The collective agreements applicable to the wellbeing services counties and municipalities have been amended with the possibility of proving the need for sick leave with a certificate issued by a physiotherapist.
The collective agreement provision still requires that an acceptable medical certificate must be presented for incapacity for work. However, incapacity for work can now also be proven by other reliable means. This can be done if the incapacity for work lasts for no more than five days.
Other reliable means include a certificate of incapacity for work issued by
- a public health nurse
- a nurse or
- a physiotherapist.
It is worth noting that a certificate of a doctor’s appointment, examination, rehabilitation or outpatient clinic appointment is not sufficient, as the certificate must specifically be a certificate of incapacity for work.
Employers can decide that other reliable means may also be used to prove incapacity for work that lasts longer than five days. However, employers can also decide that a medical certificate is required even in the above cases for a specific reason.
The amendment on sick leave certificates issued by a physiotherapist can be found in
- wellbeing services counties: chapter V, section 1(2) of the General Collective Agreement for the Welfare Sector (HYVTES) (available in Finnish and Swedish) (to be updated)
- municipalities: chapter V, section 1(2) of the Municipal Collective Agreement (KVTES) (available in Finnish and Swedish) (to be updated).
Employers, meaning wellbeing services counties and municipalities, will also be issuing their own guidelines for their staff in relation to this change.
