Guidance for Supervisors: Managing Medical Documentation

As a supervisor, it’s essential to handle employee illness with care and discretion. All staff have casual illness days available, providing the flexibility needed to recover. Review the process below for handling medical documentation required to support your employees. For more information, visit the Illness + Injury for Faculty + Staff Members web page. 

Doctor’s Notes

• A doctor’s note is only needed when a support staff member is away for more than three consecutive work days but fewer than ten work days.
• The doctor’s note should indicate that the employee is unable to work due to illness and include the duration of the illness.
• Retain the doctor’s note following your department's record retention practices. The medical note is not shared beyond the department at this stage. 

Medical Certificates 

• A medical certificate is needed when:
  • a support employee’s illness exceeds 10 consecutive work days (or when 10 casual illness days have already been used), or 
  • an academic/MAPS employee’s illness exceeds 20 consecutive work days.
• In these circumstances, the employee must download the applicable medical certificate form (form for support staff; form for academic staff) and have their doctor complete it. The employee or doctor will then fax the completed medical form to Homewood Health, Inc., the university disability provider. 
• The supervisor of the employee is not required to collect or retain a copy of medical forms as this process is managed by Homewood Health. Shared Services uses information directly from Homewood Health to enter general illness hours in Peoplesoft HCM for absences greater than 10 days for support staff and absences greater than 20 days for academic/MAPS staff members.

Questions? Contact the Staff Service Centre.