\n<\/p>\n
The woman in this case had memos from her oncologist and occupational therapist describing her health condition and recommending light duties.<\/p>\n
The school challenged these documents and insisted that the medical advice had to take the form of a medical certificate.<\/p>\n
The court found that this was just a pretext for the school to avoid finding out more about and considering the woman\u2019s health needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne clear lesson is not to let a policy or documentation requirement become the focus when the real question is what the employee needs to return to work safely and effectively,\u201d said Ms Sally Lee, the Institute for Human Resource Professionals\u2019 (IHRP) head of people and administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cHR can consider the substance of medical advice rather than simply whether it meets a particular format or wording.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that HR practitioners should be mindful of how they engage medical professionals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a distinction between seeking clarification on medical advice and framing questions in a way that could lead towards a particular conclusion,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn objective and open approach can help ensure that medical input is considered appropriately.\u201d<\/p>\n
NTUC\u2019s Mr Tay said employers should not attempt to \u201cpressure or distort\u201d recommendations from medical professionals based solely on their operational needs.<\/p>\n
In this case, the school engaged another doctor to assess if the woman was medically fit to return to work. He recommended light duties and working a four-day week with one day from home.<\/p>\n
The school\u2019s HR executive wrote back asking if this was \u201cjust a recommendation\u201d or \u201cmandatory\u201d, adding that the woman \u201ccannot work from home during school term\u201d as she was \u201cin a student facing role\u201d.<\/p>\n
The court viewed this not as a genuine attempt to clarify the doctor\u2019s advice, but as questions framed to press him to retract his advice.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you’re going to keep pressing doctors and medical professionals until their opinion changes to something you like, that won\u2019t cast you in a good light,\u201d said lawyer Mr Ngo, adding that \u201cthis could all come out as evidence\u201d if the case goes to court.<\/p>\n
IHRP\u2019s Ms Lee said the takeaway is for HR practitioners to understand the individual worker\u2019s situation, consider medical advice carefully, engage the employee genuinely and work through the practical options available.<\/p>\n
\u201cHR needs to be able to understand medical advice, have difficult conversations with sensitivity and apply policies with good judgment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood HR judgment involves balancing the needs of the individual with those of the organisation, while ensuring that decisions are fair, considered and grounded in the circumstances at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
A supportive culture at work is not demonstrated by a policy or statement of intent alone, she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is reflected in the decisions and actions taken in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawyers said that the cancer survivor\u2019s case has parallels with how employers are expected to respond to other types of health conditions.<\/p>\n
Ms Ong, who also sits on the board of charity Fertility Support SG, said a similar duty of care could apply to workers struggling with infertility.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could be someone going through fertility treatments as well, and then if (the worker) brings it up, then the employer would have the duty to look into the issue and respond to it if there are concerns,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The duty of care does not seem confined to those returning to work after treatment, but could be for people undergoing treatment while working, or suffering from chronic but less life-threatening conditions, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone is going through something. Their needs need to be accommodated because of medical treatment.<\/p>\n
\u201cSame as if they\u2019re going through fertility treatments, then they need to go off early for appointments, they need to take injections. It\u2019s about being accommodating to these various medical needs that they have,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mr Ngo pointed to an upcoming tripartite advisory on reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities, which could contain \u201cpractical guidance\u201d for accommodating workers returning from major illness too.<\/p>\n
The advisory is being developed by the manpower ministry with employers, workers\u2019 unions and social service agencies.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, NTUC asked the ministry to consider expanding the advisory to explicitly cover workers recovering<\/a> from injuries and serious health conditions.<\/p>\n The manpower ministry said it would review the support system for recovering employees who are returning to work, including how to encourage and equip employers to accommodate them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n How should HR treat medical advice and recommendations related to workers? The woman in this case had memos from her oncologist and occupational therapist describing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":78145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/78145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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