Husband requests fmla for wife's surgery

cctsphr · October 2003

I'll try to give a cnn version........husband is Safety Coordinator and brought in WH380 requesting 6 weeks of FMLA for his wife's hysterectomy. There are two distinct types of hand writing on the form. #4 states total abdomenal hysterectomy #8a states yes, personal needs and transportation these are both the same type of handwriting. #5 a give the date condition commences as 10/20/03; 5b probable duration no work 6 wk - these are both in another.
I can understand that he might be off a week or even two - but the entire 6 weeks seems a stretch. Originally, I thought he was requesting intermittent, which seems more in line with the health condition.

There is no one to replace this person and deal with OSHA, do the various required training required by OSHA. Any suggestions.

LindaS · October 2003

If you are questioning the validity of the paperwork, call him in for a meeting and explain the situation and require another set of papers to be completed. If the 2nd set comes back the same, and the person is not considered a "key" employee within the definition of the law, I don't see that there is much you can do. If the 2nd set comes back different, you need to decide which ones are correct and address the situation of falsifying the paperwork as well as how much leave to grant.

Good Luck!

Down_the_Middle · October 2003

Give some thought to how much accommodation you can provide to the employee. Maybe partial days or partial weeks absences might make it more tolerable for both of you. Maybe a day or 2 per week to work from home can satisfy both of your concerns. Anything you can negotiate that is less than 6 weeks will be to your benefit. If all else fails, he's gone for the requested time and you'll have an internal back-up in place for if he goes again. Cross training sometimes comes about out of necessity!!!!! Good luck.

cctsphr · October 2003

Thanks, I do plan to have a converation with him and ask is he wants to consider a couple of week and then intermittent.

mbeam · October 2003

Are there minor children at home that he would need to take care of? This may be a reason why the full 6 weeks was requested also.

Rockie · October 2003

Depends. Due to the nature of an abdominal hysterectomy, it is quite possible that his wife will not be able to do much of anything for at least a couple of weeks. After that, it's quite possible that he will need to take intermittent leave to drive her to doctors' appointments as this is usually a restriction until six weeks after surgery. As far as child care...again..it depends on whether the children are at home or in school. If they are small and unable to care for themselves, then he will probably be needed a lot more than if the children are in school most of the day.

Good advice to have a talk with him concerning the necessity of a full six weeks. It does concern me that there is different handwriting on the papers, but it's possible a physician started this and had his nurse finish or vice versa. I'd still ask,though.

Husband requests fmla for wife's surgery

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