What would you do?

Still Need Coffee

Did the poll feature get disabled? I wanted to use that, but this will have to do instead!

What would you do in this situation? An employee is in a minor car wreck, and does not appear for work for a few consecutive days (EE follows correct call-in procedures). Employer learns that the employee is seeking legal action against the other party involved in the crash. Employee calls her supervisor after 4 days off of work, stating "she needs to speak to someone about her rights under FMLA, specifically job protection for seeking care for her own serious medical condition." (actual quote from employee) Employer's HR Manager calls the employee, inquiring about nature of medical condition, to which the employee states, "I cannot provide you with that information. My physician will need to, and she has been alerted that she needs to provide a medical certification." Employee declines to engage in any conversation about estimated time off, diagnosis, number of treatments, etc.

What would you do? I've already addressed the situation, but I'd like to hear others' opinions...

NaeNae55

I would inform the employee of her rights and send the paperwork. The certification may explain everything you need to know, and if not, you can ask questions. She probably got FMLA advice from her attorney when deciding to sue the other party involved in the crash (which explains her wording). She may be withholding more than she needs to, but it is better for you to be cautious and not push when you don't need to.

Good luck!

Nae

ACU Frank

Give her the FMLA app... not much else you can do.

cnghr

I agree with Nae & Frank. While I think she is being overly cautious about what she can & can't talk to HR about, and it sounds like she got the wording for her inquiry directly from an attorney, you should still explain her rights to her and provide her with the paperwork.

Cheryl S SPHR

Agree as well.

ACU Frank

And consider yourself lucky on this point... Most employees aren't so transparent about having legal counsel. This should motivate you to be very focused on doing everything perfectly.

sonny

Agree with the others. . what DID you do?

Still Need Coffee

We gave out all the necessary paperwork, of course. An exec at the company wanted to wait until we had a clearer picture from the employee, but I explained it was a bad idea.

I have a feeling we might need to go the second opinion route with her though - from everything we've learned thus far, it sounds like someone's pulling a fast one on us....it will be interesting to see what the physician certification says.