Illness, medical certificate and subtleties of protection against dismissal
Sick employees are protected against termination at an inopportune juncture. There are many subtleties to this protection, particularly in cases of doubt as to the validity of the medical certificate, retroactive medical certificates, short-term illness or when the employee is unaware of his or her illness.
In the event of illness, the employee must provide proof of the inability to work, in the form of a medical certificate. This is not an absolute means of proof, but its accuracy is presumed. In the event of serious and concrete doubts on the part of the employer, its validity may, in certain cases, be called into question.
The medical certificate can have various implications, depending on the situation. For example, if the employer has doubts about its validity, he or she may require the employee to consult a medical consultant. It may also happen that an employee provides a retroactive medical certificate, the admissibility of which is subject to certain conditions.
This article covers the following topics:
- inability to work due to illness or accident
- relevance of the medical certificate
- situations of doubt despite the submission of a medical certificate
- regular absences before or after weekends and vacations
- examination by the employer's medical consultant
- protection against leave at an inopportune juncture
- employee unaware of illness