ADA Anxiety
KLeede
50 Posts
An employee claims he has anxiety attacks and needs an accommodation in order to do his job. I asked him to bring in documentation from his doctor but he came back a few days later saying his doctor advised him not to give us the information. I don't want to insist that he give us the info because of HIPAA, but without it we can't figure out what to do - or if we even need to do anything. Are we in trouble if we refuse to continue with the process of trying to accommodate? Anyone ever handled a similar situation?
Comments
If the accommodation the employee needs is leave time, you may be facing both the ADA and FMLA (for a serious health condition). If it is a FMLA situation, you can ask for medication certification and can ask (and are entitled to) the doctor filling out a cert form (DOL has a great one, called a WH-380).
If it is an ADA issue only, you are still entitled to get information regarding the accommodation required for the employee's disability (i.e., first, whether the condition actually qualifies him as disabled under the ADA (substantially limited in one or more major life activities), and second, given his disability, whether a reasonable accommodation actually exists). Under both laws, it is the employee's obligation to comply with reasonable requests for information to either substantiate the medical condition, or determine what a reasonable accommodation would be.
Either way, you are entitled to more information, but make sure that you tread carefully and ask for only job-related information. Attaching a job description to the request for medical certification may also help the doctor understand what the employee has to do to perform his job. You may also want to get the employee to sign a release and waiver of the HIPAA info, although it really isn't the problem here. I would say try again . . . this is really a problem with the doctor, so maybe you can make him understand.
I agree with posted comments regarding requests for medical info. You might want to look at a request form that JAN (Job Accommodation Network) published:
http://www.jan.wvu.edu/media/raemployersform.htm
JAN's a really good source of information about the ADA and reasonable accommodation. Good luck!
[quote user="Elizabeth111222"]I would have to disagree. The only information the physician needs to provide is that the employee is undergoing treatment for a medical condition and what accommodations are needed. You are not "entitled" for information regarding specific treatment.[/quote]
What information an employer is entitled to has been an issue since FMLA began. There was clarification in the January Revised regulations that should help in this regard. (29 U.S.C. 2613 (b) ) Medical certification is sufficient if it includes the following:
Though this may seem a lot of information all of this is on the DOL medical certification form WH-380. Though an employer is not entitled to the general health condition of the employee, the employer is entitled to know the reason the employee requires a FMLA qualifying event. The confusion comes in with what does HIPAA require. FMLA rule (825.307 (a) requires a written valid authorization from the employee if a disclosure is to be made to an authorized person directly by the medical provider. However if an employee has the health care provider complete the medical certification form and the employee personally delivers the form to the FMLA agent of the company the HIPAA privacy rule does not interfere with the disclosure of protected medical information. At any rate, an incomplete medical certification form such as the DOL WH-380 would not qualify an employee for an FMLA protection.
I hope this helps some.