title: The Influence of Workers' Health Status on Employers' Decision-Making During Personnel Restructuring in a Typical Public Limited Enterprise in Slovenia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Alongside individual indicators of job performance, even workers' health status could be a criterion for selection. The mechanisms for health selection are a reduction of productivity in relation to illness or certain health behaviour. The aim of the study was to establish how indicators of workers' health status, which are accessible to the employer, influence the employer's decision-making on which workers to retain and which to dismiss during personnel restructuring in the enterprise.
  
  
  METHODS
  Due to a planned closure of a plant, the observed company began personnel restructuring which included a strategic decrease in the number of employees and the relocation of workers within the company. Two nested case control studies were conducted. The cases were divided into two groups and defined as follows: employees who were relocated and employees whose employment contract was terminated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results show that the disability category and long-time sick leave exert the greatest influence on the employer's decision on the selection of workers. Workers with work-related disability have lower odds to be relocated to a new workplace (OR=0.5; 95% CI 0.2 to 1.1) and higher odds to be dismissed (OR=6.51; 95% CI 3.33 to 12.72). The workers with a history of a long-time sick leave also have lower odds to be relocated (OR=0.31; 95% CI 0.11 to 0.88) and higher odds to be dismissed (OR=4.32; 95% CI 2.08 to 8.96).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Indicators of health which were accessible to the employer actually exerted influence on the employer's decision-making, which could show a direct form of health selection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational, Traffic and Sports Medicine, Medical Center Ptuj, Potrceva 19a, Ptuj, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Margan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Occupational, Traffic and Sports Medicine, University Medical Center, Poljanski nasip 58, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Metoda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dodič-Fikfak
keywords: disability category; health selection; medical certificates; personnel restructuring; sick leave