We have lots of problems with employees going abroad on holiday and the going sick for long periods of time and sending us foreign medical certificates.

Quite often the employee has applied for extended leave in advance of the holiday, which is refused, and then they go off sick…. It is a sad fact that people are able to buy certificates very cheaply in certain countries and therefore we often doubt the genuineness of such certificates, given that they requested additional leave and it was refused.

We would like to introduce a policy of refusing to accept foreign medical certificates.

1) Has anyone introduced a similar policy?
2) Are there any legal risks if we apply the rule consistently to every employee?
Jeannette McAlister