Medical Certification - How to get it?!

dchr9203

Have any of you had experience with an incapacitated employee who is unable to "release" the doctor to provide medical certifcation and whose family has refused to comply and has cut off all communication with the employer? How did you handle it and how did you get the medical certification. I've already sent the certified letter that "emphasizes" that is required to accommodate FMLA request, etc.

Down_the_Middle

At the risk of being too brief, if you've made reasonable efforts to obtain the necessary med cert info and it has not arrived, you're under no obligation to grant the FMLA request. I've seen this type of thing a number of times and while all of them are not suspicious one can start to assume there's a problem. Presumably your written request for the info has clarified that w/o it the request cannot be approved and the employee reverts to some other absence status....

juju

I don't understand why the employee would need to "release" anything. Diagnoses and specifics are not necessary on the FMLA form - the doctor must just state that the employee is suffering from an FMLA-eligible condition preventing them from working. Maybe a conversation with the doctor's office might clear this up if you are comfortable doing so. If not, I feel it is on the employee and if they do not provide the paperwork in a timely manner you can terminate them for either job abandonment or not following policy.

Down_the_Middle

Remember to get the employees permission b/4 picking up the phone to chat with the MD's office..... or use a health provider to obtain the needed info. HIPPA and a whole bunch of other problems will plague you for trying to obtain this protected information......

juju

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 07-21-04 AT 11:07AM (CST)[/font][br][br]I respectfully disagree that the employee's permission would be needed in this case. The employer is not asking for PHI, just clarifying what is needed on a form and if/when the form will be completed. If the doctor still refuses to complete it, so be it.

Whatever

It is not the employer's responsibility to do the ee's job. Furthermore, if I was the doctor, I wouldn't even verify I was treating the patient without their permission.

juju

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 07-21-04 AT 11:37AM (CST)[/font][br][br]I agree with you about the responsiblity issue. Personally I would not call the doctor (I think the employee should be responsible for getting us the forms) however I don't think there is anything wrong if the employer chooses to. The worst the doctor can do is refuse to provide any info, like you mentioned above.

marc

What would be wrong with labeling the incapacitated EE's condition as qualifying for FML treatment pending receipt of paperwork. Even with a certification, it is still up to the Employer to make the call. Get the clock started. If the EE recovers, you can tie up the loose ends then, if the EE does not recover you have at least started the 12 week clock.

POPEYE

Mark hit it right on the head! As long as you have enough information to make a decision to approve or deny, get the clock running.

dchr9203

Thanks everyone.