on 15/1/07 8:48 am, John Caffrey at [log in to unmask] wrote:

> Hi Jacqui
>
> I too am in Yorkshire with a high percentage of foreign nationals in the
> workforce (food processing).
>
> As regards interpreters I have to use a work colleague of the employees
> choice due to company policy (sometimes a relative). It would be great
> to use a professional interpreter service but that is not an option
> here. There are telephone translation services where an interpreter can
> be present on speakerphone and do the translation that way.
>
> I usually wait till the individual is back in the UK before calling them
> in to see me. There is no point calling someone in to see you when
> everyone knows they are out of the country. The company restricts them
> from returning to work till they have received clearance from me.
>
> As regards foreign sick notes, especially from Pakistan. We have a high
> percentage of employees who fall ill when they return to Pakistan for
> holidays. I have one currently who is on strict bed rest for allergic
> conjunctivitis and has been for a few weeks now - fax last week was for
> another 3 weeks! This is from a specialist trained in the UK. My
> previous long term one was bed rest for unstable diabetes (nearly 3
> months). Something to bear in mind is to try and check the authenticity
> of any foreign medical certificates you receive. I understand that
> medication can be bought over the counter without prescription (though I
> could be wrong), sometimes I think the medical certificates are the same
> way.
>
> How it is handled is going to be dependant on the company's policy for
> foreign medical notifications. My company will always insist on seeing
> the insurance claim/change of travel details for amended dates of travel
> etc.
>
> Cheers
>
> John
>
>
>
Hello John

How interesting. I read some med certs with a healthy degree of scepticism,
irrespective of where they originate - or where the writer qualified. I am
sure you and the other list members are of a similar disposition.

I hold my hands up to not being ophthalmic trained but I find it fascinating
that the individual who had severe allergic conjunctivitis, (and the other
with unstable diabetes) are recommended to remain on bed rest for a
protracted period of weeks. Is allergic conjunctivitis really an accurate
diagnosis and does it merit this amount of bed-rest? If the allergic
conjunctivitis or diabetes does not kill them off then ongoing bed rest with
the associated complications of DVT, pressure sores and chest infections are
highly likely to do so!

This brings back memories of when I worked in the Middle East where we
employed a large number of people recruited from the Indian sub-continent in
manual posts. I had sympathies for them as they were worked hard and for
long hours, only getting one day off per week. Furthermore they were
isolated from their families, had very little annual leave and only had the
opportunity to return to return to their home land to see loved once once
every year for a period of about three weeks. A minority tried to misuse the
system in order to get extra paid leave "back home".

We received similar "sick notes" and numerous claims for compassionate leave
following the death of one or more close family members. One chap requested
compassionate leave having lost something like three mothers and four
fathers within a five year period. He did not expect management to keep
records and a tally. Sorry if I appear flippant but at the time this
compassionate leave scenario reminded me of the lines of Lady Bracknell in
Oscar Wilde's Importance of being Ernest which runs something like: "To lose
one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like
carelessness". What would she make of losing this number of parents?

Anne

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