Can government employer force workers to give up rights under HIPAA?

Power of the purse. If the employee doesn't want to release records to prove his or her condition, then the County doesn't need to keep paying him or her.

If the employee tries to sue the County for unlawful termination, he or she will need to release those records to the court anyway.

No, they can't violate HIPAA. What they can do is require documentation from a physician supporting the employee's assertions.

So if someone says they can't lift more than 30 points, for instance, the employer can require that the employee get something from their physician supporting the restriction.

An employee can't request a full medical record.

All employers have a right to verify that employees claiming medical disability are being truthful. They have every right to access pertinent medical history.

The medical records that they would be looking at would only be relevant to what you are claiming. They don't care about the broken arm you had when you were 12.

If you are seeking to keep your job while being on leave because you are medically unable to work - it is acceptable for your employer to see if you are medically able to return to work. There can be a conflict because HIPPA generally restricts a healthcare provider from divulging protected health information ("PHI") of their patients to third-parties, including employers. It depends on how the forms you were given by your employer read. The employer should have a HIPPA-compliant authorization to release PHI from its employees at the front-end of an FMLA request.

For more info. see below...

Every states Workers' Compensation Notice of Injury form allows for medical records to be released to the employer/WC insurance carrier.

It is completely legitimate for any employer, who is paying benefits (ie sick leave, etc) to REQUEST documentation of that situation. You have the right to your records being private, and not released to persons WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT. If the persons ASKING for the records have a completely valid cause and/or need..then it makes sense for you to give that consent.

They do not want your entire medical history. Only the part that pertains to your injury. It is not just the government that do this. It is all employers.

If you injured yourself on the job, certain medical records ARE to be made avaiable for return to work purposes.

it is not our "form of government" it extremely is grow to be detrimental yet how Obama is perverting and twisting it with a view to augment his very own agendas, i.e., having the IRS harass non-liberal businesses, turning the dep. of Justice on the media to aim and silence them, and so on.,.