Legal Question in Employment Law in Maryland

Re: Employer wants a doctor note for 1 day off

Your employer cannot force you to go to the doctor but if the policy is to give sick time only when the individual can confirm by way of a health care professional note, that you were ill, then the employer has a right to conclude you were not ill and deny you the sick time if you don't bring in a note (or other confirmation).

If there is no such policy but the employer is just making this an issue with you, you might want to request the reason for this new policy just aimed at you. They are not allowed to discriminate against someone for race, religion, disability, age, national origin or gender. If they just don't like you, they can let you go (in most cases) as there is an "at will" policy in MD which means you can be fired for no reason or any reason unless they are discriminating against you as described above. However, by asking about the issue, you may learn something about your work, your supervisors or the horizen that you were heretofore unaware of.

If there is no policy but your coworker made an error in saying you went to the doctor, you may be fine in just staing tuthfully that you were ill but just needed rest and did not visit the doctor. After all, that is what the doctor would have told you anyway. An employer that demands you visit the doctor for every virus they come down with, is shooting themselves in the foot if they are offereing health insurance. It just makes it more expensive for them and unnecessarily so.

Hope this has helped

Good Luck

Laurel Anchors