Is it legal to work with a doctors excuse?

Murphy

Actually, there IS a law: it's called Family Medical Leave and in California, CFRA. If an employee provides sufficient information from a doctor, that employee is entitlted to 12 weeks of FMLA leave. While on FMLA, an employer can NOT discipline the employee for being gone. There are some qualifiers such as much have worked 1250 hours in the previous year and the doctor must certify that it is a "serious health condition" but pretty much any thing beyond a cold or flu qualifies, including intermittent leave. Employers are obligated to offer this leave, the employees does not need to request it.

redvelvetflames4ever

As someone posted this employee may be entitled to 12 weeks leave under the Family Medical Leave Act. Qualifiers are he/she worked a minimum of 1,250 hours during one full year of employment and your organization has in total 50 employees (even if they are located at other affiliated offices within a 75 mile radius they would be included in this number.) An employee can work while under the care of a doctor as long as the doctor has not restricted him/her from returning to work. One thing that did interest me is when you wrote "The employer did not offer available assistance thru the company." I take this to mean you offer assistance for these types of problems and it has not been offered to this employee? Has it been offered to others? If so, not only can your organization be in violation of the Family Medical Leave Act, but there may also be grounds of discrimination if it was not offered to this employee and offered to others. It could be viewed as retaliatory since it appears they were out on workers compensation based on what you wrote. However, workers comp is given only in the event of an on the job injury. Did you mean to say this person was out on short term disability? Regardless, if your company offers some type of assistance and it wasn't offered to this employee you can be in some pretty hot water.

mark

I think it depends on just where you are and what conditions you were highered under.

You can NOT return to work off workers compo without a medical clearance though .

Workers comp though only handles work related injuries.

You should have a certain number of sick days that you can take , sometimes you need a doctors note for more than two days or after the second or third illness. You should also be calling work to say you wont be in , as soon as you can , preferably by the time you are due to begin work .

You should talk to the human resources department about your sick days .

Still reading

Workers Comp only comes into the picture if the employee is injured on the job. There is no law requiring the employer to allow the employee unlimited sick days, even with a doctor's excuse, nor is there any requirement that the employee not work when under a doctor's care. Once released, even if still being treated by the doctor, the employee is expected to return to work. If the employer is covered under the Family Medical Leave Act, the employee may have up to 3 months unpaid time off for personal or family illness, but only employers of a certain size are covered.

Sue

If an employee is out for sick leave and the doctor says they can work two days a week, 3 hours a day, can they work more than that?

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