Sick leave: certificate errors and absences from home justify dismissal

Sickness and injury
Sick leave, availability for check-ups and certificates: repeated errors and absences from home may jeopardise employment
Tribunal of Milan

An employee on sick leave was dismissed following two disciplinary charges. The company alleged, on the one hand, that she had failed to correctly indicate on her medical certificates the address and intercom details needed for the check-up visits and, on the other, that she had left her home on two occasions during the periods of mandatory availability for such visits. The employee argued that she had informed the doctor of her new address and that she had gone out for reasons compatible with her state of health.
The Tribunal dismissed the claim. An employee must check that the sick leave certificate contains the details necessary to allow the check-up visit to take place and must act promptly to correct any omissions. It is therefore not sufficient to have informed the doctor of the new address if the certificate transmitted does not, in practice, allow the check-up to be carried out.
The Court also considered the absences during the periods of mandatory availability to be relevant, even though no check-up visit had been arranged on those occasions. The obligation to remain at home is intended precisely to make possible the check requested by the employer.
In the case examined, the repeated irregularities in the certificates and the two absences from home amounted, under the applicable collective agreement (CCNL, Contratto Collettivo Nazionale di Lavoro), to a number of unjustified absences sufficient to justify the dismissal.