Law queries

Our company has just issued a new self-certification form which applies from day one of sickness. It asks employees to say whether the sickness required them to stay indoors, whether they saw a doctor and what ailment they were suffering. We thought that self-certification merely required you to state that you were off sick and that the law now said that employers can no longer demand information about an individual's health as it is a breach of privacy rights.

The Statutory Sick Pay rules say that for the first seven days a self-certificate which states that the employee is off sick is enough and that a doctor's certificate is not required before the end of seven days' sickness. However, where employers pay a more generous occupational sick pay (which this employer does) they are free to request more detail on their self-certification form.

The Human Rights Act 1998 gives a right to privacy. However, in the context of employment this would probably be complied with if your employer has taken steps to ensure that the information on the self-certification form remains confidential. They would do this by ensuring that it is not handled by staff other than those who have been trained and have responsibility for dealing with sensitive personnel information.

* More information: LRD's booklet, State Benefits 2002