Employee with Pneumonia

Mel in CO · June 2004

Interesting problem that I have come across and would like the advice of everyone out there. We have an employee that was admitted to hospital over the weekend with pneumonia. This employee was not feeling good last week, went to the doctor a few times but the doctor couldn’t find anything wrong, until this weekend. Unfortunately, the employee is now in ICU with pneumonia and is not planning on returning to work for another two weeks.

One of the questions that was posed after this situation arose was if a company is permitted to dismiss and employee and make them go to the doctor and get a release from their physician if we feel they are too sick? A few problems that I see with this situation are that if we “feel” they are too sick to be at work, we are assuming that we know their medical condition. Also, isn’t it the employee’s responsibility to ensure their own health and well being and that the employer should not get involved unless a request for medical leave comes up?

As a side note, we are an organization under 50 ees so we are not covered by FMLA and we state nothing in our sick leave policy about dismissing employees if we feel they are too ill to be working; we only address the issue that an ee is to bring a doctor’s note after a sick leave absence of three days or more, etc. Any advice / past experiences that someone could share with me would be helpful. Thanks.

Parabeagle · June 2004

I suggest you re-write your policy to permit supervisors to dismiss employees who are too impaired to be at work, for a couple of reasons: 1. It dovetails nicely with any substance abuse policy you may have (after all, you wouldn't want an employee who is too impaired by drugs or alcohol to work, would you?) and, 2. If an indvidual is too sick to be productive, all he/she is doing is potentially infecting others and not contributing anything to workflow.

Our policy language states, "The employee's supervisor shall have the authority to send the employee home on paid or unpaid time off if the employee appears ill or impaired and either cannot perform his/her duties accurately or endangers the health of self or others by his/her presence. The Company may require a doctor's approval for an employee to return to work after any sickness or illness which warrants such an approval."

deniseE · June 2004

Our policy just states "fitness for duty"...so a supervisor may send someone home for inappropriate attire or physical well-being...failure to abide by the request would be insubordination.

A lot may depend on the type of work that you do...contact with the public and so on...

I agree that your policy requires revision..

Don D · June 2004

In my experience it has always been rather typical for employees to be suspended, not to return without a full medical release. Without pay.

Mel in CO · June 2004

Thank you for your input; I think that I will take Parabeagle's suggestion and write this into our policy.

HR in CA · June 2004

Did the doctor who the employee saw who could find nothing wrong write a note to that effect? My concern would be if the supervisor sent the employee home based upon the policy (that will be put in place shortly) and the doctor provides a written release back to work, how would you address??

Pork · June 2004

TWO ISSUES AS I SEE IT:
1)SAFETY of the employee and safety of the team members who may neeeeeed the physical abilities of this sick person. The employer is charged under OSHA to maintain a safe working environment. Take heed and this very serious, this could be a life and death situation looking for a place to happen.

2)Under FMLA, while your company may be exempt from the rules, however, the program was pasted to protect the employees and the company from abuse. Your company may wish to support the employees, accordingly. Your company can always do better than the law, your company could use the provisions of the law and take care of your ee. Do what is best for the company and the employee. You could follow your company policy and terminate for absentism. You can give the employee time off with pay or reduced pay, or even time off with no pay.

PORK

dynamite9551 · June 2004

my first question is why are you in such a hurry to terminate this employee who obviously has a legit illness. Pneumonia can come on very sudden so it is possible that at the time the EE was at the doctor the lungs were clear. Sometimes its the health professional who may not look at the obvious. I think the employee should be commended for even attempting to work if that sick. I would suggest that prior to allowing the employee to return to work you have the physician state whether or note the EE has any restrictions that my prevent them from doing their job in its entirety. Shame on you.

Mel in CO · June 2004

We are not wanting to terminate this employee, this employee has been great for us. We are just wanting to see if we could send the employee home if they are really ill. This employee kept working when they probably shouldn't have and we didn't have anything in our policy that stated we as a company could send the employee home and recommend that they see a doctor becuase they are so ill. I will also be asking for a return to work statement from their doctor before the employee returns to work so we can ensure that the employee is well enough to return to work. I wanted to clarify though that we are NOT wanting to terminate this employee.

Employee with Pneumonia

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