sensative

NaeNae55 · August 2012

How can you be sensative and still avoid setting a bad precedent?

I have a well-respected (and one of my favorite people in the world) long term employee who has been gone this week due to a sensative situation in her family. The employee has more than 12 weeks of leave available, so that is not the issue.

Do I really have to give her paperwork for her family member's doctor? If everyone in the company knows what happened, can I just skip calling it FMLA or automatically assign it FMLA without the paperwork?

If the family member lives the employee may ultimately need her 12 weeks, or have some other plan in place. I have worked with this person for more than 25 years and am too close to this situation. Please give me some advice.

allena · August 2012

It is important that you follow your policies and procedures consistently. My advise is that you treat this the same as all previous employees that have requested FMLA. The medical certification is part of the process and you need to have the employee get it completed and returned back to you. When policies and procedures are not executed consistenly you are at risk. That could mean that if you request only some employees to provide the medical certification and others are allowed to have that requirement waived you could be at risk for a lawsuit.

NaeNae55 · August 2012

I knew you were going to tell me that.

Can I wait until there is some change in the family member? They are currently in a medically induced coma in ICU. Or, should I go ahead and prepare the forms and mail it to the employee's home? As far as I know, she has not left the hospital for the last 3 days.

sonny · August 2012

sorry Nae,. .and I agree with Ailena. On occasion, I have put a personal note on the paperwork or placed a phone call and said. .it's just something we have to do, call with questions, etc so it doesn't seem so legal and heartless. . Coming up on a on a long weekend I might delay next week. .

Still Need Coffee · August 2012

I agree with sonny and allenna - if you really are close to the person, there's nothing wrong with a personal note to go along with the paperwork. Or, if you're in communication with the employee, explain you have paperwork to be completed, and offer to send it directly to the physician, so that they don't have to deal with it.

Sorry you're going through this - sounds like a rough situation.

angief · September 2012

Hello Nae,

I totally understand your situation, but like already mentioned consistency is important. You can also put it in perspective to the employee that this leave will protect their job while they are going through this terrible situation, and that will hopefully eliminate some stress on them. If you are close enough with the employee, maybe take the paperwork to them and personally offer support.

Best of luck.
Angie

Sharon McKnight SPHR · September 2012

[quote=allena;724452]It is important that you follow your policies and procedures consistently. My advise is that you treat this the same as all previous employees that have requested FMLA. The medical certification is part of the process and you need to have the employee get it completed and returned back to you. When policies and procedures are not executed consistenly you are at risk. That could mean that if you request only some employees to provide the medical certification and others are allowed to have that requirement waived you could be at risk for a lawsuit.[/quote]

Your first post! Welcome to the Forum. :welcome:
Sharon

sensative

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