New FMLA Regulations: Three Checklists to Simplify the Process

Get your FREE copy of New FMLA Regulations: Three Checklists to Simplify the Process. This must-have resource will help you and other managers in your organization handle FMLA leave requests more effectively and with less risk of employee lawsuits.

The checklists help answer significant questions in Family and Medical Leave Act such as:

These three checklists give your HR team a step-by-step process to evaluate an employee’s FMLA leave request in light of the new FMLA regulations. HR pros can now ask the questions that reduce FMLA compliance costs (over $1,000 a year in one study) and FMLA abuse while increasing workplace productivity and protecting legitimate FMLA claims.

New FMLA regulations came into effect on January 16, 2009. That created a new standard that organizations must live up to. Relief from years of unworkable regulations has arrived. New FMLA reporting timelines, new communication channels with medical providers, and “serious illness” re-certification are included in the new FMLA guidelines. New regs provide HR professionals with the necessary tools to regulate FMLA costs and help prevent FMLA abuse; but it also means new compliance standards and a fresh new batch of potential lawsuits.

Help avoid FMLA compliance problems and lawsuits with the three free FMLA checklists from HR Info Center.

New FMLA Regulations Checklist #1 – FMLA Eligibility Determination

This checklist starts the FMLA leave process. Using the new guidelines, the Eligibility checklist lets your HR team quickly and accurately evaluate whether the employee qualifies for FMLA leave. This checklist helps you determine whether an employee is eligible for time off under the FMLA. It also directs you to the proper notification letter an employee should receive depending on his or her circumstances.

The first part of the checklist provides guidance on determining whether the employee meets the FMLA’s minimum work requirements. Key questions cover:

• Has the employee worked for the company long enough to qualify for FMLA leave?
• Does the employee work enough hours to qualify for leave?
• Is the company even obligated to offer FMLA leave?
• Is the employee temporary and do they work for you or an agency?
• And more.

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The second part of the FMLA Eligibility Determination Checklist helps you walk through the specific circumstances requiring FMLA Leave. Key questions cover:

• Is the leave for the employee or an immediate family member?
• Does the employee need Qualified Exigency leave for him or herself or an immediate family member in the military?
• Does the employee need Military Caregiver leave related to a covered service member in his or her immediate family?
• And more.

New FMLA Regulations Checklist #2 – FMLA Sufficient Employee Notice Determination

This checklist helps you determine whether an employee has provided the company sufficient and timely notice that he/she wishes to take FMLA leave. The FMLA requires employers to notify or make requests to employee (e.g. request for medical certification) within a defined number of days after the employer receives sufficient notice from the employee about the leave.

Part one of this checklist will help you determine whether or not the employee notice is timely. Key questions include:

• Is the leave foreseeable by the employee?
• Did the employee give notice of the leave 30 days before its start date? Or if foreseeable, but less than 30 days, within one or two business days?
• Did the employee give the company notice – written or oral – of his/her need for the unforeseeable leave as soon as practicable (normally no later than one business day after when the need for leave became known to the employee)?

Part two of the FMLA Sufficient Employee Notice Determination Checklist helps you determine whether the employee gave sufficient information to place the company on notice that the leave could be covered by the FMLA.

• Did the employee’s written or oral notification inform the company of the fact that the leave was due to his/her unforeseeable medical condition?
• Did the employee’s written or oral notification provide the timing and duration of the leave?
• Did the employee’s written or oral notification inform the company of the fact that the leave was due to his/her child, parent, or spouse’s unforeseeable medical condition?
• Did the employee’s written or oral notification provide the timing and duration of the leave?

New FMLA Regulations Checklist #3 – FMLA Eligibility Determination – Serious Health Condition

The FMLA Eligibility Determination Checklist- Serious Health Condition helps you determine whether an individual or a covered service member has a serious health condition under the FMLA. Specifically, the FMLA defines a serious health condition as an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves either in-patient care or continuing treatment by health care provider.

Step one of this checklist helps you determine whether the condition constitutes or is connected with in-patient care. Key questions include:

• Does the condition require an overnight stay in a medical care facility?
• Is the absence due to incapacity (i.e. inability to work, attend school or perform other regular daily activities) related to a condition that required overnight stay in a medical facility?
• Is the absence due to the need for medical treatment in connection with a condition that required overnight stay in a medical facility?

Step two of The FMLA Eligibility Determination Checklist- Serious Health Condition checklist helps you determine whether the condition requires continuing treatment by a health care provider. Key questions include:

• Does the condition incapacitate the individual (i.e. inability to work, attend school or perform other regular daily activities due to the serious health condition, treatment therefore, or recovery therefrom) for more than three consecutive calendar days?
• Does the condition require two or more treatments by a health care provider, a nurse, a physician’s assistant under direct supervision of a health care provider or a provider of health care services (e.g. physical therapist) under orders of, or on referral by, a health care provider?
• Did the condition require treatment?? by a health care provider on at least two occasions?
• Did the two visits to a health care provider occur within thirty (30 days and the first visit within seven (7) days of the first day of incapacity?
• And much more

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Sincerely,

Stephen Meyer
CEO/Director of Learning and Development, The Rapid Learning Institute