Sick Employee Wants To Continue Work

Hi All,

We are an engineering company. One of our employees went on sick leave since he was diagnosed with a minor stone problem. Now, he has joined back, saying the doctor has advised him to take medicines for some days, and he will be diagnosed again after 15 days. If the stone is still there, then he will have to undergo surgery. He is an engineer who has to work on construction sites. His doctor has refused to give him a fit-to-work certificate.

My query is: Should we allow him to work considering his condition? If he wants to continue, should we get an undertaking signed from him that he has chosen to work and the company will not be liable in case something happens to him while at work?

Kindly advise.

Regards, Jyoti

Not a professional and humane approach.

A person goes on sick leave, and upon the expiry of sick leave, they rejoin duty. If you ask the doctor to provide a fitness certificate, and if they do not comply, it implies that the employee is not fit. If the employee is deemed unfit, then you should not assign them any work. Assigning work in such a situation means you are taking the risk, not the employee.

As an employer, you have no choice; your only option is to refrain from assigning any work to the unfit employee. Alternatively, if you ask the employee to return to duty, you will be liable to pay compensation if any mishap occurs. Taking an undertaking from the employee does not absolve you of this liability at all.

T. Sivasankaran

I understand and completely agree with all that you have said. However, this employee does want to continue his leave. He is saying it is a minor problem and nothing to be worried about. He has health insurance from the company as well. Additionally, he does not do any physically tiring job on-site; he is only meant to supervise and ensure things get done by labor.

Completely agree, be human. It can happen to anyone, and even a kidney stone problem is not so big. Assign him a few desk jobs until he is operated on for the stone.

If you want to assign him work, you can. However, I did not agree with your taking a letter from him.

T. Sivasankaran

Very simple. Ask him to get a fitness certificate from the company doctor, company-approved doctor, or civil surgeon. If he can obtain such a certificate, assign him his duty. If not, wait until he can provide the required certificate.

Hi Jyoti,

I think it would be better to get the medical documents checked by the company doctors. Tell the employee to submit all the medical documents and then get them checked. Follow the company doctor's suggestions.

Regards,
A Byas
Delhi

It is better to get a fitness certificate before putting him on duty to avoid any workplace injury in any case.

Dear Jyoti,

Essay checker is correct. On humanitarian grounds, you can consider this. As stone is also not a severe problem, hope you can go ahead with essay checker.

Best Regards

I've got a similar issue. I gave a sick employee one full month sick leave with full salary and benefits. He didn't apply for that leave, but his health status was noticeable beyond reasonable doubt. He did not visit any medical practitioner due to his religious belief. So he came back without much change. I'm afraid if anything happens. What do I have to do?

Musina D.