked him about his medical records again, told him that he(DH) needs to get it sorted. And has said that DH needs to write to head office giving them permission to access his records.

Doesn't sound right to me!! What is his boss up to??

I'm seriously thinking of calling head office myself and asking them what their procedure is.

No. Your Dh does not have to give them permission to see his medical records. That is outrageous.

Your DH needs to contact his union rep asap.

The only person allowed to request a report from his doctor is an Occupational Health Physician.

This is bullying/harrassment.

Sounds very wrong. His work can make him see an Occupational Medicine physician, who, with your DH's permission, will write to the GP. The GP will then write a report, charging the appropriate fee to the company as this is not NHS work. Occ Health opinions are not cheap so it sounds like they are just trying to get out of paying for it.

This link is quite helpful

www.ganfyd.org/index.php?title=Get_a_note_from_your_doctor