Employeer wants access to my medical records

[scwmortise]

Hello,

Following a head injury near the end of last year due to a traffic accident, my Employer is now requesting access to my medical records. I went to see an independent health specialist, arranged by the company, but they advise that they do not think that the check was satisfactory and now want to see my medical records.

I am worried on two counts, one, my performance at work has dipped noticeably since the accident and is still recovering, I have had to spend my own time re-learning things that I once knew

Secondly, I have not been entirely truthful with my employer with my condition as I was signed off by the doctor several times after the incident as I had to go in for regular scans but I still attended work advising that I was fine.

I am now worried that if work get hold of this information, they can deem me unfit to work and get rid of me as they have reputation for being ruthless and several people who I have spoken to have warned me that once HR gets involved it isn't long before they get rid of you. I am inclined to believe that they want to get rid of me as the recent professional I saw was only interested in making sure I was fit for work, not to discuss my issues as I was originally advised. I feel like I was lied to about this and now that they don't have the information they want to get rid of me, they are moving to more extreme methods.

Can any one advise on where I stand with this? From a practical stand point, I am uncomfortable with work having access to my medical records but I don't want to look like I have anything to hide as I have continued to work to try and keep my employer happy and now feel like I have done the wrong thing and backed myself into a corner.

Thanks for your time.

[stevemLS]

Re: Employeer wants access to my medical records

Your employer has no right at all to demand to see your medical records.

In some circumstances, it can work to the employees advantage to permit access but from what you say it does not sound as though that is the case here.

If they are unhappy with the assessment performed by the doctor that they previously nominated why not say to them that you will happily be assessed by an alternative health professional that they may wish to nominate.

Offer that up without either agreeing or not agreeing to their request to access your records (they will be unable to access them without explicit consent) - that way at least initially they can't view you as being unco-operative.

I don't suppose you have a union you can ask for assistance?