Another "no letter" question

LindaS

My husband went out on medical leave beginning in September. He turned in the appropriate paperwork to his employer but never received a letter stating whether or not his leave was approved and whether or not his time would be counted against his FMLA allotment. He returned to work in the middle of October.

At the end of October he received a letter from his employer dating his FMLA time back to July (his first absence for his medical condition) and informing him how much time was counted against his total FMLA allotment as well as how much time he had left.

I have always been under the assumption that you had only two business days to make the FMLA designation and notify the employee accordingly, or else their time could not be counted against their FMLA, especially when their paperwork was turned in timely.

Can we do this...wait until months have past and then go back and retroactively make the FMLA designation?

davids

Although I can't give you a specific citation, I believe there is case law that allows the employer to retroactively designate leave as FMLA if the employee has not yet returned from leave. I do not believe the employer can retroactively designate leave as FMLA after the employer has returned from the leave.