Insights: Online Medical Certificates’ Legitimacy by MediCompare

What is a Medical Certificate?

Issued by a registered healthcare professional, these certificates are proof of a person’s health status, including mental health. While they used to be issued in paper form by General Practitioners, electronic medical certificates issued by online doctors and sent via text, email, or a patient portal are gaining popularity. This trend accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic and is here to stay.

All medical certificates should contain the following [1]:

Patient’s name and date of birth to identify them.
Doctor’s name, signature, and the date they issued the certificate.
Statement that and when exactly the patient is unfit to work (due to injury or illness).

They may include: The doctor’s AHPRA registration number, other relevant qualifications, address, or other information identifying the health care provider used to obtain the certificate. They may also include the degree to which the employee is unable to work, for example, if they need to avoid specific types of physical strain.

Importantly, they do not have to contain a diagnosis. Employees have the right to confidentiality and need to explicitly waive this for the medical professional to provide more information about the reasons for their absence from the workplace.

Legitimacy of Online Medical Certificates

There are essentially two types of online medical certificates. Where standard doctor’s certificates always require a doctor’s consultation, online certificates are sometimes issued without a telehealth consultation, although they normally should only be issued following a telehealth consultation [2]. (A telehealth consultation always requires a phone or video call with an AHPRA-registered medical professional.)

While online doctors certificates are legal in Australia, employers do not have to accept medical certificates issued without seeing a doctor, even if they include all the necessary information stated above. These are not in line with professional standards recommended by the AHPRA medical board.

Are Employees Required to Submit Medical Certificates?

The short answer is yes, if the absence due to sickness or injury is “longer”. Let’s break this down: If an employee is absent due to injury or illness for longer than three days, the employer is entitled to request a medical certificate (although each employer will have their own policies regarding when a medical certificate is required). An employee can submit one for shorter absences, but this isn’t a legal requirement.

However, if the employee has a pattern of absenteeism or has missed more than two weeks over 12 months, the employer can request a medical certificate, too.

The same goes for any serious illness or injury, or when the employee is on longer sick leave and the employer needs to know when they’ll likely return to work. (The employee’s absence may be disrupting the workplace significantly.)

Are Employers Required to Accept Online Medical Certificates?

Yes, within reason. While online medical certificates need to provide all the information mentioned above, employers are required to accept these certificates. They have no right to withhold pay or contact the issuing doctor unless they need to check the certificate’s validity, clarify non-confidential information, or check the provider’s credentials. (This does not include the diagnosis [3], but the employer does have the ultimate right to reject a medical certificate.)

Made for the Workplace: Online Medical Certificates Post Telehealth Consultation

To recap, all online medical certificates are legit, so long as they are issued following a telehealth consultation are legally valid in the workplace. While employees do not have to attend a clinical in-person assessment, these certificates mean their condition has been virtually assessed by a registered healthcare provider. For a comprehensive comparison of telehealth sites offering online medica certificates, check out MediCompare’s round-up here.

Are Online Medical Certificates Legitimate? What Employers Need to Know