Proving you have a Doctors appointment with work...

Shep_Cobain · 27 Jun 2011 at 16:04

Hey guys,

Just had a call from my mum and she was extremely upset. Basically she asked for half a days leave Friday and was asked what does she want it for/why?

She said because she wants it off - not wanting to tell them she needed to go to the doctors for a review of her anti-depressants medication... she was denied the half day.

Today she asked for the afternoon off because she again wanted to go to the doctors as she couldnt Friday. She was immediately denied and that was that. She went on to tell her team leader (lets call him team leader 1 - hes only acting as her team leader whilst her other one is away on holiday) that she had a doctors appointment and needed to go (at our doctors you can only ring for an appointment on the day). He didn't care and still said no. She decided to go and speak to her old team leader (team leader 2) who is also on anti depressants and explained the situation, she was fully understanding. She had a word with team leader 1 but he still refused the leave.

My mum was very upset and went to speak to the head of the dept. about it and had to explain to a complete stranger that she is on anti. d's and needs to go the doctors in the afternoon for a review of her medication. The head of the dept was fully understanding and sympathetic and granted the leave.

After my mums appointment she left the doctors and went home, she then received a text message from team leader 2 saying "team leader 1 has said he wants an appointment card with your dr's name on it and appointment details tomorrow". She is very upset and rang me to tell me.

She has since gone back to the doctors and had to wait 40 minutes for the doctor to be come available and sign an appointment card (which is just a scrappy piece of paper) to say he saw her. It looks like a five your old could have made it...

She asked me why does she have to prove herself when she had to take the afternoon as annual leave anyway and has now wasted a further 40 minutes of her time because one man doesnt believe her?!?!

Is this totally unfair or is she getting worked up over something completely normal?

Thanks.

Cuchulain · 27 Jun 2011 at 16:06

Appointment card? I don't think I've seen one of them in years, sounds like "Team Leader 1" needs to be told to go forth and multiply with him/herself.

antijoke · 27 Jun 2011 at 16:07

I'd be of the opinion to tell him to take a running jump.

The department head ok'd the time off (assuming you are correct that it was taken as leave).

GJ02 · 27 Jun 2011 at 16:08

Is this totally unfair or is she getting worked up over something completely normal?

Yes its unfair, and i bet your mum can do without it !
In my work you dont have to produce a note, but if your employed by the contract company you do.
It sounds like an acting TL on a wannabe power trip

Tell her to tell the TL she went over his/her head and spoke with His/Her manager and the gave her the OK,

scorza · 27 Jun 2011 at 16:14

Sounds like Team Leader 1 is trying to make a name for himself as a work hard, play hard, take no prisoners type of TL. He probably posts on these forums. Tell him to sod off

Seriously - this kinds of thing should be covered by a policy in the staff handbook. Get your Mum to find out what that says about medical appointments, leave etc. If it doesn't mention that you need proof that short-notice leave was because of a medical appointment then she doesn't have to show it to him. OTOH now she has it, the path of least resistance would be to show it...

Burnsy2023 · 27 Jun 2011 at 16:14

anticonscience said:
I'd be of the opinion to tell him to take a running jump.

The department head ok'd the time off (assuming you are correct that it was taken as leave).

That's what I would do. The leave was granted and that is that. There is no obligation to prove where she was. I would also make an official complaint about the team leader's behaviour as it's not really acceptable.

PermaChanged · 27 Jun 2011 at 16:16

If she took it as leave then surely it's none of his business to know what she was doing? I understand that TL 1 already knows it was for the doctors but he has no reason for the details of the time she went?

Rids · 27 Jun 2011 at 16:17

I'd advise her to talk to HR about 'Team Leader 1' - to be perfectly honest the guy sounds like an A grade *******.

jas72 · 27 Jun 2011 at 16:19

Just for clarification I doubt you should have to tell anyone anything else other than you are seeing a doctor.

At my work you say I have an appointment you take the time off but you do need a note from the doc's surgery saying you were there. However regarding your medical condition that is 100% between you and your doctor.

Shep_Cobain · 27 Jun 2011 at 16:20

jas72 said:
Just for clarification I doubt you should have to tell anyone anything else other than you are seeing a doctor.

At my work you say I have an appointment you take the time off but you do need a note from the doc's surgery saying you were there. However regarding your medical condition that is 100% between you and your doctor.

I understand that but surely if its annual leave then you don't need to prove anything....?

Pestilence · 27 Jun 2011 at 16:21

Burnsy2023 said:
That's what I would do. The leave was granted and that is that. There is no obligation to prove where she was. I would also make an official complaint about the team leader's behaviour as it's not really acceptable.

This. She has absolutely no obligation to go into any detail regarding her medical history/activity with the Team Leader.

Similarly, the leave was granted by a senior figure and leave is leave. It's her time, and if she decided to blow off the doctor to go skydiving with a group of furries, that's her business.

I'd be lodging a complaint against the TL in question, WITHOUT presenting a doctor's note.

mattyfez · 27 Jun 2011 at 16:27

It is unfair but (playing devils advocate), if it's the kind of workplace where they have a lot of absence/sickness/high staff turnover, its kind of understandable - that said, appointment cards are pretty hit and miss these days, they are not really relevent as you generally remeber when medical apointments are, or you can tap them into your phone or whatever, why waste paper..?
IMO the supervisor should have just dropped the matter once she was granted leave by the manager.

In hindsight it would have been nice to play them at thier own game and "yep, i've written to the surgery to confim my appointmemt, but you know how busy they are, they will probably take a month or so to reply. I can go in and get one if it's urgent, but i'll need another afternoon off work to do so (wink)".

In reality you'll just have to put up with it, and also pick up an appointment card whilst your there in future, just incase anyone gets funny about it.

The "by tomorrow" deadline is blatantly unfair though, as a lot of places wont give out a card unless requested, especially as most appointments are made over the phone - as I sad above, appointment cards are just a waste of time and paper, if I ran a surgery, I wouldnt give them out unless requested by the patient, theres no reason to.

All I can advise is just suck it up, give them a copy of the card and say very tounge in cheek say "see, I'm not the filthy liar you think I am!"

Deleted member 77746 · 27 Jun 2011 at 16:29

When you ask for a day off or half a day the work place has no reason to ask 'why' you want the time off. It has nothing to do with them! The cheek ! ! !

All the workplace has to do is say yes or no and why. Ignorant! They don't deserve to be in management.

AHarvey · 27 Jun 2011 at 16:31

At the end of the day, the leave was authorised by the head of the department, its got nothing to do with the stand in TL.

Tell your mum to say something along the lines of "it was authorised by someone above you, its nothing to concern you and if you carry on I will approach HR!"

dekez · 27 Jun 2011 at 16:33

Pretty awful management, at this rate your poor mum will be off long term sick with the stress which they are causing.

mattyfez · 27 Jun 2011 at 16:33

iDroid84 said:
When you ask for a day off or half a day the work place has no reason to ask 'why' you want the time off. It has nothing to do with them! The cheek ! ! !

All the workplace has to do is say yes or no and why. Ignorant! They don't deserve to be in management.

Again playing devils advocate, if there is a lot of leave booked at the time, or staff is thin on the ground, unless you mention that its for a medical reason, its fair to deny leave - you might just want to spend the afternoon out or something.

If you mention its medical, then you should be accomodated, but they wont know the difference unless you tell them.

Deleted member 77746 · 27 Jun 2011 at 16:46

It doesn't matter why someone wants it off, fair enough that it would be treated as a higher priority if it was mentioned that it is on medical grounds and in this case it wasn't, however the woman was denied on the second time even though it was mentioned on doctors grounds. This is uncalled for.

mrbios · 27 Jun 2011 at 16:51

dekez said:
Pretty awful management, at this rate your poor mum will be off long term sick with the stress which they are causing.

^This.

Surprised people have to book time off for a doctors appointment to be honest with you, whenever i need the doctors i just let my manager know, go for my appointment and turn up for work afterwards/leave work early and go, no annual leave required.

Is this common practice for places to require you to use annual leave on doctors appointments?

Feel sorry for the woman when she gets her next dentist appointment.......

Rids · 27 Jun 2011 at 16:52

I'd be interested to know what your mums contract says by the way. As with my firm I'm entitled to time off to attend doctors / dentists appointments as long as I make an effort to schedule them at the start or end of day.

Pez · 27 Jun 2011 at 17:10

mrbios said:
^This.

Surprised people have to book time off for a doctors appointment to be honest with you, whenever i need the doctors i just let my manager know, go for my appointment and turn up for work afterwards/leave work early and go, no annual leave required.

Is this common practice for places to require you to use annual leave on doctors appointments?

Feel sorry for the woman when she gets her next dentist appointment.......

This.

It's perfectly acceptable to decline annual leave if staffing levels or workload dictate this.

However, if time out is required to attend a medical appointment, then this should be accommodated - it is however considered standard practice for the employee to attempt to make the appointment at the start or the finish of the working day.