Certification question

bgrimes

Do I HAVE to have a medical certification for EVERY FMLA issue? If I clearly know that the person I'm placing on FMLA has an eligible condition, do I still need to bother the doctor with this? What if the condition is a 3-5 day bad case of the flu? How are you all conducting this? x:-/

Renie

If you do it for one, you do it for all.

Gillian

Similar to Renie, however, we don't count 3-5 day absenses for the flue against FMLA. That decision was based on the amount of paperwork it would create measured against the probability of not doing so creating other problems. I don't think that we have had an employee yet who maxed out on FMLA, who also had other time off due to our not counting the piddly stuff.

Don D

Since our hourly attendance policy is structured so tightly, we do count 'the piddly stuff' if it's FMLA, particularly things like the flu. This is the only way to save people's jobs on occasion....putting them on approved FMLA. We do not necessarily in every case demand a full certification document from the physician. The rule of thumb we employ here is "If what you have in the file supports the granting of FMLA, go with what you have, if it makes sense." There have been occasions when I do not demand a recertification, or in fact, an initial certification if we have appropriate documentation that will suffice. For example; an employee went out on leave for psychiatric issues and we had supporting documentation that had been provided by him for UNUM disability insurance purposes. In our FMLA package of forms, I merely cross-referenced that documentation since to do otherwise made little sense. We have an employee who is still out due to falling off a ladder with a chainsaw. The initial certification is on file. He has required two additional surgeries and subsequent absences that relate to the initial incident. It made no sense to me to require additional certification when clearly he was scheduled for additional surgeries related to the leave already approved. I don't think we've ever been (or ever will be) required to show why we DID let somebody have FMLA. It's the cases where we did not that have been challenged.

bgrimes

Thanks, for the great answers. They were just what I needed. I didn't think it made sense to have 'doctor certifications' for the obvious cases. We have a 'tight' absence procedure too, as Don has. And I agree, FMLA actually 'saves' some positions. My company doesn't subscribe to any form of HR software, I do EVERYTHING by hand. The tracking is somewhat of a problem for me. If an employee on FMLA goes for treatment related to their case, I don't always know. We DO have a time-keeping system, however, it can't show the 'reason' someone is taking time away from work. I cannot tell prospective FMLA cases from anything else. And I sure can't depend on managers or supervisors to get involved. There have been employees that 'should have been' placed on FMLA that weren't because I was not aware of their problem. Any suggestions?

Gillian

You can only do so much and if you can't depend on supervisors and managers to keep you informed (lots of us are in that boat)they will pay the price when an absence that wasn't counted against FMLA lengthens the time that an employee is off during the year.

Pork

The Fed puts the requirement for physician certification on the back of the employee, if required or demanded by the employer. Only caution here is, if you require it for one I would require it for all, unless like some have said the certification is obvious from other medical information already available.