certification of helth care provider form

dschwier

Now that a good number of Physicians are charging for the required Certification of Health Care Provider forms to be filled out, what do you do when an employee on FMLA decides he/she is not going to pay for the form to be filled out. As you may know we are a public organization and we certainly want to make sur we follow the FMLA rules.
Any feedback would be great.
Dale Schwier

mushroomHR

I have encountered this as well and am wondering if the person does not submit the required paperwork because of the fee, can the employer simply say it is not FML because they have no certification and discharge the employee for attendance? Several of my employees have complained because they have to pay the fee for the completion of these documents.

SMace

I would contact your attorney on this one. I have a feeling this may be decided in court. You could call your local DOL or write a letter to them for an opinion.

I personally say, no form, no FMLA. That is only if you have followed that policy to the letter in the past.

System

I don't know that there's any law on this. But I remember a discussion on this topic on the Forum last year. Use the yellow Search icon at the top of this page.

James Sokolowski
HRhero.com

LindaS

I have encountered this as well and my advice has always been to talk to the physician's office regarding the charge. Why is it that we, as employers, are automatically expected to "bend"? The federal FMLA regulations state that we, as employers, have the responsibility to determine an FMLA qualifying condition. If the physician's are deciding to charge for this service, place the responsibility in the employees' hands to deal with the situation. If they, as the consumers, complain enough maybe something will be done with it. FYI - physician's offices also charge for completing disability paperwork and making copies of medical records for disability related situations and you don't hear the employees screaming about that one...maybe that's because failure on their part to get the information to the insurance company means no money in their pocket. The employees don't see the benefits of getting their FMLA paperwork in since there's no money.

One last thing, if an employee doesn't get the paperwork to me, the FMLA doesn't get granted.

POPEYE

Said "Tongue in cheek"

Tell them to find a new physician that won't charge!!!