Return from FMLA?

sconklin

I have an employee who has been out on FMLA due to a personal injury since December 2002 - he broke his left wrist. As part of the FMLA stipulation, it stated that we needed a full-duty release to return him to his position - however all I have received is a note from his doctor stating that he can not turn his left wrist and can not lift more than 75lbs with that arm/hand.

He is currently a slot attendant and below is an excerpt from his job description - due you feel that his note would be enough to return him to his position or are we opening ourselves up for an additional injury to him which would then be work related?

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: Essential duties involve performing physical exertion: frequent brisk walking, climbing stairs, stooping, bending, stretching, reaching, pushing, and standing for an entire work shift with standard breaks. Essential duties require lifting and carrying money and/or equipment weighing up to 45 or more pounds on a continuous basis. Working a standard workweek with additional hours on a routine basis. Able to be on your feet for 10 hours or more.

Please advise.

Thank you.

Theresa Gegen TX

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 03-31-03 AT 01:29PM (CST)[/font][p]I would not guess on this. Send the employee back to the doctor with a list of essential functions and a selection for each:

Can Do 100% Can't do at all Limited Ability

__________ ________________ __________________________________

Make sure the functions are the true job functions (after you list them out, get with employee's supervisor to make sure they correctly reflect the job duties). Make sure you look closely at mobility issue (can't turn left wrist is the function that may get him out of the job -- so you may need to look more closely at how the job is done).

I have used this sucessfully many times to find out whether the employee can do the job. The doctor does not know what the job is, so you need to tell him.

Good Luck!

LindaS

I agree with Theresa with the idea of providing a list of essential job duties for the ee to take back to his physician but we have gone one step farther with one of our ees who was out on medical. This ee was out for a long period of time due to a personal injury. He was very excited about the prospect of returning to work so we worked in conjunction with his PT regarding his job. We had the PT come into the plant and showed her what his job normally entailed and what types of things were essential. We also had employees working on the same job so she could get an accurate picture of what was required. She was then able to go back to the physician and the two of them worked together to determine what he could and could not do. This ended up working great for the EE as he was able to return to work quicker than the dr originally thought.

Not sure if this is something you can do but it worked for us.