Your Opinion

Rockie

Have an employee who fell off his front porch and broke 4 ribs (don't ask). Anyway, this happened n July 15 and he was supposed to come back to work on June 28. He went back to the doctor and got another two weeks off. I received a return to work from his physician stating that he is released to come back to work on August 11.

The employee called the benefits person to find out about his short term disability and was surprised to find out he was supposed to come back to work on August 11, stating this was a "mistake".

My question is: If he goes back to the physician and gets an amended return to work, can we ask for a recertification as to why he can't return to work on August 11 as originally scheduled?

LindaS

I would think the updated notice from his physician would serve the same purpose as the recertification. If you are questioning his continued disability, you always have the right to have a second opinion, at your expense.

Rockie

This guy is a major pain in the A____. He filed a complaint against us for racial discrimination because we refused to guarantee him that he could leave work early every day to pick up his child. He lost this and now is just a major annoyance. His wife is expecting another baby later this year and it is going to be interesting when he burns up all his FMLA time and wants to take time off when the baby is born.

I find it maddening when an employee has a return to work on a certain day and then makes another doctor's appointment just because they don't want to return to work. It seems to me the physician would have to give a reason as to why he changed his mind about the return to work date on the employee (given the fact that this will be the second extension).

SMace

We require new FMLA papers if they do not return on the date the original papers state. We do this across the board. If you allow others to extend their leave via a doctor's note and do not allow him, in someone's eyes it could reek of retaliation to a racial discrimination complaint.