witzend
Well-Known Member
Does anyone have any experience with getting a physical for employment purposes? I'm looking more for information to apply to an employee at our work who has deteriorating health issues and can't do the job anymore. Here's the deal.
G is about 200 pounds overweight. He is 57 years old. He's had a stroke, is an insulin dependent diabetic, has high blood pressure, asthma, and in the past year suffered congestive heart failure 3 times. The last time was three weeks ago, and I have reason to believe that he will be hospitalized again for the same condition shortly as all of the same symptoms are there.
His duties consist of some office work, and other work that requires him to climb ladders and stairs, carry loads up to 100 pounds, work odd hours, stand on his feet, drive long distances, etc. When he goes out on jobs with the other guys, he will go halfway up a ladder, ask for help with whatever he is carrying, then not go up or down the ladder again. He recently refused to go out on a large job because he was, and this is a verbatim quote "afraid that if I go up on that ladder I will die of an asthma attack." Last year he took 34 sick days, and always came back with a doctor's note saying he could return to full duty. Last week he emptied his garbage can and had to take a nap. I am not kidding.
Recently with the downturn in the economy, and particularly because this one of two other employees does so little real work, my boss laid the guys off of monthly wages and is paying them only for hourly work as needed. The guys are collecting unemployment benefits, which is legal and allowed under these circumstances. G does have some valuable insight as to memories of what particular tool or part was used on a job 5 years ago. It is helpful, but not worth a monthly wage. Work is going undone, customers notice and are not hiring us, and my boss is too nice to do anything about it because G always says he's perfectly capable of doing the job.
I think we should have a doctor look at G and specifically address what job duties he can and can not safely perform, and under what circumstances. I know that if a doctor says he can't do the work that he can't collect unemployment, because we WILL hire someone full time to replace him. But the guy is an expert at "his rights", if you know what I mean. If something happens, his family will sue for sure. Then again, we don't want to pay for every test under the sun for this guy.
What do you have done for an employment physical? Would we have to do an MRI? Can we use his insurance? Can we just ask for blood tests and a stress test? Again, will insurance cover that? I'm sure it would be tax deductible. Anyone with any doctor's office experience or HR experience on this, can you give me the low-down?
G is about 200 pounds overweight. He is 57 years old. He's had a stroke, is an insulin dependent diabetic, has high blood pressure, asthma, and in the past year suffered congestive heart failure 3 times. The last time was three weeks ago, and I have reason to believe that he will be hospitalized again for the same condition shortly as all of the same symptoms are there.
His duties consist of some office work, and other work that requires him to climb ladders and stairs, carry loads up to 100 pounds, work odd hours, stand on his feet, drive long distances, etc. When he goes out on jobs with the other guys, he will go halfway up a ladder, ask for help with whatever he is carrying, then not go up or down the ladder again. He recently refused to go out on a large job because he was, and this is a verbatim quote "afraid that if I go up on that ladder I will die of an asthma attack." Last year he took 34 sick days, and always came back with a doctor's note saying he could return to full duty. Last week he emptied his garbage can and had to take a nap. I am not kidding.
Recently with the downturn in the economy, and particularly because this one of two other employees does so little real work, my boss laid the guys off of monthly wages and is paying them only for hourly work as needed. The guys are collecting unemployment benefits, which is legal and allowed under these circumstances. G does have some valuable insight as to memories of what particular tool or part was used on a job 5 years ago. It is helpful, but not worth a monthly wage. Work is going undone, customers notice and are not hiring us, and my boss is too nice to do anything about it because G always says he's perfectly capable of doing the job.
I think we should have a doctor look at G and specifically address what job duties he can and can not safely perform, and under what circumstances. I know that if a doctor says he can't do the work that he can't collect unemployment, because we WILL hire someone full time to replace him. But the guy is an expert at "his rights", if you know what I mean. If something happens, his family will sue for sure. Then again, we don't want to pay for every test under the sun for this guy.
What do you have done for an employment physical? Would we have to do an MRI? Can we use his insurance? Can we just ask for blood tests and a stress test? Again, will insurance cover that? I'm sure it would be tax deductible. Anyone with any doctor's office experience or HR experience on this, can you give me the low-down?
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