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Too sick to attend the AAT or just a "sickie"?
We will all be familiar with clients who at the last moment are too sick to attend a hearing either at Court ar at the AAT.
The appropriate course is to ask the client to provide a medical certificate seeking to be excused.
However, we must make sure that the relevant certificate is in proper form and says that the client is too unwell to attend or to give evidence in the proceedings.
The following case is a useful commentary on those requirements :
FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA
Singh v Minister for Home Affairs [2019] FCA 723
15 In reviewing the Tribunal’s decision, the primary Judge set forth the decision-making process which had led to the Tribunal decision and its reasons for decision. Of particular concern was the reliance placed by the Tribunal upon the medical certificate which had been provided and which stated that Mr Singh had been “examined and received Medical Treatment at our clinic … [and] will be unfit to continue his usual occupation/study”. The primary Judge then concluded (in part) as follows:
[19] The approach of the Tribunal to the Medical Certificate was entirely consistent with decisions of numerous Judges in the Federal Court of Australia. In MZAHI v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection [2016] FCA 129 at [7] Davies J said as follows:
[7] No error has been demonstrated in the conclusion of the Federal Circuit Court that the Tribunal did not deny the appellant procedural fairness. The medical certificate which the appellant furnished to the Tribunal was in the following form:
In my opinion, he/she will be unfit for his/her normal work from 27/5/14 to 28/5/14 inclusive. (medical condition)
The medical certificate was plainly inadequate to justify any further adjournment of the Tribunal hearing. The medical certificate merely stated that the appellant was unfit for work and provided no meaningful detail about the nature of the appellant’s illness, or any meaningful content which would enable the Tribunal to conclude that the appellant could not participate at the Tribunal hearing. Given the absence of any meaningful content in the medical certificate it was open to the Tribunal to reject that certificate as sufficient proof that the appellant was unable to participate in a Tribunal hearing on that day…
Comments
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Sunday, 26 May 2019
Yes I agree with you and what we need to do is to educate our clients to ensure that the medical certificate is not generic...perhaps something like this....
" I have today examined Mr X and have determined that he is running a fever and is unwell and I have prescribed bed rest and medication. He informs me that he is due to attend a hearing at the AAT today and that he is expected to give evidence. I am of the opinion that he is not well enough to attend the AAT or to give evidence either in person or on the telephone." -
Monday, 02 November 2020What I don't understand is how the court can set a different standard to that imposed on employers?
If an employer was to force an employee to work on a day they had medical leave then they would suffer serious consequences imposed on them by the courts if a case was raised by the employee
YET
When it comes to a court hearing the opposite is applied and justified
Immigration blog
But that is what all doctors in Australia write on their medical certificates...smh