Administering leave requests covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) can raise more confusing questions - and cause more headaches - than almost any other HR challenge. A particularly tricky part of this process involves medical certification.
You have the right to request medical certification from employees seeking FMLA leave, but this gets messy more often than not. What sort of information can you ask for? Can you require certification in some cases but not others? What should you do when an employee refuses to provide you with the information you’ve repeatedly asked for? Is it ever OK to contact the employee’s doctor on your own? If you answer any of these questions wrong – even if your mistake is innocent – your organization could be on the hook for both a costly lawsuit and severely damaged employee morale.
Order this in-depth 90-minute audio conference recording. Our experts – two experienced employment law attorneys – will cover all the ins and outs of FMLA medical certifications.
You and your colleagues will learn:
- The various legal pitfalls involved in dealing with FMLA medical certifications – and how to sidestep them
- What you should do, step by step, to verify the medical details of an employee’s FMLA leave request
- Which forms you can accept or require from employees as medical certifications, from doctor’s notes to U.S. Labor Dept. Form 380
- How to prevent leave abuses without overstepping your legal bounds
- When you can contact an employee’s doctor directly about the employee’s leave request - and what you can (and cannot) ask
- Privacy laws and other boundaries you must respect when verifying FMLA medical certifications
- What you must do when you want a second opinion from a different healthcare provider - and who pays for it
- When and how often you can request medical recertifications
This audio conference was recorded on Tuesday, June 17, 2008
About Your Speakers:
Christopher K. Miller, Esq., is a partner at the Denver, Colorado, office of law firm Kennedy Childs & Fogg, PC. He focuses his practice on defending employers in all types of employment disputes in federal and state courts and before numerous administrative and regulatory agencies. Also, he advises clients on employee management and compliance issues. He earned his law degree at the University of Iowa.
Jennifer C. Madsen, Esq.,is an associate at the Denver, Colorado, office of law firm Kennedy Childs & Fogg, PC. Her current practice areas include employment, professional malpractice defense, and insurance litigation. She also specializes in appeals. She earned her law degree at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Approved for Recertification Credit
This program has been approved for 1.5 recertification credit hours toward PHR, SPHR, and GPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HRCI home page at www.hrci.org.
