Role of medical certificate on professional drivers’ reinstatement after injury or disease: court precedent-based analysis

Abstract

We investigated the recent court precedents regarding reinstatement when there is a discrepancy between the employerʼs decision and a medical certificate. We examined cases involving ten male professional drivers. The causes of absence from work（ with some overlap） included cerebrovascular disease, other chronic disease, low back pain and neck injury for two cases in each, heart disease, cancer and adverse drug effect for one case in each. Of these, four cases were deemed to be wrongful dismissals, and six resulting in effective dismissals. It was considered that there were three reasons as to why drivers were not reinstated, notwithstanding a medical certificate: 1. The driver was not diagnosed with a complete recovery; 2. The employer discredited the medical certificate; 3. Performing a task would worsen the symptoms. In either case, when there is ambiguous description on the medical certificate, it is important to consult the driversʼ attending physician or industrial physician of the office for confirming the description. The propriety of reinstatement is basically judged upon whether or not the individualʼs job performance was equal to that of their premorbid state. Therefore, although assessing the health condition of the individual at the time of reinstatement of the offer is vital, this assessment is increasingly being considered from the aspect of ensuring the individual can meet the required job fitness in the future. It is important to set medical criteria for drivers returning to driving work after an injury or illness for both a driverʼs attending physician （who issues medical certificate） and the employer who makes the judgement on the employee’ s reinstatement.