Finance minister promises review of sick notes, but says getting rid of them isn't the answer

P.E.I.'s finance minister says she supports looking into whether the province should change its requirementthat government employees provide sick notes when off work ill, and is open to reviewing the law allowing other employers to do the same.

But Finance Minister Jill Burridge said on Tuesdayshe doesn't believe getting rid of the notes entirely is the way to go.

Her comments follow questions from Green MLA Matt MacFarlaneon Tuesday, the second straight day he raised the issue in the legislature. This time,he spoke about a constituentwhose employer requested a doctor's note, so she had to visitseveral clinics with her sick child to get one.

According to MacFarlane, the constituent in question works forthe province's biggest employer: the P.E.I. government itself.

"Last yearshe got the flu and took a few days off then," he said. "As so often happens, her young child caught the same flu; after the five-day mark, the payroll department demanded a sick note."

MacFarlane went on to say the mother saw "no option" but to take her sick child to five walk-in clinics hoping to "find a piece of paper." It took her three days.

"Do you support the removing of the need for sick notes from our Employment Standards Act?" he asked the minister.

Burridge, who is also minister responsible forthe Public Service Commission,said she's "certainly" going to look into it.

"As a mom, I can appreciate that circumstance,"Burridgereplied, "and I certainly wouldn't want to see anyone have to go through that.

"I've committed to look into this, absolutely."

'Balance' needed, minister says

But after Tuesday's question period,Burridge said stopping employers from requiring sick notes isn't the solution. Instead, shesuggestedsuch medical certificatescan enableemployers to confirm workers are actually sick.

She said the province could strike a better "balance" between allowing for that, versus the demands it places on the health care system.

"I don't think it would be the best idea to just wipe them," she said. "There are, in certain circumstances, requirements for that.

"To wipe out sick notes, I don't think would be responsible."

'Burdening our system for a note'

Eliminating the need for sick notes is something many health-care workers have been seeking for years in Canada.

In Nova Scotia, employees no longer need to provide a sick note in many cases.A spokesperson for the province previously said doctors in Nova Scotia spend an estimated 50,000 hours a year writing medical certificates for employees.

MacFarlanealso asked about sick notes during question period last Friday.

During that exchange, he'd gotten a commitment from P.E.I. Health MinisterMark McLanetosupport a change in the Employment Standards Act, to remove theability for employers in the province to require a doctor's note from workers who miss three consecutive days to sickness.

On Tuesday, McLane told CBCNews againthat he still supports getting rid of sick notes. He'd also said he had heard from employers over the weekendconcerned about the province doing that, and like Burridge, he saidthere could bea "balance" in the process.

"Maybe the discussion could be about time of whether three days is appropriate," McLane said. "Maybe should we extend it?"

But ultimately, the health minister said he would support a move to free up health care resources.

"I don't think we want sick people unnecessarily in doctor's offices for whatever reason," he said. "Especially [with] anything that could be infectious.

"We want to have our providers providing care, and not providing paperwork."

While the Employment Standards Actallows employers to ask workers for a sick noteafter three consecutive days of illness, it's up to the individual employer to decide whether it implements such apolicy.

According to theprovincial law, "The employer may require the employee to provide the employer witha certificate signed by a medical practitioner certifying that the employee is or was unable towork due to illness or injury."

New union contract could change rules

As for the P.E.I. government's requirement that its own workers provide sick notes, Burridge said one way to implement change would be to putthe conversation to theP.E.I. Union of Public Sector Employees.

That union'scivil service agreementexpires next year and would be good grounds, she said, for negotiations around trying to find a better balance in the requirements, without necessarily getting rid of sick notes altogether.

"That is a great opportunity to really look at this, and talk to the members within that union and their leaders to see what they think about that," Burridge said.