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Excerpt from this article first published in Human Resources Magazine, Issue 147 - 18 March 2008
The Federal Magistrate’s Court has held that an employee’s termination was not unlawful despite the employee providing a medical certificate to cover his absence.
In Anderson v Crown Melbourne Limited [2008] FMCA 152, the Court was told that Mr Anderson, an Australian Rules football fanatic, had told fellow workers and some managers at the Crown Casino in Melbourne where he worked that he intended to fly to Perth to watch the last Essendon game involving Kevin Sheedy and James Hird.
Mr Anderson was told by his supervisor that any misuse of sick leave would be regarded very seriously, to which Mr Anderson replied “I’ll have a doctor’s certificate for the day”.
Mr Anderson claimed that his termination by Crown was unlawful because it was due to a temporary absence from work because of illness or injury.
In rejecting Mr Anderson’s claim and finding instead that he was dismissed for misuse of sick leave, the Court took into account a number of factors, including; that Mr Anderson obtained the medical certificate on 27 August 2007 to cover him for an absence on 1 September, that there was no evidence of the doctor asking Mr Anderson about his health before writing the certificate and that Mr Anderson had himself agreed that if he could not obtain the medical certificate he would have sold his pre-purchased tickets, cancelled his flights and attended work.
The Court therefore concluded that even if Mr Anderson was suffering some anxiety or depression, he had admitted that he was not too ill to attend work.
It would only be in rare circumstances that an employer could successfully challenge a medical certificate provided by an employee. In the above case, the Court observed “Proceeding from first principles I think that a medical certificate from a qualified medical practitioner within the practitioner’s area of expertise is prima facie to be accepted. It would only be in the most unusual and exceptional circumstances that an employer and/or by inference a Court would not accept the validity of such a certificate.”
Gordon Jervis
Senior Associate
