All clients of the PRWT Accounting Office who employ employees are well aware of the need for the employee to have up-to-date medical examinations. The applicable law provides for three types of medical examinations for employees:

– preliminary,

– control,

– periodic.

In today’s entry, we will look at a real-life situation. An employee whose periodic examinations were about to expire was directed by the employer to perform them. Unfortunately, after the tests, the employee did not show up at work or provide the medical certificate issued after the tests. The employee’s sick leave was issued in the PUE ZUS system. Due to the above, the employer asked the occupational medicine center that examined the employee to issue the certificate obtained by the employee. It turned out that the content of the decision indicated that the employee was incapable of work. What should the employer do in this case? Can the employment contract be terminated after the employee’s return due to the employee’s inability to perform work confirmed in a periodic examination? If an employee’s sick leave lasts longer than 30 days, will it be necessary to send him/her for another examination, this time for a control?

If the sick leave the employee is currently on does not exceed 30 days, then after the employee returns to work it will not be possible to allow him/her to work due to the result of the periodic examination. The employer, if possible, may offer the employee another job position (of course by sending the employee to a medical examination which will indicate that the employee has the ability to work in this new position) or, if this is not possible, the employer will be forced to terminate the employment contract with the employee. due to lack of ability to perform work in the position held.

However, if the employee’s current sick leave exceeds 30 days, regardless of the results of the periodic examination available to the employer, it will be necessary to refer the employee for check-ups. Legal regulations oblige us to perform such tests. It cannot be ruled out that the employee regained the ability to work after the indicated 30 days. If the employer terminates the employment contract with the employee without a prior check-up and the employee regains the ability to work, the employer runs the risk of defective termination of the employment contract.