Jennifer Whiteside, BC’s labour minister, has introduced legislation proposing to amend BC’s Employment Standards Act, 1996, to remove the requirement for employees to obtain sick notes from a physician, nurse practitioner, or registered nurse for short-term absences from work.
The changes contemplated in Bill 11 will clarify that employers cannot request and employees do not need to present a sick note as evidence that a short-term absence from work was related to illness or injury.
“When you’re sick, the last thing you should have to do is go to your doctor or a medical clinic in order to get a piece of paper saying you’re sick,” Whiteside said in BC’s news release. “Not only is that difficult for a sick person to do, but it doesn’t help you get better any faster or prevent the spread of illness.”
In its news release, the province said the proposed amendments seek to improve efficiency in the system, lighten the administrative burden on B.C.’s healthcare practitioners, and free up their time to care for patients.
“We’ve heard clearly from doctors around the province that unnecessary paperwork robs them of valuable time to see their patients,” said Josie Osborne, BC’s health minister, in the news release.
The Employment Standards Act currently permits employers to request “reasonably sufficient proof” of an employee’s sickness.
Regulations to follow
In its news release, BC said it plans to engage with stakeholders to establish regulations to be implemented before the respiratory illness season this fall. The regulations will target unnecessary sick notes by clarifying how many days are deemed a short-term absence and how often an employee can be absent before the employer can request a formal sick note.
The regulations will address sick notes from doctors and nurse practitioners but may also deal with notes from other health professionals. The regulations will also seek to replace fax and paper-based processes with digital systems, consolidate and standardize forms to streamline referral processes, and improve information-sharing among providers.
Healthcare providers’ responses
“Providing sick notes are one of many administrative burdens that family physicians face,” said Dr. Tracy Tresoor, a physician at Ross Bay Health Clinic, in BC’s news release. “More importantly, they highlight a disparity in access for people who do not have a primary care provider.”
“I strongly support the decision to remove the requirement for employer-mandated sick notes for short-term and episodic illnesses,” said Jane Narayan, a family nurse practitioner at Axis Primary Care Clinic, in the news release. “Too often, clinical appointments are booked solely for the purpose of obtaining a sick note.”
“This is an issue that Doctors of BC has spent more than 10 years advocating for, and it is part of our broader effort to reduce overall administrative burden for doctors,” said Dr. Charlene Lui, Doctors of BC president, in a report from The Canadian Press.
Lui added that the group is pleased that BC has taken steps to remove the requirement of “routine sick notes” for short-term absences of workers sick with the common cold or similar conditions, The Canadian Press reported in a BIV article.