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Cataract Surgery One Claim or Two?

CarolL1999CarolL1999 55 Posts
in FMLA/ADA/Workers’ Comp Vote Up0Vote Down
I saw a post from 2011 that may answer my question but I'll post it to assure the info is current.

My employee is having cataract surgery in one eye, and once she has been declared recovered from that surgery will have the other one done. Is this one FMLA claim or two?

The earlier post said that this could be considered a chronic condition, or a condition which if left untreated would result in a longer absence, thus qualifying it as one FMLA claim. Do others agree?.
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  • davidsdavids 427 Posts
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    Maybe I'm missing something, but what difference does it make? Perhaps, the answer is it depends on how the doctor completes the certification. If the employee is released to return to work after the first eye surgery and then needs additional time off for the other eye, you would want a second certification. If the first certification covers both eyes, then you only need one certification. Again, maybe I'm not understanding the question.
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  • CarolL1999CarolL1999 55 Posts
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    Maybe it's not a legal question but one of policy for our company. For any disability type FMLA claim we require folks use one week of their PTO before the paid benefit kicks in. Whether it's one or two makes a lot of difference to the employee. I was hoping there was a straightforward answer to this based on the reason for the leave (cataract surgery). I can wait to see how our STD company classifies it; I like to follow their lead rather than devise my own policy on these unusual cases since they presumably have a medical basis for these decisions.
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