You've never heard of the guy because I haven't posted in recent months. As for what I'm talking about, as you pointed out there are a variety of regional supplements and you shouldn't be so dogmatic to refuse to believe that in some areas it is the employee's responsibility to update their supervisor.
Back to the OP - The reason that you are being asked to do this is that there is a lot of fraud and abuse going on out there unfortunately. Your Supervisor is covering themselves as their HR team has asked them to make regular contact, to which they have to account to at the district level, and on it goes to show that the company knows what's going on.
Sadly, as unemployment rises and jobs are harder to find, traditionally the number of Short and Long Term claims escalates. This is not a new concept, but one that has increased with the current downturn as the types of benefits that employers offer now weren't available as prevalently in the 80's, the last time it was nearly this bad. The Aflac duck wasn't even quacking (created in 2000) and Aflac itself has only been in the business since 1955.
For each person that legitimately needs it, there are plenty that abuse the system. Before everybody bashes management for working as directed and following up with the employee on a regular basis, can anybody think of a better system? And to say that the doctor and insurance company is sufficient, anybody that has dealt with an insurance company knows the red tape involved, not to mention that there are a lot of privacy laws out there. How hard is it to pickup the phone or be called every week to verify a return to work date or your status?
