Probe into ‘no-questions-asked’ sick notes urged as employer loses €1.5k

A businessman has asked the Irish Medical Organisation to investigate a doctor who issued a no-questions-asked sick cert to one of his workers who was out of the country at a wedding.

The worker took nine days of sick leave with a doctor’s cert he claimed he got for €10 without meeting the GP.

Shane Gleeson, whose family employ up to 60 people in shops in the city, sent an email to the IMO claiming the actions of one of their members had cost his business €1,500.

Mr Gleeson has demanded an investigation by the IMO, and said he will assist any inquiry.

Mr Gleeson said the worker told him on one occasion he had contacted the doctor’s surgery from abroad when at a wedding and got a friend to collect the cert at the surgery.

Mr Gleeson, while attending a meeting in Shannon Airport two weeks ago, saw his “sick” employee at the arrivals gate after getting off a flight from mainland Europe.

“He was out sick with a chest infection and I was kind of curious to know how he was coming into Shannon off a plane,” said Mr Gleeson. “I briefly met him, as I had other things to do at the airport, and I later contacted him as he had failed to attend a medical with the company doctor. I invited him to a disciplinary meeting to discuss the situation.”

At the meeting, it emerged the employee had booked a holiday for a wedding and did not want to use his holidays.

“He decided to go sick and was out for nine days in total,” said Mr Gleeson. “During our meeting, he provided me with his flights details and I noticed the dates on which he travelled. When I checked my file, there was a sick cert issued [from an Irish doctor] on a day when my staff member was abroad attending the wedding.

“So he was about four or five days out of the country when the sick cert issued from a doctor here in Ireland. He admitted this was the second time he had done this. I asked him how the doctor could issue him with a sick cert when he was not even in the country, and he said this was standard practice and got a friend to collect it.

“He said when he wanted a sick cert he simply phoned the surgery and paid €10 to whoever was at the [surgery] reception and went away with a cert. He boasted it was commonly known among his own [national] community, that this was the doctor to go to for a cert.”

Mr Gleeson said that, as the employee was a very diligent worker, he dealt with the matter through a final written warning.

“I have sent an email to the IMO outlining the details. I am concerned, because the cost to me of the doctor’s activity was approximately €1,500.

“I thought this practice would have been stamped out by the IMO after recent publicity on the issue. I have not given the IMO the doctor’s name, but I am prepared to.”