Fitness for Duty

Do you guys require a "fitness for duty" upon an employee's return to work and if they do not present it, do you send them home or to the doctor's office until they produce it?

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  • We require a fitness for duty certification if the leave is for their own personal illness (not baby bonding or a family members illness). We tell the employee when he/she is approved for the leave what we will expect upon return and we also send a letter two weeks before the end of their FMLA leave that they must submit the fitness for duty certification on the day of return. We have yet to have an employee show up only to be sent home for not bringing the certification in.
  • Any employee who is out for more than 3 days must produce a fitness for duty certificate. On the very rare occasion when the ee doesn't bring in a note, we
    advise them that they will not be allowed to work without medical clearance. We do not tell the employee where to go (I realize this sentence could be misinterpreted), but they're always in the next day with the certification.
  • If an employee is out for more than three days they are required to return with a "return to work" slip from a health care provider.
  • Assuming that you're talking about someone who has been out on FMLA, we only require a return to work slip from their doctor if it is due to a qualifying event to the employee. If the FMLA was due to care for an immediate family member, we normally get a doctor's slip before FMLA is approved with an approximate time that the employee is to be out annotated on the initial slip. We don't require another one upon their return.
  • When I send the employee the letter of approval/notice of FMLA leave. I tell them they must present a physician release to return to work, and go to our employee health to receive a work clearance. If they do not, they can not come back. This is to limit our liability if a person tries to return too early and they are not medically able.
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