In the climate of greater, if not excessive, touchy freely comms from management, a somewhat anonymous missive, totally lacking in ownership, landed in pilots’ inbox, today.

24 hours after a conspicuously silent and dreary FOP weekly update, the new draconian - and discriminatory, since it only applies to HK and NZ flight crew (other jurisdictions cannot be trounced quite so easily) - revision of the Noticed of Revised Sick Leave Policy has been declared.

Let’s not beat around the bush and let’s communicate frankly: you pilots are pulling fake sickies, is the only, very unsubtle message conveyed by the author(s) of this cack, oppressive unexplained change in policy.

From day 1 of your injury, sickness or incapacity, your priority within 24 hours, is to self-diagnose your predicament or ailment or make damn sure a medical professional can attend to you and do so on your behalf, without condition, especially if you fall ill outside Hong Kong, and communicate the same to Our Dear Leaders.

Failure to do so is not spelt out in this gash revised policy, just so that the implicit disciplinary threat hovers ever so slightly closer over you.

A spineless, impractical document, if ever one was conceived by over excitable incumbents of new managerial positions.

It makes me sick.

Can I self-certify for that?

Just makes me want to hurt them more (and send a big :mad: welcome to the new GMA who i suspect is behind this). Havent gone sick in a while but i am now. Any doubts what needs to happen everyone?

(and I concur, a NO vote from me as well)

Diarrhea is a common problem after consuming food from unhygienic origin. It can put a professional pilot unfit to fly any aeroplane for up to 3 days. Photograph and video evidence are available on request. :8

Self certification completed :cool:

So, more reports are going to help FOP contribute to the profitability of the company? The only change I see is more paper (electrons) work. No problem.

Exactly correct ATY! All of these “sickies” or PRAs are only necessary as a result of a badly broken rostering system. If they want sickness rates to go down, bring in 21st century scheduling which honors seniority and stop treating everyone like they are on reserve all the time. It’s pretty obvious really. For the record, a pattern optimizer is not a comprehensive scheduling system. There are two more pieces which benefit pilots as well as the Company. We don’t hear much about those these days. Perhaps there’s a reason for that?!?!

Anybody who thought the Jellyfish will be any different, has their answer very quickly. A heavy handed and ill-considered policy announced late on a Friday evening. We have all seen that movie before and we all know how it ends.

So long as you are in an English-speaking country, it's not difficult to get a Doctor's certificate. So apart from adding to the company's medical bills, this should have no impact for pilots that have their stuff together.

Had an interesting experience a few weeks back. Took a tumble whilst out running when on leave in the UK. Strained my quad. Not too bad, thought it would be 4-7 days and back running again. Was supposed to head back to work, but couldn't put any weight on the damaged quad, so thought it best to go sick. Saw my friendly doc in Manchester, who referred me to an equally friendly physio. Sent in the documents to the company and enquired if the "injury" meant my licence was suspended and would I need an MCQ. "Yes" was the answer. I had a duty on a Saturday and aimed to fly that duty. Doctor's don't work weekends, so first available appointment is Monday afternoon. Another 3 days off work, but managed to get some good rehab on the quad hiking up The Peak. I see the Company Doc who wants some details from the Doctor in Manchester. The next 7 days sees a big pointless and expensive paper chasing exercise.

The net result, if I could have self-certified I would have been off work 4 days. Following the Company's procedure cost about $3k in medical and 2 weeks off work. Did I care?-no. Did Corporate Medical care?-No. In fact both myself and Corporate Medical agreed the policy is stupid and neither party was particularly motivated to make it work.

Time to win?

If my memory serves me correctly , they tried this once before , it was abandoned after the medical bills to comply with the new rules went through the roof .
It’s not difficult , if you don’t feel well go to a doctor , even in HK you can’t always get to a GP on the same day, so what are you supposed to do ? . If the company is coming down hard on you . File a report directly with the CAD bypass Cathay management entirely .
Alternatively print out a preformatted letter stating the CAD position pertaining to operating an aircraft whilst unfit . Go to chief pilot explaining that you do not feel competent to operate an aircraft , but if they insist that you must operate then they have to sign your letter acknowledging that you have informed them of your condition and they are forcing you to operate irrespective .
‘I really don’t see too many letters being signed .
My GP tends to err on the side of caution, so whilst I might take a week off for a bad cold he would always give me an extra few days on top just to be sure .
Or go to the GP get a few days off , go back for a few more days off , and a third time to ensure that you are fully fit
multiply that by 3000 pilots and watch the bills for medical visits expand exponentially
what the hell why don’t 60-80% of Pilots just go and see the Doc for a chat , explain the situation and confirm that you can come and see them whenever it’s necessary
2500x800 average doctor fee = 2 Million . That should get their attention

They just want you to log into intra CX so they can see where you really are.

Suppose the AOA will just let this slide in while they carry on ‘negotiating’ with the devil, just like no 13th month for Captains, no payrise last year when it was promised etc etc etc

If the ability to self assess as UNFIT for flying duties is removed from a crew member, then it follows that the ability to self assess as FIT for flying duties is also removed by association?

If you cannot solely determine you are unfit, then how can you solely determine you are fit?

Perhaps we should all be getting a doctors note certifying fit for duty before any flight?

Excellent point, we should all see a doctor before each duty and get them to certify us as being fit.

What are the chances a doctor will say you are unfit because of alternating day night duties ?

All the Chinese contract jobs that you’re all running off to sign up for (apparently) have their own doctors controlling their own Medicals. You can only get a sickness note off them, for your annual 7 days allowed. Bad time to mention?

I’ll get my coat.

What you fail to mention MC, with said Chinese contract, you go there with a completely different mindset. You go as a contract pilot, a mercenary if you will, with zero emotional investment in the running of the airline. You also fail to mention that they pay more than CX, you get a guaranteed business seat home with 11 consecutive days off (if you choose that option), all of which leads to a healthier emotional and mental state, which means one’s sickness events probably drop. Oh, based on the recent CX choice for SFO hotel, the mainland carriers hotels can’t be any worse. As always, the devil is in the details. I concede, going north of the border is not everyone’s cup of tea but don’t let the facts get in the way of your ilk’s CX propaganda.

Any injury that would prevent you from performing as a pilot, whether a duty was missed or not, cannot be self certified. Being unable to put any weight on a leg would fall into this category. The HKCAD must be notified, they will immediately suspend your medical certificate which will only become valid again once the process has been followed and completed including a MCQ.

The new sickness certification policy has no bearing on this HKCAD requirement or your responsibilities as a license holder.

AIC 06/16

“1.1 This circular serves to remind every holder of a medical certificate issued under Article 19 or 20 of the Air Navigation (Hong Kong) Order 1995 that he/she is not entitled to act as a member of the flight crew of an aircraft registered in Hong Kong if he/she knows or reasonably suspects that his/her physical, mental, emotional, physiological (such as fatigue) or social condition renders him/her temporarily or permanently unfit to perform such functions or to act in such capacity.”

UNFIT FOR DUTY does not mean SICKNESS, there are many other factors.

If you report UNFIT and do not provide a Doctors note, then you are UNFIT for reasons other than sickness. This by definition is not dealt with by the Sickness Policy or the COS, but can be monitored by the AMP.

DO NOT SELF CERTIFY AS SICK, ONLY AS UNFIT FOR DUTY.

If they wish for you to see a company appointed medical specialist later then you will have to comply as part of the COS.

Great question Sandman.

I suspect the answer is something to do with the new DFO/GMA's vision of pilot management. One thing that can be deduced from the new policy is that Management cannot be happy with the existing AMP.

Whether that's because they believe this new policy is actually better, or the resignation rate has got them desperately searching for solutions to make the roster work is a question that will be answered over time!!!

Did I say "overtime"?:}