British Columbia’s labour minister is moving to eliminate sick note requirements for short-term absences from work in an effort to give doctors and nurses more time with patients.
The province said Tuesday that Jennifer Whiteside introduced Bill 11, which would amend the Employment Standards Act to clarify when employers can and cannot request a sick note from workers.
In December, Dr. Joss Reimer, president of the Canadian Medical Association, called for reducing mandatory sick notes. Canadian doctors spend an estimated 1.5 million hours writing sick notes every year, according to the association.
The B.C. College of Family Physicians made a similar plea in January.
Right now, B.C. workers who have been employed with an organization for more than 90 days are entitled to up to five paid and three unpaid days of job-protected illness or injury leave — often referred to as sick leave or sick days — per calendar year.
According to the provincial website, employers can request “reasonably sufficient proof” of illness, which can include a doctor’s note, a receipt from a drugstore or pharmacy or a medical bracelet from the hospital.
The changes in Bill 11 will clarify that employers can’t specifically request — and employees are not required to provide — a sick note written by a physician, nurse practitioner or registered nurse as proof that the employee’s short-term absence from work was related to illness or injury.
A firm set of regulations will be established with input from stakeholders, the province said, and will define what constitutes a short-term absence.
Eliminating sick note requirements was a key promise in the B.C. NDP’s provincial election campaign last fall.
Doctors of B.C. is praising the province for the move.
“Requiring a sick patient to leave their home can do more harm than good,” Dr. Charlene Lui, the association’s president, said in a media release. “It can delay the patient’s recovery time, it can put other patients at risk of infection, and can cause sicker patients to wait longer to see the doctor.”
The province expects the new rules to be in place prior to the fall respiratory illness season.
