How To Get Doctor To Approve Fmla

Updated:

Jun 1, 2020

Original:

Aug 4, 2017

How to Get Approved for Family Medical Leave (FMLA)

Cara-Noelle is a HR professional and has been working in human resources for 20 years. She holds a Master's degree in HR Management.

Before getting approved for FMLA leave, you must first understand the necessary notifications and your responsibilities.

Steps to Getting Approved for FMLA

Notify your employer when you know you need to take a leave.
Your employer will notify you if you are eligible to take FMLA leave or not.
Your employer will notify you of your rights and responsibilities, including the potential request for certification.
You must provide your completed certification back to your employer within 15 calendar days.
Your employer will notify you if your leave has been designated as FMLA within 5 business days.
Leave is approved!
When it is time for you to return to work, you may be required to provide a return to work clearance.
Your employer must return you to your same or nearly identical job (including pay, location, hours, etc).

Before getting approved for FMLA leave, you must first understand the necessary notifications and your responsibilities. Both the employee and the employer are required to give notifications to one another. These required notifications are listed below.

4 Notifications Employers Need to Provide for FMLA

Employers are required to provide four different types of notifications to their employees:

General notice, which must be clearly visible to all employees, whether on a physical bulletin board or electronically. Additionally, this notice must also be distributed to employees at the time of hire. It can either included as part of the employee handbook or distributed as a stand alone document.
Eligibility notice, provided to employees who request FMLA leave within five business days of when a leave is requested and must indicate whether the employee is eligible for FMLA. When an employee is not eligible, the notice is required to state why the employee is not eligible (for example, the employee has less than 1,250 hours of service in the 12 months before the requested leave start date).
Rights and responsibilities notice, to provide all the different information about FMLA leave, including whether the employer requires medical certification, fitness for duty certification, payment of healthcare premiums, using paid leave, etc.
Designation notice, to designate time off taken as FMLA leave (or notification that time off will not be designated as FMLA leave). If the amount of leave is known, the notice must also indicate how much time will be counted against the employee's 12-week entitlement. Employees can request a written statement of how much leave has been counted against their entitlement no more often than every 30 days.

5 Notifications Required From Employees for FMLA

The responsibilities around FMLA notifications do not just rest on employers, employees also have notifications they are required to give:

Recap

It is imperative that you do your due diligence (the best you can) to meet all of your requirements to get approved for your FMLA. This includes following up with your doctor to get required documentation (certification, return to work clearance), remember that it's not the doctor's job you are protecting it's yours! Don't rely on the doctor or their office staff to be responsible for your requirements.

Communication between you and your employer is imperative and will make the FMLA process run much more smoothly. If your employer asks that you check in with them regarding your leave status, make sure you do so! If your employer requires a return to work clearance prior to returning to work, be sure you get that to your employer!

This article is accurate and true to the best of the author's knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.