I'm disability leave and my employer is pressuring me to…

Hi DebraI'm not in a union. In April I provided them with a letter from doctor that says I need sick leave for 3 months starting from April 6. Then the insurance company stepped in and checked in with me every two weeks. My leave was extended to end of November, which the insurance company approved. The insurance company communicates with my employer regularly.

Hello Mary,I hope you are doing well. I am following up on my email from last Monday.
I understand that you may not be comfortable having a conversation with me right now about the situation. Although I would like very much for us to connect and see if we can do anything, it is absolutely up to you. However, and as I mentioned in my last email, BNP has rights and obligations as your employer, including getting more information about your current medical condition and justification for your absence.
Currently, the only medical note we have on your file is the one dated April 6th, 2020, which mentioned an absence of three months, that is, until July 6th, 2020. According to BNP’s policy, you have to provide us with medical justification for absences of more than 3 consecutive days, and for now, you have not complied with this obligation for your absence past July 6th, 2020. Even though you have sent some information to Manulife, they don’t have the authorization to share those with me.
This is why I am following up regularly and it is really important that we connect. This is also why I suggested to get in touch directly with your doctor so that you don’t have to connect with me if you are not comfortable. Either way, we need to obtain justification for your absence as soon as possible, and in any event before October 2nd 2020 end of day. In the absence of medical justification for your absence, administrative and/or disciplinary measures could be taken, in accordance with our policy. I really hope that this won’t be necessary and that we can sort this out shortly.
I would like to propose that we talk on September 29th at 3pm, or September 30th at 2pm or October 1st at 4pm. If none of these work for you, you can also have your doctor contact me to sort this out.
Best regards,that clarifies the law. Thank you

The above is one of the emails I received from my HR. It says if I don't respond, "administrative and/or disciplinary measures could be taken". I provided them with my family doctor's phone number by the deadline.Hello Mary,
First of all, I wanted to say that I am truly sorry you interpreted my last request in a negative way. It seems to have caused you more distress than anticipated, and this was clearly not my intention at all. I have been trying to gather the necessary information to properly manage your file over the last few months, without success, with the objective to understand better your situation and give you support, whether medical or related to your relationship with your manager.
As mentioned, as your employer, we need to have the required medical information to manage your file and justify your absence internally, and although Manulife has this information, they cannot share it with us. This is why we were trying to get it from you. However, now that you have shared with us your doctor’s contact, we will be reaching out to him directly, and avoid therefore to put any stress on you. To that effect, please find attached a letter that we will be sending him directly, which we share with you just for your information and to be transparent.
While we understand that we already have your permission to contact your doctor, it is important that you also sign the attached Authorization form, which will allow your doctor to fill out the questionnaire at the end of the letter, and send us a copy. Your doctor will have a copy of this Authorization form as well and you can sign it with him, when you see him.
Of course, all of the information that we will get as part of this process will remain strictly confidential and will only be accessed by HR representatives, on a need-to-know basis.
Again Mary, I really want to reassure you that I am just trying to gather important information to anticipate and potentially accommodate better your return to work.HR came back yesterday with the above email, with the authorization form and a form requesting detailed medical info from my family doctor.I said I'm not comfortable signing the authorization form, and here's HR's response:
I am not sure I understand what you are not comfortable about: signing the authorization form per se or the fact that it will allow BNP Paribas HR to have certain information?
If it is the second point, may I just again remind you that employers are entitled to information about how the employee's condition will affect the employee's ability to do the job. This may include details about the employee's limitations and abilities in performing normal, modified or alternative job duties and whether the condition is temporary or permanent, and my requests go down this line.
If you feel certain information is too personal to share, please let me know, and I will check to see if we can retrieve them from the questionnaire. Again, we are trying to manage at best your absence from work and your potential return to work.

Can I refuse to sign the authorization form? Do I have to respond to HR on this topic during my disability leave?

My family doctor has provided the insurance company all the requested form, and I don't want to keep going back and forth with my employer while I'm still recovering. I prefer ignoring HR's emails from now on, but am wondering if that would cause any issue legally speaking.

Ok understood. How is this typically handled without signing the authorization form? I already told them they can call my doctor or I can get a new doctor's note - are these enough?Ok understood. How is this typically handled without signing the authorization form? I already told them they can call my doctor or I can get a new doctor's note - aren’t these enough?

It's confusing what she's entitled to vs. what she's not entitled to. You started off saying medical information is highly confidential and my employer is never entitled to a diagnosis or details. Now you are saying she's entitled to get the information beyond a doctor's note saying my condition generically and when I may be back? So where do we draw the line then?

Attached is the medical request form - which does ask for detailed diagnosis. If I sign the authorization, then HR is entitled to receive all these information, right?

If I don't sign the form, but instead have my family doctor provide something in lieu of it with less personal info, can my employer keep coming back saying they are entitled to more information?

if I understand correctly - as long as my family doctor provides something in writing addressing the appropriate points you mentioned, my employer cannot dismiss me, correct? My doctor doesn't have to fill out the form provided by HR, and I don't have to sign the authorization form. But we do need to provide a response in some form addressing the points. Is this correct?

Ok got it. I'm not concerned with getting my job back. I just wanted to make sure that I'm protecting my legal rights, that I'm not being pushed over to do things that I have a right to refuse, and that if I end up getting dismissed, at least I have a case for wrongful dismissal...In that letter from HR, certain things were misrepresented. It was noted they tried to contact me to get my medical information but without success, which is not true - I did respond to HR a couple of times. Up until mid-September, they only asked for a call with me to discuss my issues with my boss, which I was not comfortable with given my unstable mental health condition. It also says my work schedule was 7 hours a day, but in reality I routinely worked over 10 hours a day, answering my boss' call at 9pm at night, and often worked on weekends. Should I document these discrepancies now?

Ok got it. This has been very helpful， and I know how to handle this now. Thank you so much Debra!