med cert. - centerlink

hey,

im six months preg. and have been doing the"right thing" and applying for jobs , although no one will employ a preg woman , and have been having a hard time socially , with three rather large moves ( brisbane to townsville, townsville to brisbane, brisbane to tasmania) im all by my slef and am depressed . . . my doctor wrote me a medical cert for centerlink , saying i coudlnt work due to depression and the stress this will cuase on the baby . ..

i resieved a letter back saying " your application for exsepmtion has been rejected"

How does some stupid little centerlink person have the right to reject a medical certificate ????


has anyone been through this before , has anyone got any ideas for me ?>

Sorry youre having such a hard time :( :hug: Hmm, well I know Centrelink have a set of criteria that need to be met. Could you make an interview with their counsellor and talk to them about it? Maybe a letter from your midwife/Ob too?

. . . my old hospital ahvnt sent my records through so i havnt been able to see a ob yet in tasmania . . . so nobody will belive my due date... why is it so confusing and agrivating . . . hopefully my records get here in the next few days and i can get a letter :) thanx

there are "degrees" of illness to exclude/exempt you from having to search for work - and the "stupid little centrelink" person is actually someone trained in what is appropriate and not appropriate for exempting you from the ability to work. pregnancy (until 34 weeks) does not exempt you. depression does not exempt you. in a LOT of situations, depression is a side effect of low self worth from not having work - and exempting you from the need to search for work makes it a self-fulfilling problem - the longer you are out of work, the worse the depression becomes.

just because someone is a government employee doesn't negate their knowledge - they are adequately trained, and if there is any doubt they have access to medical professionals to consult on any given case. this isn't just some "little centrelink person" who stands at the counter and takes your form.

if you're not happy - appeal the decision - but really, given you've moved to several different locations (no offence - i know sometimes this has to happen) it makes sense that your exemption has been declined - how can your current GP KNOW your history - they can only go on what you've told them in the limited time you've been local to them.

when it comes to pregnancy, there are few exemptions - there ARE jobs out there for heavily pregnant women and i personally know several that have been employed later in pregnancy.... you would have to be severely physically ill (pre-eclampsia or severe hypermesis gravidarium - sp??) to be exempted. depression is very much hard to prove and not something that would exempt you from job seeking obligations...

the reasons i have moved have been for perfectally good reasons . .. A- when i found out i was pregnant i moved home to live with my parents ( and started worked while i was in townsville )

b- My mother desided that hitting her pregnant daughter was acseptable.

c- i was living on a frinds sofa , and time was running out ( 3 months left of pregnancy ) i couldnt find work or a house and was heading into depressed state ( i have a history of depression) and was offerd a stable roof over my head untill i could find somewere for the baby and i , i am now staying with my exstended family . . . and finally getting my head around things. . .

its not that i wont apply for work , its that i dont need the strees of worrieing about applying for 4 jobs a fortnight.

all the desisions i have made have been me trying to make the best desision for my unborn child , how dare u critisize me for that . . . my pont was that a DR knows more that a centerlink employee and i cant belive that they would be able to over rule a medical certificate . . .

read my post again - i have NOT criticised you - i have simply stated facts - you yourself have said that your records from QLD have not been received in Tasmania as yet. i did not ask for your circumstances, i simply stated facts as they stand. it was you who claimed some "stupid little centrelink person" had no ability to make a judgement call as to whether to exempt you - i am simply stating reasons why this may have happened. i explained that it's not just a consultant, it's a person who is trained. for ANY medical certificate to be accepted there needs to be justification and a rating is achieved as to whether it will be accepted or not based on what information your GP has provided

as i ALSO posted, you have the right to appeal - every decision can be appealled. not once did i say not to. i have not judged and don't intend to. your situation does not impact on me personally so i have no reason to judge. you asked for advice, and i answered from a purely factual perspective.

you have not been judged, i have simply answered your question. your reasons for moving are none of my concern but they may have contributed to your reasons for being declined an exemption. i was simply explaining the situation as it stands.

Sorry this is bit of a late reply but just saw the thread.

I work in Job Network (where Centrelink send you to look for work) and as long as your Dr/Ob has your EDD you can be exempt from Job searching requirements 13 weeks (Im pretty sure its 13 weeks, sorry Im going off the top of my head) from your confinement date (your EDD). The Med Cert needs to be on a Centrelink med cert (not just a normal Dr letterhead one) and needs to clearly state your EDD.

Talk to your job network provider if you have any concerns, they can give you more info.

ETA: And I agree with briggsy's girl if your not happy with their decision. You can always appeal it.

for Centrelink purposes, the exemption only applies for 6 weeks prior to due date as listed by the doctor unless it has recently changed which i don't believe it has... unfortunately i can't source anything on the c'link website to confirm this

this link will provide you with the explanation (technical rather than just mine) of those able to refuse your medical certificate

Yes thats correct. Sorry I should have been clearer about the 13 weeks part! Your Job Network will remove all job searching codes from your Activity Agreement approx 13 weeks from your EDD and Centrelink will exempt you 6 weeks from your EDD.

yeah i know, i sorted it with centerlink :). . . thanx. . . briggsys girl. .. sorrie for biting back . . . thank you for your sane thoughts on the matter :)

Glad you got things sorted... I went through a similar thing when I was pg with DD - it's absolute crap that Centrelink expects a woman who is showing to apply for work, it's stressful and it's pretty bloody obvious nobody's going to hire you when it's you're not going to be around longer than a couple of months...
I got a medical cert from my doctor and then went to see the staff at the local Mental Health office and talked to a counsellor there - she agreed that after being fired from my job (purely for being pregnant, btw) and the stresses I was going through at the time added to being pregnant (financial and relationship worries, amongst other things), being forced to look for work and being rejected at every turn (which is pretty bloody hard on a person's self-esteem, therefore exacerbating the problem when you have a history of depression/anxiety) was not good for me or the baby and she also wrote a declaration stating that I should be exempted from job-seeking on medical grounds (so then I had a cert from my GP as well as from a 'mental health professional'). I then had to have an interview at Centrelink to review it, and then another phone interview where they 'ticked the boxes' to determine the severity of my condition, and it came back all good - I was exempted from looking for work.

Hope everything gets sorted out for you, I know how incredibly frustrating, exhausting and disheartening it can be when dealing with 'the system' sometimes... but yeah if all else fails try seeing a counsellor/psychiatrist and if they think your condition is severe enough to exempt you from looking for work/working, they will write a certificate for Centrelink stating so, and Centrelink will go from there.

FWIW - for ANYONE in this kind of situation thinking there is no work out there - go to a temp agency - they SPECIALISE in short term work assignments. mostly they're office type jobs (so low impact) and you can have a short term working relationship with them!

also govvie jobs if available in your area - no one SHOULD discriminate based on pregnancy (but we all know it happens) but i know for a fact govvie agencies will hire you. we had one girl work for 9 weeks before going on mat leave - she didn't get paid mat leave cos she didn't qualify, but her position was held for her for the maximum amount of time she was entitled to (a year from memory) and she came back. so please don't think pregnancy means unemployable - you might just have to look outside the fields you've worked in the past (retail etc) and look more for jobs that will be appropriate for a pregnant woman

i have thought about office work , and was acutally working for a temping agensie in qld. . . due to my illitracy ( if thats even a word) admin jobs kinda dont suit me , im a cleaner , and workshop assistant . . . i have only ever done jobs that are a lil hard for me to do now lols, i shoulda thought about it beofre lols