Doctor says she can do desk job.
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56 Posts
We have an employee who is out on FMLA. Her doctor completed the certification form and when asked if the employee is unable to perform work of any kind, the doctor wrote that she "can perform a sit-down job".
This employee does the overnight processing in our IT area. Duties mostly include printing reports and forms for our new business area and delivering the right sets of forms and reports to the correct person's desk for morning.
She cannot stand on her feet with her current physical problem. After the overnight forms are delivered to the appropriate people, those people assemble them into sets and jackets to be mailed out to our customers. We have been needing to hire temps to put these sets of forms together because we have been so busy. The duties of that job and the amount of responsibility are very similar to her regular job. We can still let her work the evening schedule and the pay would be the same.
If she says she cannot work at that job, even though her doctor says she can "do a sit-down job", do we have any recourse?
This employee does the overnight processing in our IT area. Duties mostly include printing reports and forms for our new business area and delivering the right sets of forms and reports to the correct person's desk for morning.
She cannot stand on her feet with her current physical problem. After the overnight forms are delivered to the appropriate people, those people assemble them into sets and jackets to be mailed out to our customers. We have been needing to hire temps to put these sets of forms together because we have been so busy. The duties of that job and the amount of responsibility are very similar to her regular job. We can still let her work the evening schedule and the pay would be the same.
If she says she cannot work at that job, even though her doctor says she can "do a sit-down job", do we have any recourse?
Comments
1. Discuss with the worker your understanding of the physician stmt and ensure that you and she are on the same page. If not, submit a copy of her job description to her physician (through her) and ask for specific guidance on what she can or cannot do. If the physician continues to support that she can perform her duties, then you have no medical certification for her absence--thus no FMLA protection (and I would tell her that). If the physician supports that she cannot perform her duties, then you have what you need for confirm her FMLA protection. There is a way to engage in discussion with her about your requirements (to protect your FMLA, your company, and your position to remain fair to everyone) without reaching the point of actually inteferring with her entitlement. Take care to ensure that she understands that her need to sit can be accomodated during her FMLA period.
2. Send her for a second opinion and pay the cost.
Let us know what happens.
best wishes
I would offer her the position and let her react. If she says no, then ask for clarification from the physician.