Bonding Leave

jwray

I am newer to administring my company's FMLA and have a question on how you handle the bonding leave and the required paperwork for a father. I am less worried about a mother's leave as we already get the certification of health care provider for a serious health condition (being pregnancy) for herself.

Does your company require the father to have the Certification of Health Care Provider for Family Member's Serious Health Condition completed in order to take leave after the birth of a child?

If not, do you require them to provide anything else regarding the birth of a child to support their leave?
If yes, how would you handle an employee who is not married to the baby's mother and therefore has no FMLA rights for a serious health condition for the baby's mother?

Thank you for your help in advance!

NaeNae55

Our form has a number of possible reasons for FMLA leave, and the employee puts a check mark next to the appropriate reason. Caring for a child within the first 12 months of birth is one of the choices. Are you sure your forms are up to date? The DOL website has current forms which you can modify for your use if you need to.

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your first post!

:welcome:

jwray

[QUOTE=NaeNae55;722678]Our form has a number of possible reasons for FMLA leave, and the employee puts a check mark next to the appropriate reason. Caring for a child within the first 12 months of birth is one of the choices. Are you sure your forms are up to date? The DOL website has current forms which you can modify for your use if you need to.

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your first post!

:welcome:[/QUOTE]

NaeNae - Our's also has this box on the FMLA Request form. I am wondering if any employers require anything other than this from the employee. One thing we've thought of requesting is just a doctors note that states that employee is expecting a child due ____. We would like to have something for documentation in the file, but are not sure that the certification of health care provider for a serious health condition is really the right form to use.

I am wondering if other employers do still request that the father have the certification form completed and if they don't if they require anything else from the doctor or employee to prove that the time off is for a qualified event (that the time they are taking off is for bonding within the childs first year of birth). Hope this makes a little more sense.

Cheryl S SPHR

I do not ask for certification for "obvious" situations such as the birth of a child. Our organization is small enough that I would typically know if someone or the spouse is expecting a child.

NaeNae55

[QUOTE=jwray;722679]
I am wondering if other employers do still request that the father have the certification form completed and if they don't if they require anything else from the doctor or employee to prove that the time off is for a qualified event (that the time they are taking off is for bonding within the childs first year of birth). [/QUOTE]

We would give the employee the form to complete, but would accept their signature as certification without requiring a doctor to complete anything. We require pregnant employees to get a doctor to sign the form, but that is for the health portion. If they take additional time for bonding, we do not require additional paperwork.

We are a small company and would know if someone is expecting a child or not. However, we also usually know when there is a serious illness. We have everyone complete the form for consistancy's sake and to avoid misunderstandings. With a completed form I can follow procedures and make sure the employee knows what is expected of him/her.

Good luck!

rosfin

I was reading thru the posts and was happy to see some one had the same question as me regarding fathers and certification forms for the birth of the child. I do give them to the father and in every case it comes back with the information also indicating the mother's status i.e. Mother will need care for x weeks after delivery ... even though this was originally a request for bonding leave. I still send the form because we have numerous work sites in various states and I would not know if someone's spouse was expecting and do not think the supervisor would necessarily know since it involves the spouse and not the employee. Does anyone else get the certification returned with x weeks off relating to providing care to mother with ADLs rather than bonding with child and how do you handle that in regard to designation notice when employee has only asked for 3-5 days for bonding leave?