Ontario’s proposed ban on doctors' notes gets healthy reception

Labour Minister Kevin Flynn wants to scrap sick notes, calling them a “waste of resources.”

Thestar.com
June 16, 2017
By Rob Ferguson

Ontario’s ban on sick notes for the boss is getting a healthy reception.

While the business community has concerns about the broader package of workplace reforms from Premier Kathleen Wynne - including a $15 minimum wage - notes from the doctor appear low on the list.

Labour Minister Kevin Flynn wants to scrap them as a “waste of resources” when it’s better to have physicians and nurse practitioners treating patients who need medical help.

“I actually think it’s quite fair,” Progressive Conservative MPP Monte McNaughton - usually an outspoken critic of the Liberal administration - says of the proposed policy.

“Before I was in politics, we had a small business that employed 70 people. We worked with our employees. We didn’t request that our employees had sick notes. We trust them,” he adds, referring to the family’s former hardware, lumber, auto parts, liquor and beer superstore in Newbury, west of London, Ont.

“I think that’s probably how it works in most businesses ... so I haven’t heard a lot (about sick notes) and I guess we’ll have to see,” added McNaughton (Lambton-Kent-Middlesex).

Politicians, will, indeed, get more feedback as MPPs on a legislative committee studying the sweeping reforms hold public hearings across the province in July.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) will be one of the groups speaking up.
“There is a potential for abuse, but we’re not saying everyone is going to abuse it,” CFIB policy analyst Ryan Mallough says of the ban on sick notes, which will not be required until an employee has missed more than 10 days in a year.

“We prefer this remain a flexible matter between employer and employee.”

Mallough says the federation has heard some beefs from members about the ban but notes “we’re not being overwhelmed.”

The bigger concern is the steep hike in the minimum wage, which is $11.40 now, says the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, a member of a new group of restaurant, retail and other companies called the Keep Ontario Working Coalition.

It is urging the government to study “unintended consequences” of the reforms, which also include a minimum of two paid sick days and three weeks of paid holidays (up from two) for workers in a job for more than five years, will have on employers.

McNaughton says there’s a political reason Wynne wants to pass the reforms, for which the costs will largely be borne by private employers, given that Ontarians head to the polls next June 7.

“This is all part of the re-election campaign for the Liberal Party of Ontario.”

Wynne said this week that the government “will work with businesses to make sure there are supports in place,” such as changes to regulations could help cut their costs. She was not specific.

The Ontario Medical Association has been calling for an end to sick notes for some time amid concerns that people will drag themselves to work when sick - infecting co-workers and causing more absenteeism - if they have to go through the hassle of getting a note.

Flynn says sick notes often “weren’t worth the paper they were printed on” because doctors typically take patients at their word on being ill.

“I would imagine there’s not a doctor or nurse practitioner in this province who wouldn’t, on the basis of trust, as a minimum, provide that sick note,” adds Health Minister Eric Hoskins, a doctor.

“Often the person’s well by the time they get in to the doctor’s office to do it.”

The reasons for banning sick notes extend to public health concerns, as well.

Patients who head out to get them while still contagious are unwittingly spreading germs, Hoskins explains.

“The value of the sick note is really limited. What it has created is a situation where people should be home sick getting better, it brings them into doctor’s offices and into reception areas where they infect other people. And it keeps them from getting well faster.”

There is also the matter of being caught between employee and employer “if there’s an issue of trust” on whether a worker has really been sick, Hoskins says.

“It’s not up to the health-care system to play the role of policeman,” he adds. “The employer should deal with directly with the employee if they’re concerned that, perhaps, there’s something untoward happening.”