Eliminate sick notes for short-term illness, Manitoba doctors urge province
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Manitoba’s physicians advocacy organization is asking the province to legislate an end to employers’ requirements for sick notes excusing workers’ short-term absences.
Doctors Manitoba said Tuesday doing away with sick notes to verify illness could free up time for an extra 300,000 patient visits and 50 doctors available for care.
“Manitoba is one of only two provinces in Canada that hasn’t taken any legislative action in this space to limit the use of sick notes, so we hope to change that,” said Dr. Nichelle Desilets, president of Doctors Manitoba during a media availability Tuesday morning.
The organization submitted recommendations to the province that would see sick notes eliminated for absences of 10 days or less.
It estimated writing the notes costs taxpayers $8 million annually in “unnecessary” medical appointments.
Tim Smith / The Brandon Sun files President of Doctors Manitoba, Dr. Nichelle Desilets: “Manitoba is one of only two provinces in Canada that hasn’t taken any legislative action … to limit the use of sick notes, so we hope to change that.”
“Every sick note takes time away from patients who need medical care, and that’s particularly concerning at a time when Manitoba has the second-worst doctor shortage in the country,” Desilets said.
Manitoba and Alberta are the only provinces in Canada with no formal legislation regarding sick notes.
Current provincial legislation leaves it to employers to request sick notes from employees who take short-term leave due to illness.
In 2016 the NDP introduced a private member’s bill that would prohibit employers from asking for a sick note unless the employee had been off for more than seven days.
The bill was defeated by the then-ruling Progressive Conservative government.
The Doctors Manitoba campaign, Sick of Sick Notes, includes a web page, social media video and information for employers.
The campaign was developed after two years of consultations with employers who have either eliminated or sought to eliminate sick notes.
Provinces that have eliminated sick notes ask for other verification to excuse an absence, such as parking receipts from a doctor’s office, appointment reminders and prescriptions.
In January, the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority changed its policy on sick notes. Managers do not require notes from staff out sick up to two weeks. After that, the employee meets with HR to determine whether a medical note is warranted.
The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority also did away with sick notes on May 1.
In a statement, the health region said staff are not required to provide a note for an absence of less than two weeks. A note can be requested only after consultation from human resources, a spokesperson wrote.
“This change is designed to ease the burden on healthcare providers by reducing the need for sick notes. It also acknowledges that many common illnesses, such as colds, coughs, or the flu, do not always necessitate a clinic visit. By minimizing unnecessary appointments for sick notes, we can reduce the spread of illness in waiting rooms and ensure that providers can focus their time on patient care,” the statement said.
The Saskatchewan government recently passed legislation that prohibits employers from requesting a sick note unless the employee has been absent for more than five consecutive working days.
The Manitoba government, as an employer, is currently reviewing the requirement for sick notes used to validate employee illness, a spokesperson said Tuesday.
Desilets said some employers recognize there is little value in sick notes but are hesitant to do away with a practice that is deeply ingrained in workplace protocol.
“What we’re hearing as part of the difficulty… is that employers and managers want to be on a level playing field, so it’s hard to be an agent of change when other industries or other employers are not moving in the same direction,” she said.
“So that’s where government legislation can really play a big role that will allow us all to align across all businesses and all sectors across the province.”
Tory McNally, a vice-president with consulting firm Legacy Bowes who is working with Doctors Manitoba, said employers are interested in holding employees accountable and doing away with the slips could cause unease.
However, sick notes often don’t offer any real insight into an employee’s ability to work, and they rarely prevent misuse, she said.
“Every sick note takes time away from patients who need medical care, and that’s particularly concerning at a time when Manitoba has the second-worst doctor shortage in the country.”–Dr. Nichelle Desilets, president of Doctors Manitoba
“Instead they add administrative burdens for employers, increase pressure on our health-care system and can even discourage employees from staying at home when they’re unwell,” she said.
Doctors Manitoba plans to release a guidance tool kit for employers.
“When to check in with employees, that sort of thing,” McNally said.
Health minster Uzoma Asagwara said Tuesday the province is interested in sick-note legislation; the Labour and Immigration Department is consulting with Doctors Manitoba.
“Our priority is making sure that physicians want to work and practice in Manitoba, that we’re lightening their administrative burden, that we’re supporting employees to have the work life-balance that they need as well,” Asagwara said, answering a question at an unrelated event.
“So of course, we’re taking a good look at this.”
A spokesperson for Labour Minister Malaya Marcelino deferred the issue back to the Health Department.
In March, a Doctors Manitoba poll showed 96 per cent of respondents supported doing away with or reducing the need for the notes.
That included 87 per cent who favoured eliminating notes completely for short-term illness verification.
A March report also noted research found the notes are not an effective way to verify illness. More than one-third of patients no longer had symptoms to verify by the time they saw their doctors.
More than 70 per cent of workers would go to work sick instead of getting a note excusing their absence, the report found.
Last year, a joint task force to reduce administrative burdens for physicians recommended the elimination of sick notes in a report submitted to Manitoba’s health minister and Doctors Manitoba.
The recommendations stated employers should find other ways to manage employees’ short-term absences. In cases where doctors need to submit paperwork, the frequency of the forms should be determined by the doctor, not the employer, the task force concluded.
The Canadian Medical Association has also called for the elimination of sick notes across the nation.
nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca

Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer
Nicole Buffie is a reporter for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom as a multimedia producer in 2023. Read more about Nicole.
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