Force or suggest?

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pfalcon said:
An employer has the right to judge whether an employee is "fit to work". The employer cannot force the employee to undergo treatment but they can require they obtain a medical opinion before returning to work.



Liability by an employer generally occurs when they ignore a situation where they "knew or should have known" of a hazard or injury. It becomes the employer's responsibility to dismiss the employee from work when an injury is apparent. And it's the employer's responsibility to refuse a return to work until the condition is remedied. Contract rights and Legal rights determine who pays for the lost time.

Having some but not total "responsibility" for an employee's health is inherent in hiring them. "Force" is applied to the condition of the privilege to continue to work for that employer. You are "free" not to seek medical care. He is "free" not to employ you.
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Best explanation yet in this thread that is fair to both parties.
 
Here if you injure your self, it has to be reported to a supervisor. Now you may or may not have to go to the dr, but if say in a couple of days there are complications and you choose to file a workers comp claim, if it hasn't at least been documented that you were hurt on the job, how could you prove it later.

I fell on a job one day and hit the ground hard and was kind of ticked off about it for reasons that don't add to the story, but I was just ticked enough that I went in and told my boss. He asked if I needed to go to the ER and I told him no that I was fine and would see him on Monday. I was fine until about 3 hours into baseball practice on Friday night when all of a sudden I realized that I was hurt way worse than I thought. No broken bones, but three days a week for eight weeks of PT for my elbow and shoulder. Two years later it flaired up and I called HR and they said go to the dr and we'll take care of it.

So some of it might become a legal issue. What if he had poked his hand and not said anything, goes home for he weekend and then comes in on Monday and wants the company to pay for his hospital visit? Which could have been maybe just a dr's office visit if it had been attended to when it happened.
 
ok got an update from the higher ups. While they can't force me to go to the doctor, they can make me get a "fit for duty report" from my doctor....so you can kind of see where that's going.
 
Unfortunately all too often the injured employee will put off going to the Dr until they are comfortable passing a drug/alcohol test. We usually send someone senior to the injured employee to the doctor to drive and pay and make sure they actually go. Nobody returns to work without a Dr's release and a drug test.
 
BullsnPyrs said:
Unfortunately all too often the injured employee will put off going to the Dr until they are comfortable passing a drug/alcohol test. We usually send someone senior to the injured employee to the doctor to drive and pay and make sure they actually go. Nobody returns to work without a Dr's release and a drug test.
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Wish we had that policy here. They only drug test is something major major happened. The AFGE Union ties everyones hands here.
 
Since the city provides the vehicles we use, we are subjective to random drug testing, but I've never seen them use it in the 22 years I've been here.
 
what if?

what if?

the injured party was afraid to commit to med treatment on the grounds that it might constitute dismissal?

~rj~
 
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