Control of an employee during illness
Your employer may not come to check on you at home when you are sick. The privacy rules are clear about this. Your boss may not go to check you at home himself, but would be allowed to ask the occupational health and safety service or company doctor to visit you at home. This is different from visiting an employee out of commitment. Of course, this can be agreed upon just fine.
Company doctor
When home monitoring by a company doctor, an employee should not be expected to be at home all day. The point is not to invade a person's privacy more than necessary. Thus, the health and safety service or company doctor should not visit every day if it is not necessary.
Case law example
Sometimes an employer may suspect that an employee is not sick at all. If there are concrete indications that this is the case, an employer may be permitted to hire a corporate investigative agency to investigate. This was the case, for example, in a case of a temporary worker who worked at farms. He had received a kick from a cow, which prevented him from straining his right arm. This he had told the company doctor. Thus, the temporary worker was sick for an extended period of time and continued to be paid during illness. The employment agency then received an anonymous tip that the farmhand was working at his girlfriend's flower store. Company investigators were then called in. It turned out that the temporary worker was indeed lugging things around on several days. He was then summarily dismissed and this dismissal was upheld by the Limburg district court.
This blog was written by Mr. Stijn Blom, employment lawyer at Arbeidsadvocaat.nl B.V. Stijn has extensive experience in employment law and assists entrepreneurs daily with a wide range of employment-related matters. From dismissal cases to drafting watertight contracts and policies – with his practical and personal approach, he helps employers and employees move forward. Want to know more?Visit Stijn's page.
Arbeidsadvocaat.nl is happy to think with you if you have questions on the subject of control during illness. Please feel free to contact us .
June 2024
