Drafted Revived - HHR Diaries - Certified Sick: Part 1

So I had this in my draft for quite a while and although I am no longer in HR will try and share some of my findings. Enjoy!

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

Please understand that dealing with staff is not easy. For the Head of Department (HoD) they have to do their scheduling and making sure that their department runs smooth. However illnesses do happen. In a department of 30 persons you may have 1 person sick for an entire week or 2 and a few persons who call in sick the day they are scheduled to work. All of these do put a tight strain on the HoD. 

As a business you never budget for when people call in sick. So when you receive that dreaded form called the "Certified Sick Form" you know that something is going to go down. In some cases you know what is going on with the staff whether it is surgery or contagious illness. In other cases you know you saw the staff skipping around one day and then the next day they send in the form like they suddenly caught the plague. 

Now it seems like the "Certified Sick Form" (CSF) has a lot of red tape when it is ready and lots of loopholes when convenient. My tip is to make friends with a person from the Social Security to assist you when you have any questions or concerns. I will call my girl Cris.

This CSF can be easily accessible to staff if they go for a "doctor's examination" and they advise the doctor that they are ill and don't believe that they are suitable to work. The doctor would fill out the CSF and get paid their consultants fee (normally EC$150) and get paid for this time that they do not have to work. 



A few loopholes I have encountered:

• Staff are allowed to get 12 sick days in a year which fall under the CSF. This will allow the staff to get paid the full day's pay during their sick leave plus 60% from the Social Security. 
• If staff are working days short weeks and send in a CSF they will be paid for the full 40 hour work week.
• On the form it states that the CSF must be sent in within 21 days of the beginning of the sickness. This is just to encourage the Employers to send in the form as soon as possible.
• For Temporary Staff they are not entitle regular 12 sick days unless they send in this CSF. 
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A few red tapes I found quite safe for the employer:

• Staff are allowed to get ONLY 12 sick days in a year. The CSF days come out of these 12 sick days. This results in after the 12 days are up, 40% will be paid by the company plus 60% from the Social Security. 
• While on sick leave under the CSF the employee is not allowed to leave the country unless the doctor recommends that they person needs to travel for foreign consultations. A copy of the recommendation letter must be sent to the company.
• The employee must be contributing to the Social Security Scheme for a minimum of 6 months before they are eligible to get their 60% from the Scheme.
• If the employee was out on leave of absence (or just did not work) before the CSF was sent in they will not receive any benefits from the scheme. 

I hope this is not too much info on the joys of this special piece of paper. The CSF is an employer's worst dream (not nightmare because worst things can happen). I will explain a little bit more in Part 2 and a few of my experiences with the CSF.

XX

Mayeshah!!!