When to ask for FMLA certification
Redbudpt
55 Posts
We have an employee who is pregnant (due in December) she does not qualify for FMLA until 11/12/08. When do I need to ask for medical certification? Her next Dr.'s appt is next week but since she does not qualify yet do I wait to ask for the certification? This is my first experience with an FMLA event and I am second guessing myself on everything so I am in need of some guidance.
Also, how do you all handle getting medical certification for a pregnant employee? I know some people decide to ask for it once the employee misses work for pre-natal care and some once the employee gives birth. If you certify for the latter do you have problems if the dates on the certification differ from the actual delivery date? (We have another employee who qualifies for FMLA who is due in March).
Thanks,
Shannon
Comments
We have the employee fill out a "Request for Leave" form with an estimate of when/how long they will be out. Once the woman gives birth, they call HR and have their OB fax in a certification with the date the employee gave birth and whether it was by c-section or vaginal (for STD purposes).
Best of luck.
I am in the process of setting ours up for 2009 (First year eligible) and have put together a request for leave form also. And it does ask for anticipated date of leave. That is the point I expect to send the certification to the employee to get filled out. Or the date she becomes eligible...whichever comes first.
But I don't see any reason for not giving the employee the paperwork now -- with the understanding of when she becomes eligible. It is possible that the doctor will pull her out of work for medical reasons prior to the birth anyway. Also, you can start tracking her intermittent FMLA timeoff for appointments prior to the birth but after she becomes eligible for FMLA if you want to . Some employers are more generous that FMLA requires and don't track that timeoff under FMLA. But you can.
I think there may be some cross-over here between medical certification and the employer's designation of leave as being FMLA-eligible. medical certification (by the employee's doctor) is not necessarily required in order to take FMLA leave (especially in cases of low complication pregnancy and delivery). However, the employer's designation of the leave as being FMLA eligible (and notice to the employee) is mandatory.
For pre-delivery office visits and (infrequent) illness, we do not require medical certification. Many courts have noted that pregnancy related conditions are treated differently under the FMLA than other medical conditions, and have declined to require employees to provide medical documentation that morning sickness and other pregnancy related conditions are incapacitating. However, if the employee's visits or illnesses become frequent, you may wish to pursue medical certification. (Use the DOL's Form WH-380 at http://www.dol.gov/libraryforms/go-us-dol-form.asp?FormNumber=36)
If the employer is going to "count" the time off for pre-natal care doctor's visits against the employee's 12 week FMLA allotment, the employer needs to give the employee notice that FMLA leave is being used, etc. This notice is (until changed by the proposed FMLA regulations) available from the DOL (Form WH-381) at http://www.dol.gov/esa/WHD/forms/WH-381.pdf
It is true that many employers wait until just before delivery to designate FMLA leave, but my experience has been that medical certification is not usually required when the pregnancy and delivery are "normal".
You need to count by weeks, not days.. therefore a week would generally be 40 hours. IHowever, there are exceptions (see below). I calculate it would go through 3/6/09 also unless the employer allowers her to use intermittent timeoff.
If she works a varied schedule or parttime schedule, here is what the regs say:
http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_825/29CFR825.205.htm
"(b) Where an employee normally works a part-time schedule or variable hours, the amount of leave to which an employee is entitled is determined on a pro rata or proportional basis by comparing the new schedule with the employee's normal schedule. For example, if an employee who normally works 30 hours per week works only 20 hours a week under a reduced leave schedule, the employee's ten hours of leave would constitute one-third of a week of FMLA leave for each week the employee works the reduced leave schedule.
(c) If an employer has made a permanent or long-term change in the employee's schedule (for reasons other than FMLA, and prior to the notice of need for FMLA leave), the hours worked under the new schedule are to be used for making this calculation.
(d) If an employee's schedule varies from week to week, a weekly average of the hours worked over the 12 weeks prior to the beginning of the leave period would be used for calculating the employee's normal workweek."
[quote user="Redbudpt"] We have an employee who is pregnant (due in December) she does not qualify for FMLA until 11/12/08. When do I need to ask for medical certification? [/quote]
You are entitled to request certification when they request the leave. You are entitled to 30 days' notice. There is no requirement that the cert be requested after the person is eligible, as long as the leave is being considered for FMLA.
Greetings,
I understand that the current topic is related to pregnancy although we are currently trying to determine how to move forward with an employee that is off work due to a pulmonary illness and her time off work is being determined by her physician almost day to day. This is very difficult to schedule around due to the employee covering the front office area so we are scheduling coverage "daily" which is proving to be very difficult. I have the FMLA guidelines and I am still unable to determine if we can request that the employee and/or physician give a specief time frame that the individual will be off work or if we have to continue going day-by-day? If you have any suggestions or information on this issue it would be greatly appriciated.
Greetings,
I understand that the current topic is related to pregnancy although we are currently trying to determine how to move forward with an employee that is off work due to a pulmonary illness and her time off work is being determined by her physician almost day to day. This is very difficult to schedule around due to the employee covering the front office area so we are scheduling coverage "daily" which is proving to be very difficult. I have the FMLA guidelines and I am still unable to determine if we can request that the employee and/or physician give a specief time frame that the individual will be off work or if we have to continue going day-by-day? If you have any suggestions or information on this issue it would be greatly appriciated.
[/quote]
A lot depends on WHY the health care practitioner is making daily determinations. If this is a chronic problem with flare ups and this is intermittent leave, then you are in a tough spot as the employer. Under intermittent leave, the employee can generally take off whenever they want. You can, if you wish to play hard ball and if your policy states, ask for them to document that the cause of absence is the condition that has been certified. There are a variety of chronic pulmonary diseases that could lead to day-to-day assessment in the short term while medication is worked out. Have you seen documentation from the doctor saying that he or she cannot assess the time frame to recovery sufficent to perform work for the Company?
Just out of curiosity - why does the employer need to know if the birth was vaginal or c-section?
Thanks!
You can ask for the certificationa s soon as they ask for the leave, unless it's clear that they are not or will not be eligible for FMLA for unrelated reasons.
The employee's obligation to the Company is merely to notify you of the surgery data "as soon as practicable".