Form letter to notify on FMLA

Golf

Is there a form letter informing an employee that they are on FMLA?

Don D

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 04-27-05 AT 05:40AM (CST)[/font][br][br]Yes. In our case, it is the same form the employee initiates to apply for FMLA. In the event they do not apply and we designate their time off as FMLA, an individualized letter including the facts of the situation is sent to the employee.

System

Do you attach a physician's form to the individualized letter and give them a certain number of days to return the forms?

Golf

Do you have to have the physician's form or can you just designate it FMLA by trusting what the employee tells you?

Don D

In that case we send the four page Application & Medical Certification paperwork. It's their application and the part they have to give to the doctor. Yes, Golf, you can designate FMLA based on whatever you like. It's actually best, in my opinion, to state that it is being conditionally designated based either on what she told you or what you understand to be the facts. And that you will issue a final determination after reviewing the completed application and medical certification. Then you will never have this problem so many HR people have of wanting to backdate the approval and retro the clock.

Golf

Thank you for all of your help. But I still don't understand why the employer can't just take the employee's word that they were off ill, went to the doc and were on med's.

HRinFL

You give them the form and have the Dr. complete it so you can determine if the reason for the request is an FMLA qualifying event. Without this stipulation, there would be no way to stop the abuse. I can't imagine trying to track intermittent FMLA. If an ee is about to get term'ed for violating the attendance policy, "oh, I went to the doctor and that absence should be FMLA." How would you be able to consistently enforce policies and hold anyone accountable? The form notifies the ee of his or her rights, but affords the er protection from people abusing the system. Not everyone is honest, this gives us a way to try and keep them that way.

pork1

Golf: As Don wrote above "the employer can listen to the ee and declare all his absences as FMLA", but as one writes below Don, you loose control and consistent actions on each and every case. By following the federal law and procedures you can establish consistent actions and fairness for all employees equally for EXEMPT and NON-EXEMPT employees alike.

Don D

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 04-30-05 AT 06:56AM (CST)[/font][br][br]I recently had knee surgery and didn't even take my own word for my reason for being absent. I had the forms completed. Consistency saves your bacon in more ways than one. It's not that you have distrust for every situation. It's that you have standard work, which means consistent procedures. That way you don't have to explain to an employee or investigator why you did it for one but not for the other. And you don't quite as easily get abused by the program experts on your payroll.

(edit) PoRk: If you are going to quote me, please do it correctly. What you have in quotation marks, credited to me, is not a quote of anything I posted.

2445428

What happens if you gave the EE the medical certification to give to their doctor, but have not rec'd the certification back? Can the employer mail the medical certification directly to the doctor?

Don D

No, typically. Unless the event is workers' comp, the employer must not be in contact with the employee's physician. It's fine, however, if the clinic tells the employee to have you fax something. But, don't establish contact on your own with the physician.

I would ask the ee whether he gave the form to them and when and would remind him it is his obligation to get it back to you in the prescribed time frame. If you suspect he is jacking you around, you can start the clock and backdate it or you can deny the leave, whichever suits your purpose.