The revolutionary new "fit note" (Statement of Fitness for Work), soon to be in use by hundreds of Canberra GPs, could be an abuse of patients' human rights, according to the ACT government.
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The federal government has forced through a trial in Canberra of a new generation of medical certificates for the sick and injured, despite the objections of the territory government and local unions.
The "fit note" has been referred to the territory's Human Rights Commission for investigation into whether it breaches employees' privacy, human rights or medical records legislation, and the ACT has insisted that its branding be removed from the document.
Comcare has dismissed the notion that the fit-note is a human rights breach but said it welcomed the scrutiny by the Human Rights Commission.
Fairfax Media revealed on Thursday that hundreds of general practitioners around the capital would soon begin taking a new approach to time off work when they began using the fit note instead of the sick note.
Seven of the city's GP practices have been experimenting for months with a certificate for sick or injured workers that tells bosses what their employees can do instead of what they can't.
The trial has been organised by federal workplace insurer Comcare and has the backing of Employment Minister Eric Abetz, who says he wants to see the fit note rolled out nationally.
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But there has been trouble over the note behind the scenes, after unions lobbied the ACT Labor government to put a stop to the trial, citing concerns about medical privacy for employees.
Unions ACT and the ACTU argued that in its current state, the certificate may encourage the inappropriate disclosure of private medical information to an insurer or employer.
Fairfax Media understands the territory government has asked the ACT Human Rights Commissioner to review the new Comcare medical certificate and advise on whether it infringes privacy, human rights, or medical records legislation.
Relations between the territory government and Comcare are delicate after the ACT announced in February it was taking its 20,000 public servants out of the insurance scheme after being presented with a premium bill of $85 million.
It is also understood that the ACT government is not currently mandating the use of the certificate of capacity or promoting it, although it has no control over Canberra's GPs, who do not work for or answer to ACT Health.
The ACT Minister for Workplace Safety, Mick Gentleman, confirmed his government wanted nothing to do with the fit note.
"Following a request from myself, the ACT Government crest has been removed from the Comcare form," Mr Gentleman said.
"I understand that the ACTU have directly raised concerns with Comcare regarding potential privacy issues and inappropriate disclosure. Comcare is meeting with the ACTU to try and resolve these concerns.
"This matter underscores the need for the ACT to have its own public-sector workers' compensation scheme over which it can have control over matters such as this."
Senator Abetz's office did not respond to questions but a Comcare spokesman said the agency believed the fit-note would get a clean bill of health from the HRC.
"Comcare does not believe the certificate encourages the inappropriate disclosure of private medical information, and we welcome the ACT Government testing this with the ACT Human Rights Commissioner," he said.
But Alex White of Unions ACT was critical of the decision to push ahead with the trial of the fit note despite objections from the local authorities and unions.
"UnionsACT is concerned that Eric Abetz has pushed ahead with the certificate despite the clear objections of unions and the ACT Government," Mr White said.
"There are such serious issues with the certificate that the ACT Government has referred it to the ACT Human Rights Commission.
"The risks for injured workers is that the certificate could inappropriately divulge personal medical information regarding non-work-related illnesses or medication prescriptions.
"Our concerns have been repeatedly raised with Comcare and the minister and have been ignored. It now appears that Minister Abetz is ignoring the ACT government and forcing this certificate on ACT public-sector workers."
