Doctors notes at Pinnacle
 

I'm about to call in sick for an ear infection. I'm sure it will go away in a few days on it's own. I'm so confused on all the sick policy's! What's the current status on the sick policy, do we have to get a doctors note, or just have union representation when we come in for the carpet dance?


On a side note, will we still have to have notes from our doctors when we call in sick with our new contract?

If you are sick, call in. If you call in, go to the doc.

I agree. Under my currents employer's policy, if you bring a doctor's note it won't count towards your rolling 12 month count.

Am I glad we have it? Of course I am. The beef I have is when I'm sick, I shouldn't have to schedule an appointment, pay the copay, and have a doctor tell me what in most cases I already know.

I wish there was language that said they'd just payroll deduct my copay amount and call it good. A lot of time's it'd be a lot easier.

So we have to get doctors note? Or are just recommending it?

I won't tell you what you must do, but I will say that you "should" do it. Every carrier has the ability to ask for a note, it just so happens that our employer utilizes that provision.

Some are also required to pay for said Dr visit when asking for that note. Do you guys have a similar provision?

Company is responsible for the bill. Co-pay included.

True story-

A few years ago at airline X, flight ops management started requesting doctors notes for every sick call.

So pilot xxx calls in sick due to a headache. Nothing serious, just an average, run of the mill headache. The next day he calls in to try and rejoin his trip (as he was allowed to per contract) only to be told the company wanted a doctors note prior to being allowed back on. So he heads to a local airline appointed clinic and reports to the doctor that he needed the note to go back to work. The doctor, angry that the company is wasting her time with mundane appointments, orders over $20,000 in tests to ensure the headache was not caused by something more serious.

Eventually the company gets the bill and tries to pin the cost on the pilot, calling the testing excessive and noting he should have refused the testing. His argument, which eventually stands up, is the company sent him to the doctor on their bill, the pilot has no medical training and thus was not in a position to question the judgment of the doctor when requesting the tests.

Airline x takes a very long break from requiring doctors notes for sick calls.

just a heads up. If it is an Infection, it will not go away on its own.

Nice story NEDude

"Doctor's verification notes are in effect and required for all sick absences until January 7, 2011."

I know that' today, so it depends on your definition of "until." My bet is the company's definition will be if you call in sick today, you need one. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised to get a CrewTrac message tomorrow saying "Due to an increase in unplanned absences, we are extending the DVN requirement until February 1st, 2011."

Go to the doctor, get the receipt for the co-pay and fill out the expense report.

That would be an annoying requirement. One of my college roommates is now an MD, I think I'd just hit him up him for a stack of undated notes. Hopefully nobody would realize he's a brain tumor specialist :rolleyes:

we all have doctor's notes we carry around with us every day at work.

read the back of your medical. it says you're responsible to to self-certify, and hey, it's signed by your AME!

SOURCE: FAA HANDBOOK (THE ONE THE COMPANY DOESN'T WANT YOU TO SEE)



3-1930 CREW MEDICAL QUALIFICATION AND PROCEDURES DURING TEMPORARY MEDICAL DEFICIENCY.
A. Responsibility of Operators and Flight Crewmembers. 14 CFR part 61, § 61.53 and 14 CFR part 63, § 63.19 preclude required flight crewmembers from flight duty while they have a known medical or physical deficiency. These sections rely solely on the ability of flight crewmembers to honestly determine their medical fitness. It is incumbent on individual airmen to be certain that they have no illness or physical impairment that would affect their medical fitness for flight. The NTSB believes that air carrier operators should share the responsibility for verifying flight crewmembers medical fitness for flight duty. However, it is not always easy for operators to determine the extent of a crewmember’s medical fitness. In order to maintain the highest level of safety, required flight crewmembers must not fly under conditions that would make them unable to meet the requirements for their current
medical certificate. This decision should not be influenced by fear of company reprisals.

B. POI Responsibility. POIs should encourage their assigned air carriers to have established sick leave policies and procedures, especially those concerning the release of flight crewmembers from duty when they develop sudden temporary illnesses, such as colds, flu, or fevers. These policies and procedures should not discourage flight crewmembers from taking sick leave when they are ill.

RESERVED. Paragraphs 3-1931 through 3-1945.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.....This is the only Dr's now you should need

I will make an additional note:

In general, federal whistleblower statutes, and TN State Law (and many other state laws) provide for punitive damages for employees facing adverse employment actions for refusing to break the law, and/or complaining to supervisors or government institutions about company conduct that breaks the law.

The reason the company will never fire you for excessive sick calls (provided you have documentation to prove you were truly sick), is that all you have to do is 1) File a retaliation complaint with your local EEOC office that you were fired for refusing to break 61.53, 2) EEOC issues clearance to sue letter, 3) Sue 9E for punitive and compensatory damages in state and/or Federal court.

While most states have common law (tort) provisions awarding punitive damages for refusing to break a law, the state of TN happens to have a statutory provision on the matter, the Tennessee Public Protection Act (TPPA). If you had an otherwise discipline-free, deficiency-free record at work, and could prove the sole reason for your termination was your refusal to break 61.53 and fly sick, you would have a solid legal argument in state or fed court.

I firmly believe one of the company's motivations in requiring doctor's notes (aside from the obvious intimidation factor) is that they want to protect themselves. If you give them doctor's notes, they know not to mess with you or they'll get sued and you'll win.

NOTE: I'm not a lawyer...this is not legal advice nor do I accept any responsibility if you get canned and lose somehow!!!

Man, I shoulda bought a lottery ticket. Not an hour after I posted the "I wouldn't be surprised to see a CrewTrac message" guess what they sent out? Yeah, doctor's notes required "until further notice." Doesn't matter if you haven't called in sick in 10 years, you need a doctor's note here at Pinnacle airlines....

Well, it's a requirement, so they're required to reimburse you for the co-pay.....or any out of pocket expense, like, say, if you went to an out of network doctor and hadn't met your deductible on your insurance yet (it's January, so I doubt anyone has). Just sayin'......

I had to cancel my chemotherapy tomorrow because I got junior assigned. I am hoping I can reschedule for next Saturday but the doctor is getting mad because I had to cancel the last three chemotherapy appointments I had because of junior assignments. I have to do them all now because when I went to my chemotherapy instead of a junior assignment I got in trouble.

FYI: Your docotr should never say what is wrong with you. It should say something to the effect: Capt. Smith has an acute illness and will be unable to fly till at least xx of days.

Should you even be flying while doing chemo......

Heck, my doc even leaves off "acute illness." It's "CA XXXX was in my office on XX/XX/XXXX and may return to work on XX/XX/XXXX." End of story.

Cancer in not an acute illness. Kidney stones are much more dangerous to a pilot than a cancer that could kill in several years.

Yes, I speak from experience.

That's what I told them but they told me to suck it up and that without a legitimate excuse I would be suspended without health insurance.

Your health should come first, jobs come and go.

Why are you even entertaining this guy? Baiting even one of you with his rediculous posts is too many. It is obvious that chemo treatment patients won't even possess a valid medical...

Ever heard of FMLA?

*edit*

ah forget it... none of this matters...

Our FSDO is in bed with Management. Our POI and his cronies, go out weekly and play golf with our CEO and his cronies.

Excellent point you have there, but at Pinnacle, the only thing the FAA is concerned about is whether or not they will be able to keep their overpaid FAA jobs as inspectors, without having to do hardly any work. When they visit our recurrent ground school classes, we bring up the same illegal practices that our company does, and all they say is "ok, thanks, I'll look into that." It's just a dog and pony show.


Yes I have seen them on the golf course together, it's not just a rumor.

You have to look at the wording from the DW standpoint. See, it says "encouraged." Not "required." Not "the company will." Just "encouraged." They encourage all they want, then 9E can say "Thank you for the suggestion" and continue to move on doing whatever it is they want to do.

.................deleted

.........deleted.............