FMLA With No Diagnosis

Crout

I have an exempt employee who today informed her supervisor that she will be reducing her hours from 37.5 to 30 a week. The thing is, she is currently going through a number of tests to determine what is wrong with her, and does not yet have a diagnosis. Up to this point she has been using sick, vacation and flex time. Can the EE take an FMLA reduced schedule with no diagnosis or treatment plan in place?

Hatchetman

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 09-16-02 AT 03:58PM (CST)[/font][p]Yes, FMLA can be taken for doctor's appointments to diagnose a serious medical condition. See the Code of Federal Regulations 29CFRCFR825.114(b)

[url]http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/get-cfr.cgi?TITLE=29&PART=825&SECTION=114&YEAR=1998&TYPE=TEXT[/url]

I re-read your post again. And want to add this comment:

If the absences are for diagnosis or treatment clearly they can be under FMLA. But if she is just taking the time off because she isn't feeling well and THINKS that "unwellness" is caused by the still undiagnosed condition, that may be more problematic. I suggest you take a careful reading of the enite regulation in light of the specifics of this employee.

There's more to it, if the employee is seeking intermittent leave independnet of actual medical appointments. The doctor needs to identify intermittent or reduced leave as a medical necessity or allowable by the medical condition. See 29CFR825.117 and 29CFR825.306

System

You really cut to the chase, Hatchetman. It sounds like she wants to take it easy for a while, which may or may not be medically necessary. She needs to get her doctor to explain whether it is.

James Sokolowski
Senior Editor
M. Lee Smith Publishers

Janet

I had a similar situation once and spoke with someone at DOL. In our case, the EE was taking time off to be with her young child, who was seeing doctors to determine what was the problem. I was told that, if the diagnosis ultimately turned out to be an FMLA-covered issue, then all time taken off for the visits to determine this would be counted as FMLA. However, if the ultimate diagnosis did not result in an FMLA-covered situation, the time taken for the appointments would not be covered. (The EE was taking a few hours at a time.)

Crout

Thank you kindly, one and all. Hatchetman, I especially appreciate the regs you cited. Thanks again to everyone.