do I have enough information for FMLA

Irie

An employee kept calling off work for several days. Let me say up front that every year this employee calls off work to take vacation days until she has exhausted all of her vacation time within the first couple of months of the year, so it is not unusual for her to do this.

After her fourth day of calling off I was informed that she was in the hospital so I immediately sent FML certification to her.

When she finally returned to work she brought a letter from a doctor which stated that the employee was seen in the office today (3/5/08) for a medical appointment and to please excuse her from work for the period 2/28 - 3/6. The doctor also stated that if I have any questions I could call him with the patient's written permission. The employee wrote her permission for me to contact her physician at the bottom of this letter.

Her certification is due tomorrow and she doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry to return it. I'm wondering if based on the doctor's statement I have enough information to certify her absence as FMLA. I would like the certification form especially if she will be needing intermittent leave for the condition. I also don't feel it is my job to contact her physician to obtain the information. She still has vacation time remaining and I fully expect her to be calling off again very soon until she has used up all of her time.

What do you think I should do about her most recent absence and should I require the doctor's certification? Thank you.

davids

We would accept a doctor's note rather than the certification form IF the note provided the necessary information. I don't think what you relayed above provides the necessary information to conclude that the employee was absent due to a serious health condition. It appears that the employee went to the doctor toward the end of her absence and there is no mention of hospitalization. I would tell the employee that the note is not sufficient and give her a deadline for the doctor to correct/expand upon the information. If you do not receive appropriate documentation, I would count the absences as unauthorized and invoke whatever your policy is regarding unauthorized absences.

stilldazed

If she meets eligibility requirements for FMLA, I would give her the FMLA protection for the 2/28 - xx/xx period as noted on the Dr. stmt. It sounds as if you may be trying to determine whether the Dr's. stmt is valid, and that is not really your role. Further, I'm not clear on how you made the jump from having a Dr. stmt for a series of days to expecting her to take intermittent leave in the future. Please clarify that part for me. Aside from that, the Dr. stmt certifies her absence for a period of days. You have knowledge of a hospital confinement, though I'm not sure how reliable that info is since you didn't mention the credibility of the source for the info.

Otherwise, when you through in the part about her history of calling in to take her vacation, I don't really see that as relevant to your current FMLA issue. Calling in to take vacation 'every year' until it's gone is really an attendance and discipline issue. If she's been allowed to do that in the past and nothing about the expectation has changed, it is reasonable to expect that she believes it is OK to do that again and fully plans to do it. If you have some folks who are not happy about her using her vacation in that, you have a different issue than FMLA.

Finally, as far as your responsibility, it is to ensure that she gets FMLA protection if she is eligible and has a qualifying event. You can require that she produce all documentation as long as you require all employees to do the same. If you have contacted doctors for other employees in the past (with their authorization), you should do nothing different with this worker. If you have never contacted a physician for a worker, don't start now unless you are interested in establishing the precedent for future FMLA cases. Reminder, part of your responsibility is to communicate FMLA requirements and your expectations to the worker. Therefore, if you have no intentions of contacting the physician, you should let the workers know that up front, as well as instruction that it is their responsibility to get all required documents to you. In this case, however, I don't really see where you need to talk to the doctor. I think you have all you need.

best wishes.

Irie

"Further, I'm not clear on how you made the jump from having a Dr. stmt for a series of days to expecting her to take intermittent leave in the future. Please clarify that part for me."


I am merely basing my assumption on the information the employee gave me about her condition that may cause her to need intermittent leave at some point since she came back to work for a day then called off again for two days.

There is no issue with the doctor's statement being valid. I still don't believe I have enough information from the doctor to determine whether or not the absence is FMLA qualifying.

NaeNae55

Look at your certification form and see how the information provided on the note would fill it out. If the critical pieces of information are there, then you could probably accept the note as certification. Remember, the employee has been absent 3 or more days, and is under continuing doctor's care. That sounds like FMLA to me. Of course, it is really hard for us to judge as we don't know what surgery or why the employee was gone, etc. You have to make that call based upon the note and how much critical information it supplied.

When you are looking at it, I suggest you do your best to pretend you are on a jury judging the HR person who did or did not accept the note. You don't want to be accused of going after the employee because you didn't like her when she really had given you enough information. On the other hand, you don't want to set a precedent by accepting less information than necessary in order to avoid a lawsuit.

If you feel the note is not sufficient, then go to the employee. Explain your position and give her a set period to get the paperwork completed. Make sure she understands that you are just doing your job, and that if she doesn't comply her job may be in jeopardy. If she still doesn't turn it in, then you can proceed along normal lines.

Good luck!

Nae