Online Medical Certificates – Are they legitimate?

Do I have to accept these certificates?

Whilst there is no prescribed list of evidence an employee must provide to substantiate their personal leave request, medical certificates in general, as well as statutory declarations, are accepted as common practice. The Fair Work Ombudsmen says Any evidence must convince a reasonable person that the employee was genuinely entitled to the personal or carer’s leave.

So essentially, if you deem it unreasonable for an employee to provide a medical certificate when they have not actually been seen by a medical professional, then it would appear an employer is within their rights to decline the leave request. 

This is where policies around personal / carer’s leave are especially important as it will ensure the employer has defensible grounds to not accept online medical certificates within their business.

One way of dealing with an online medical certificate could be to advise the employee it is not a valid form of evidence and provide them 24 hours to provide more information or evidence to support their claim; in the event they fail to do so, the leave may then be processed as unpaid leave.

What are some of the websites that provide online Medical Certificates?

Countless websites are popping up on the web offering this service, indicating that business is booming. The desktop research by HR Gurus found the following.

Health Hub

Hub.health also claims all requests are reviewed by a Doctor or a Nurse Practitioner. A trial was undertaken to see whether someone actually called to discuss the illness or condition before providing a certificate. A medical certificate for two days was requested. The certificate was provided without a call, all based on answers to some questions online. There is a fee of $24.95 for the certificate. The certificate looks really legitimate also with a provider number from a Nurse Practitioner (see below).

Youly

Youly claim all requests are reviewed by a Doctor or a Nurse Practitioner. A trial was undertaken to see whether someone actually called to discuss the illness or condition before providing a certificate. A medical certificate for two days was requested because of gastro. There was no call required and the medical certificate came within minutes of sending the request. There is a fee of $24.95 for the certificate.

Updoc

The Updoc site is a bit different. This service actually took quite a long time and offered you the chance to “jump the queue”. For an additional $10, the certificate could be provided within one hour. They claim the person reviewing the certificate may call you for further information. They didn’t and therefore, the certificate was provided on face value with no discussion with an actual medical practitioner.

There is a fee of $39.95 for the certificate, and they also offer a subscription service to unlimited consultations per month and telehealth consultations.

Qoctor

Unlike all the other sites, Qoctor required an actual video consultation with a Doctor, so this one seems more legitimate. We would consider accepting certificates from this provider.

Although they all seem very similar if in doubt, the employer has the right to check and question any certificates they believe may not be 100% legitimate.

What about Statutory Declarations?

The other question is whether Statutory Declarations should be accepted. In our view these are a higher standard of evidence than an online certificate. By signing a Statutory Declaration, a person agrees that the information in it is true, and based on this, they can be charged with a criminal offence if the information is false, resulting in a fine, imprisonment or both.

What other checks should an employer make to ensure reasonable satisfaction with a Medical Certificate?

As an employer, you have a right to ensure your employees are following your internal policies, including providing reasonable substantiation for a leave request. If you have any doubt as to the validity of a medical certificate, consider implementing some of these strategies:

• Contact the medical clinic from which it was obtained to confirm your employee did in fact attend this clinic. Due to privacy reasons, you are not permitted to ask for any further details about the reason why they attended, but you can confirm their attendance.
• Ensure the doctor who has provided the medical certificate is a registered health practitioner. You can complete this quick check on the Ahpra & National Boards website.
• Compare the medical certificate with previous medical certificates the employee has provided to determine similarities and whether it has possibly been re-dated and reused.

What if I find out an employee is providing false Medical Certificates?

If your suspicions are proven to be true and an employee has knowingly provided you with a fraudulent certificate, this would warrant disciplinary action. As in any disciplinary matter, a procedurally fair process must be followed, including offering a support person for the disciplinary meeting, presenting the allegations to the employee and allowing them an opportunity to respond before determining an outcome.

After following a procedurally fair process, disciplinary action may look like;

• The leave being unpaid
• A written warning
• Training on your Leave Policy and notification requirements along with your Code of Conduct Policy
• Termination of employment

Termination of employment may be possible as a final resort but please note consideration should be given to a number of additional factors, such as whether this is the first time they have provided a fraudulent certificate or engaged in conduct of a deceitful nature or how many instances of providing a fraudulent certificate has occurred.

Best practice next steps

Preventative measures are the best ones, so it is our recommendation to update your Leave Policy to reflect that an online medical or pharmacy certificate will not be considered a valid form of substantiation for personal / carer’s leave and therefore, will not be accepted by your business. This inclusion and communication of this new addition to all employees should help as a deterrent to avoid any uncomfortable conversations down the track.

In addition, it is always good to conduct an audit on personal leave usage to determine whether there are any concerning patterns of absence that need to be addressed. We have seen links between those employees likely to use online medical certificates and those who frequently take personal leave days on Fridays or Mondays. Coincidence? Perhaps not. It is best to seek guidance before having these types of conversations, as they can be risky and must be framed in a supportive manner.

Finally, if there appears to be a high level of personal leave and unpaid leave being used within the business and is causing concern, perhaps there are other underlying and less obvious issues that need to be addressed. An employee engagement survey gives employees an opportunity to provide anonymous feedback and will give you an insight into how people are generally feeling within the workplace. This insight can be gold.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Akyra for a free 30-minute consultation.