The National Health Fund (Caisse Nationale de Santé) recently warned against the issuance of medical certificates, which can be ordered from online platforms without consultation or examination by a registered medical practitioner.
The CNS pointed out that it refuses all certificates ordered online without personal contact with a medical practitioner or issued by unknown doctors meaning that the certificates will be declared null and void. It also states that persons using such certificates are liable to a fine and legal proceedings.
The amount of the fine depends on the duration of the false certificate:
- False certificate for less than or equal to 3 days' incapacity for work: EUR 200;
- False certificate covering more than 3 days' incapacity for work: EUR 500;
- Repeat offence, regardless of duration: EUR 750.
The CNS has listed the unknown doctors on its website: https://cns.public.lu/en/assure/actualites/faux-certificats.html
It should also be noted that the use of false certificates raises a problem as to the veracity of the information provided by the employee and, consequently, a problem regarding the employee's duty to inform the employer when absent due to work incapacity.
The Labour Code states that an employee absent due to illness or accident is obliged to inform the employer on the 1st day of the absence. The employee is then obliged to submit a medical certificate attesting to the work incapacity and its foreseeable duration to the employer by the 3rd day of absence at the latest. If the obligation to provide a medical certificate is not observed, absence due to sickness is not justified and therefore the employee is not protected against dismissal.
When the employee presents a medical certificate, the employer has the possibility to submit a request to the CNS so that it can carry out an administrative check to establish whether or not the employee was at home during the sick leave, in accordance with the terms of the medical certificate.
The employer also has the possibility of calling in a doctor of its choice to undertake a second medical examination. The employee cannot refuse to undergo the re-examination without good reason. In the event of differing medical opinions, a third doctor will have to determine the legitimacy of the sick leave.
In a nutshell, we can conclude that the presentation of a false certificate could be considered the same as the failure to present a sickness certificate to the employer, and consequently the absence would be considered unjustified, which could lead, in certain cases, to the dismissal of the employee.
