1. A medical certificate (“sick note”) can normally only be required of an employee who takes more than 2 days’ sick leave (i.e. 3 consecutive days or more), or where sick leave is taken more than twice in any 8-week period.


2. Only original, unaltered medical certificates should be accepted; and checked for the basics, such as the name, address and qualification of the medical practitioner, name of the patient, date and time of the examination, description of the illness (doctor/patient confidentiality permitting), period of recommended leave, whether the inability to work is total or whether lighter duties could be performed, full signature by the practitioner, etc.


3. Employers may question any medical certificate, and should certainly investigate any absence (certified or not) if there are grounds for suspicion (such as “Hey, what’s Joe doing on the TV blowing a vuvuzela down at the stadium when he just called in with a migraine?”). Take advice on instituting disciplinary procedures (possibly even criminal charges for fraud) in the event of abuse.

If you are an employee wanting to watch a match during working hours without sacrificing your annual leave, ask the Boss to consider a bit of flexitime leeway. You can’t force the issue, but from a staff morale perspective most businesses will probably try to be accommodating.