Legislative changes promise to cut down on paper work for health care professionals in case of sickness, but key details of the pending changes remain to be worked out.
B.C. Labour Jennifer Whiteside Tuesday (April 15) tabled legislation no longer requiring workers to ask doctors for sick notes in case of short-term absences.
"When you re sick, the last thing you should have to do is go to your doctor or a medical clinic in order to get a piece of paper saying you re sick," Whiteside said. "Not only is that difficult for a sick person to do, but it doesn't help you get better any faster or prevent the spread of illness."
B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne, who joined Whiteside at a formal announcement in Greater Victoria, said eliminating sick notes for short-term absences also eases the administrative burden. "We've heard clearly from doctors around the province that unnecessary paperwork robs them of valuable time to see their patients," Osborne said.
But government acknowledged that the definition of a short-term absence still needs to be worked out in consultation with stakeholders with government setting the definition by regulation. This means that the final definition won't be subject to debate during the regular parliamentary process of Bill 11.
Future regulations will also spell out how often employees may be absent before their employers can request formal sick notes. Future regulations may also allow health professionals other than doctors, nurse practitioners or registered nurses to issue sick notes.
The Employment Standards Act currently allows employers to ask for "reasonably sufficient proof" that employees are sick. Bill 11 eliminates that ability when it comes to short-term absences, with employees no longer required to supply it.
The legislation responds to demands from the Canadian Medical Association and Doctors of BC and fulfils an election promise by the B.C. NDP.
The Canadian Medical Association estimates that B.C. doctors wrote about 1.6 million sick notes in 2024 and other estimates peg the weekly number of hours physicians spent on paperwork including sick notes between 10 and 19 hours.
