Sick Leave Policies: Are Employers Overstepping Employee Rights in the UAE?

Dear all,

I want your valuable opinions on a rather emotive topic - sick leave.

The labor law mentions that an employee who takes sick leave for more than 2 continuous days will have to produce a medical certificate to avail sick leave.

However, many companies have different versions of this benefit. I understand that the law is the minimum standard, and companies are free to customize benefits to suit their industries.

My question is... how much is too much? Where should the line be drawn? In a country like the UAE where trade unions do not exist, and the interests of employers are safeguarded more than those of employees, would the employer not infringe on the rights of employees by setting policies that are not employee-friendly?

If an employer makes it mandatory for all employees taking sick leave (even one day) to furnish a medical certificate, would it not be infringing on employee rights? Can an employee not take a sick day if he/she is not up to it that day without having to visit the doctors? With increasing costs, does it make any sense for a person to visit the doctor for a common cold and a flu?

It would be great if we could discuss this and share our ideas.

Waiting to read your opinions.

Regards, Shaila

Dear Shaila,

Thank you for raising this issue. It is a very useful post and an important point raised.

In our company, more than 2 days are required for a Medical Certificate, and a One Day or in some cases 2 days are also ignored. However, the technicians and others started misusing these allowances and taking liberties. Therefore, now it is mandatory to have a medical certificate regardless of the severity of the illness or whether you visit a doctor or not.

It's a hand-in-glove situation, I guess.

Cheers,
Sajid

I think you need to be very clear about a few things.

Different countries have different labor laws, and hence the leave rules in different countries vary. You cannot enforce the labor laws of one country in another country.

Laws are guidelines and not stringent orders to be followed.

Cold, cough, flu, body pains, headaches, etc., are not considered serious illnesses that force you to take leave.

It is only to prevent the misuse of certain facilities that sometimes management needs to implement such stringent measures.

Let me provide you with an example. In our company, we have 230 employees. Initially, our policy stated that employees were not required to submit any medical certificates if they took less than three days of sick leave. However, we discovered that the company lost 115 working days due to sick leave in one month. Upon analyzing the data, we found that the company was consistently losing 60-75 days per month as sick leave. Consequently, we had no choice but to introduce a new policy mandating employees to submit a medical certificate even for one day of sick leave. As a result, the number of sick leaves decreased to 5-7 per month.

Therefore, I would like to emphasize that companies or managements do not take pleasure in creating such policies. It is only when they observe the misuse of certain facilities or benefits that they are compelled to establish new rules or policies.

I believe it is crucial to consider both perspectives of the situation.

Thanks and Regards

Please find attached information.

Cheers,
Sajid

Hi,

I agree, but the question is how can one get a medical certificate if they are sick with migraine or diarrhea, as these kinds of small illnesses will cure themselves within a few hours or maybe half a day. According to your calculation, the company benefits from a very low number of sick leave cases, but if someone with a mild flu spreads it throughout the work environment, productivity in the workplace is affected.

Yes, if the company asks its workers to work 365 days a year, then you may be very happy to showcase your productive results.

In conclusion, the earlier rule stating that a medical certificate is required if leave is more than 2 days is a genuine and practical rule. You can still monitor and address misuse by conducting performance reviews and utilizing other methods.

Yes, I agree with all of the above statements made by Sajid and Sanjeev. However, in our case, we have a policy now stating that Sick Leave (SL) is at the discretion of the management. Does this mean that I cannot take leave and it will be decided by my immediate supervisor or the head of the department?