[/I]
Originally Posted by
gloopy
There's no Christmas in June. Our language was written to be, at best, extremely naive and overly trusting at the expense of the entire pilot group by creating a seismic shift in power towards the company. By giving them unrestricted access to sick call harassment through poorly worded sophistry (whenever something is suspicious, yet suspicious being undefined) good luck to us ever trying to win a grievance on this.
How do you figure? Our language was NOT loosened; it was tightened up. Here's the old language:
1 F. 2
The Company may require that a pilot verify his sickness by providing, at the Company’s option, either:
- a doctor’s certificate, or
- other proof of illness.
Under normal conditions, the Company will not require verification unless the pilot has been absent for more than seven consecutive days.
And here's the new:
Verification of sickness under Section 14 F. 2. is required when:
- a pilot has used more than 100 hours of unverified sick leave in a sick leave year, or
- a pilot has been absent on a single sick occurrence for 15 or more consecutive days.
When individual circumstances exist that give the Company a good faith basis to inquire regarding the medical reason for a pilot’s use of sick leave, such pilot may be required to state the nature of his illness in general terms to his Chief Pilot. Following such discussion, the Chief Pilot may:
- consider the current sick leave occurrence to be verified, or
- require verification of sickness from the pilot under Section 14 F. 2.
Originally Posted by
gloopy
Oh and bonus, we just may have waived Federal privacy law for the entire group as well; at least until some "press to test" which hopefully some eventually will. I don't think collective bargaining can nullify HIPAA privacy rights by "forcing" you to sign away or divulge anything whatsoever under any newly created circumstance, but I guess we'll have to see.
This has already been covered multiple places, but HIPAA absolutely DOES permit an employer to request some proof of your illness. Think about it -- the alternative is an employee just comes to work whenever he feels like it. HIPAA laws are primarily designed to protect you from having a doctor share your information
without your permission to a 3rd party.