FMLA from foreign doctor

Irie

An employee left abruptly because of a serious health condition of his mother in Puerto Rico. I gave the employee the certification form and explained everything to him.

Today I received the certification form back incomplete except for the doctor's signature and address (which I cannot read). The employee's section that he completed I cannot read either.

The employee returned a "Discharge Summary" completed by the doctor but I have no idea what it says. Someone is going to try to translate this for me this afternoon.

Question: What do I do if the translator cannot read the discharge summary or it does not have sufficient information to qualify for FMLA? Can I send the form back to the employee/doctor and give them another 15 days to complete the certification? I specifically told the employee before he left that the certification would have to be completed even if it were in Spanish, that I could get someone to translate. What now? Thanks.

stilldazed

My thought is that you would do the same you would do with any other worker--expect the worker to produce the documentation you need to properly administer FMLA. You may be in a gray area because of the language/out of country issue, but your employee has a responsibility to produce once you have asked for the documentation. Hopefully, your request is in writing, and you may have to make a second request to ensure that your worker understands that your company is an English-speaking company and requires the documentation in a format that is usable by your company. In reality, if it were me I would consider how much time the employee was absent and whether it is significant enough to justify your department's manhours (couple of days vs. several weeks). Unless it is a specific amount of time, I might be inclined to count the time based on the provision of a medical stmt and my explanation to the worker that the time would be counted. However, to administer to the letter of the law, you really have to have a medical stmt that is usable so you can validate the absence, and unless the worker signs an authorization for you so you can contact the physical directly, you must work through the worker.

Best wishes.

System

Okay, folks. Not to be nitpicky, but Puerto Rico is part of the U.S. Its doctors aren't "foreign" and it's not "out of the country." Hope that helps. Gracias. :P

(but yeah, obviously if the physician's statement is deficient you don't have to accept it, but I don't think it being in Spanish makes it deficient {especially if you told the employee it could be in Spanish!}. Just get that thing translated)

Irie

I had our resident translator come down to view the document that the doctor had provided and he couldn't read it either. He said it definitely wasn't Spanish so I sent the whole thing back to the employee and informed him that the form must be returned completed and it must be legible. I could care less if it's in Spanish as long as we can read it. Thanks.