fmla forms not returned

System

I sent an employee FMLA papers, one for the certification from the physician and one for her to complete requesting the leave and told her she had 15 days to return them to me. She did not return them to me, the 15 days are up, what should I do? I didn't tell her she would be ineligible for the leave if I didn't get the papers back in 15 days, do I need to notify her of this and give her another 15 days or can we deny the leave now? If she returns them and we approve it, what date is the leave affective? She didn't actually request FMLA leave, I sent her the papers and told her she might be eligible.

Theresa Gegen TX

I believe in giving a last chance before pulling the termination triggar. Perhaps the employee does not understand why she needs to turn in the paperwork.

In writing, I would tell the employee that if she does not return the FMLA paperwork pronto, her FMLA leave will be denied. Then expressly tell her the result (which will depend on company leave policies):

The result of that will be that she will be considered as absent without leave, and subject to termination or if the company medical leave is more generous than FMLA, the result is that her FMLA leave is not granted, and that she can be replaced while on leave and not reinstated, or that she can be reinstated to any available position, even if it is a different position than the one she left.

Often times employees are reluctant to use up their FMLA leave, and they need to be told that FMLA provides them job protections, and if they don't get certified for it, they will not have the protections.