Do Your Employees Go to Dr. Summeroff?

The line got a huge laugh from the audience, but it was a rueful laugh—it seemed that every HR manager in the audience had an employee who was a patient of Dr. Summeroff.

I thought it was a great lesson in real-world HR—not compliance, not policy, but dealing with Dr. Summeroff.

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I asked a neighbor who’s an internist whether he was a Dr. Summeroff. He said that he’s pretty tough on his patients. He said that what he encounters is not patients asking for a month off, but patients who want to gain a long weekend (e.g., he says to the patient, “You’re OK to return to work Friday,” and the patient says, “How about Monday?”) or patients who are gaming the employer’s system (e.g., want to burn sick days instead of vacation days).

My questions to readers:

1. Do you have Dr. Summeroff scenarios you’d be willing to share (no names, dates, or places, of course)?

2. Do you have any techniques to suggest for HR managers who receive outrageous doctor’s notes (other than “Grin and bear it”)?

Use the comments link below or e-mail me direct at sbruce@blr.com.

I’ll share your horror stories and coping techniques in a future issue.

Thanks,

Steve

Stephen D. Bruce, PhD, PHR

Editor, HR Daily Advisor, Compensation & Benefits Daily Advisor