this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2024
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Why this GP wants employers to stop asking for medical certificates (www.abc.net.au)
submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by MHLoppy@fedia.io to c/australia@aussie.zone
16 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

[Dr] Max Mollenkopf estimates he sees two or three patients each day at his GP practice in Mulubinba/Newcastle who don't need treatment but require a medical certificate for work.

For employees, a trip to the doctor for a medical certificate can be time-consuming and costly, especially if your appointment isn’t bulk-billed.

Meanwhile, these appointments can take clinical time from people who are genuinely sick, Dr Mollenkopf says.

"If someone is sick and they want to see me, every day of the week I want them to be able to come in," he says.

"I didn't sign up to do medicine to do HR policy on behalf of large corporations."

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[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I do not understand what you are saying here.

You either get paid sick leave as part of your salary entitlements or you do not

[–] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I'm saying the salary entitlement does not have to change, or could change for the better. What could change isnthebsystem where it is employer regulated and managed, including them bearing the risk.

Youre entitled to superannuation too, but it goes to a super fund to manage. Currently if you get sick after starting a new job, youre SOL. If an employer hires an employee that ends up very sick, they are SOL.

It should not be hard to find the average amount of sick leave people use or need and what employers pay. We could also then extend something similar to casual workers who have no such entitlement currently.

[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

yeah this still isn't making sense in the context of what I said, or Australian labour laws.

literally, all employees in Australia except casual workers are entitled to paid sick and carers leave. That's federal law. It's 10 days for full time workers, pro-rata for part time. So when I say it's already baked into your salary, I literally mean that. They have already calculated for it in your wages.

[–] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 0 points 5 months ago

Yes, and I'm saying that calculation does not need to change.

A big chain like woolies could probably predict their worker illness quite accurately.

A small business with 5 employees could have 3 sock at once that ruins their cash flow.

Having that as a shared cost, similar to workers comp where the business pays but the employee benefits would help small businesses. They would have note even cash flow.

I understand how the labour laws work. I'm saying there is scope to improve them and extend them while improving competition. All the while, taking a burden off taxpayers whonpay for medicare and freeing up doctors time.

But, yeah, keep saying its baked in and there is no way we could possibly improve workplace sickness laws. The GPS say its bad already. Workers don't want to go to the doctor when they have a cold. Businesses don't want people pullign a Sickie and most of their colleagues don't want to pick up the slack for workers who are no show.