Employee Medical Leave Certification Form
mets
25 Posts
We have a policy that states that if identified as a sick leave abuser, an employee must provide a completed Employee Medical Certification Form for each and every absence from work due to medical reasons. This form contains a section which gives the employer permission to contact the attending physician; also requires that the physician state the diagnosis, whether the injury or illness is work related, indicate medications and treatment prescribed, asks whether the physician feels that the employee is incapacitated from doing any kind of work, and requests return to work dates and provisions, ie. limitations etc. This form is also for all medical leaves, as well as return to work statements following absences from work for medical reasons for periods in excess of 3 days.
We have been advised by one of our unions that this is not allowable under the ADA. I would appreciate any comments. Also it would be of interest to hear how other companies/ agencies' request medical information and the forms they use. We do not allow dr.'s script notes. Thanks
We have been advised by one of our unions that this is not allowable under the ADA. I would appreciate any comments. Also it would be of interest to hear how other companies/ agencies' request medical information and the forms they use. We do not allow dr.'s script notes. Thanks
Comments
Good Luck!!!
Thank you- if anyone would like, I could fax them the form to review and comment on.
If desired I can fax copies of our form for you to examine and comment on.
The real issue is what is allowable to ask for when you have employees seemingly abusing sick time or taking time off due to injury or illness to verify the legitimacy of sick leave use or time off.
The FMLA has a specific form for certification (you can get it on the DOL website). If the doctor fills it out, FMLA should be granted. If the company does not believe it, there is specific procedure in the regs for getting a second then a third tie breaking doctor's opinion. I don't think the courts would allow this alternate procedure, when the rules spell out what to do.
Under the ADA, I think all you should request is whether the employee has a condition that limits a major life activity, and whether the employee can do the essential functions of his or her job with or without reasonable accomodation.
This may require getting some specific information from the doctor about what the employee can and cannot do (how can the dr say he or she is incapacitated, if the dr does not know the employee's job duties?). But the detailed information your company is requesting seems a bit unnecessary and harassing. So what if the doctor give you all the medical information, you are not a doctor, you don't know what it means. And any presumption you make will lead you afoul of the law.
In short, there is really no benefit from having additional medical information about someone. How would you feel if you went to the doctor, brough info to your employer, then it called up the doctor and questioned him in detail about you. Not Good.
Good Luck.
Employees receive "points" for each absence up to a certain amount in a rolling year. Twice during a calendar year an employee can present a slip from a physician which will excuse them for the days specified by the doc.. Once they are out of them, they receive the points unless the condition qualifies as FMLA.
For absences not FMLA qualifying, we accept the doctor's notes.
The other thing to keep in mind is that under FMLA a specific diagnosis is not needed, only the medical facts supporting the certification. In addition, once an employee has been approved for intermittent leave, you CANNOT require a medical slip each time an employee misses work. An example would be approving an employee for migraines then requiring a doctors slip each time they missed due to a migraine.
My suggestion would be to institute an Attendance Policy (it you don't already have one) then stick to it. Make sure employees utilizing FMLA are not penalized under the policy and treat all employees the same. In my experience once a policy is in place, it doesn't take too long before the "abusers" either shape up or end up terminated in accordance with the policy.